Vegan Green Chili White Bean Cheese Sauce

After such a disastrous Tuesday I spent some time in the kitchen yesterday since I had the day off. I have been wanting to make a cheese sauce using white beans as the base ever since I saw a video on No Egg Craig's channel. I seriously adore his channel, he is such a positive down to earth guy and his family is the same and it's just feel good stuff you know?  He and his girlfriend made a mac and cheese an the used cannelini beans as the base. I was intrigued and wanted to put my own spin on the idea and it turned out pretty great! It's a great way to get some extra protein and fiber in! I used small white beans for this recipe because I bought dried beans and that's all I could find. I also used some green chilis and green dragon sauce to make it a little zippy. Natural Grocers has been having a sale on Daiya cheese so I had gotten a block of jalapeno Havarti last week so I also added some at the end. But honestly the bean cheese sauce was creamy and cheese-y so it isn't really necessary.


                                                          White Bean Cheese Sauce

• 2 C. Cooked or 1 Can White/ Navy/ Cannelini Beans
• 1/4 Tsp. Turmeric
• 1/4 Tsp. to 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• 1/4 Tsp. Pepper
• 5 T. Nutritional Yeast
• 1 1/2 T. Tahini
• 1 Tsp. Minced Garlic
• 1 T. Lemon Juice
• 1 4 Oz. Can fire Roasted Green Chilis
• 1 T. Green Dragon Sauce
• 1 to 1 1/4 C. Water

Blend everything but the green chilis in a blender or food processor until smooth and creamy. If you want this to be thicker like a dip or queso just add less water. After it's blended stir in the green chilis. If you want it totally smooth you could blend the chilis with everything else.

So I served my cheese sauce with some gluten free penne. I used about 3/4 cup of the pasta cooking water along with the bean sauce, and about half a block of daiya jalapeno Havarti which I shredded. I stirred it all together on low heat for about two minutes, turned off the heat, put a lid on my pot and let it sit for about five minutes. The daiya melted and it was a beautiful creamy dish.

The picture does not do it justice. But it is so delicious and just another way to get that creamy, cheese like sauce without having to use nuts! If you don't add vegan cheese this dish is totally oil free and low fat. But since it is so healthy I really don't feel bad about adding the cheese. I did end up adding a bit more salt to the final dish, and of course I topped it with more green dragon sauce.

Joan was napping in a ray of light yesterday. My gorgeous little sunbeam. She definitely cheers me up!!