vegan baked mac & cheeze!

This is the best vegan mac & cheeze ever.

A bold statement, I know, but I am confident in my assertion. I’ve had quite a few experiences with vegan mac & cheeze, and it’s not always a pleasant one: runny fillings, raw onioned, over-nooched, tomato pastey noodle weirdness has definitely been sampled in my kitchen over the years. But this recipe, from Oh She Glows, is really quite amazing. It has a few extra steps, and it involves the food processor, but don’t let that deter you from making at least a double batch. Reserve some of the creamy cashew sauce for topping your veggies and grains the next day– it’s great that way too! I changed some of the measurements and edited the instructions, but it’s very close to the original recipe.

Baked Vegan Mac & Cheese

½ cup peeled and cubed white potato
½ cup chopped carrot
¼ cup chopped onion
3 cups (300 grams) pasta of choice (I used a brown rice penne)
½-¾ cup breadcrumbs
1 Tablespoon Earth Balance margarine
1½ cups raw cashews
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
4 cloves garlic
5 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon prepared Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
paprika, for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 350º.
2. Add potato, carrot, and onion to a small saucepan, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.
3. In a large stockpot, boil 6 cups water and cook pasta according to directions. Drain, rinse in cool water, and set aside.
4. Blend breadcrumbs and Earth Balance to food processor and blend to combine. Remove from processor and set aside.
5. Add cashews to processor. Blend until cashews become coarse crumbs.  Add almond milk, garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, olive oil, mustard, salt, and pepper. Blend until smooth, then add cooked vegetables and continue blending until very smooth.
6. In a large bowl toss together noodles and sauce (you may have extra sauce- save it for later!). Pour into an 8-or 9-inch pan. Smooth top and then cover with crumbs. Garnish with paprika. Bake for 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Note: you can totally skip the breadcrumbs + baking step, and just eat the noodles and sauce as is- no need to bake unless you really want to- look how delicious!)

Yield: 6-8 servings (makes good leftovers too!)

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