Allison’s Vegan Mac & Cheese

My all time favorite food is mac & cheese, but this beauty is made entirely without the use of animal products. It’s just as delicious as the real thing but made with 100% plants. Don’t expect it to taste exactly the same as your favorite mac & cheese, but it’s pretty stinkin’ close and this stuff is to die for (animals excluded.)

INGREDIENTS

  • IMG_467710-14 ounces dried macaroni or pasta of your choice (depending on your desired level of cheesiness)
  • 1 cup peeled/diced yellow potatoes (or russets)
  • ¼ cup peeled/diced carrot
  • ⅓ cup chopped onion
  • ¾ cup water (preferably use liquid from pot of boiled veggies)
  • ½ cup raw unsalted cashews
  • ¼ cup cashew or almond milk
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1½ tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1½ teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
  • 1 pinch paprika
  • 1 large pinch black pepper

DIRECTIONS

  1. Cook macaroni al dente, according to package instructions (usually requires boiling for 6-8 minutes in salted water), drain, and set aside.
  2. Bring several cups of water to boil in a small pot. Put your chopped potatoes, carrots, onion, and cashews in the boiling water. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables and cashews are tender and soft enough to blend. Cooking time will vary slightly, based on how small you have chopped your veggies.
  3. When the veggies and cashews are soft enough to blend, use a slotted spoon to remove them from cooking water and place them in your blender (or strain over a bowl and keep the water). Add ¾ cup of that cooking water to your blender, along with your remaining ingredients.
  4. Blend until smooth. Nummeh.
  5. Pour sauce over your cooked macaroni noodles in a dish of your choice. Add lots of salt and pep.IMG_5662.jpg
  6. Stuff your face immediately or sprinkle with bread crumbs (add some garlic powder, oregano, olive oil, and more salt & pepper for extra yumminess), and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes, or until crumbs are turning golden brown.
  7. Garnish with parsley if you’d like and now stuff your face.IMG_5592.jpg

(Recipe adapted from Vegan Yumminess)

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