Amazing Vegan Mac N' Cheese

For years now, I've been wanting to make vegan mac n' cheese. I've attempted the box versions.
You know what I'm talking about. The JUST ADD WATER! versions. Oh boy, were they gross. I'm not a huge fan of using vegan "cheese" in recipes. Anytime I have melted vegan cheese, it just got way too gooey and rubbery.

I've collected many recipes to make my own, but I've been too intimidated. Turning cashews into a powder? What kind of wizardry is this?! I was always convinced I would somehow screw something up. But then, on a cold winter's night, it hit. A craving. An insane craving for macaroni and cheeseless cheese. So I took to the web and found a simple and delicious looking recipe on ohsheglows.com and new I had found the recipe that I was brave enough to try. Yes, it called for turning cashews into a powder, but I figured I had to give it a shot. What did I have to lose? Except maybe a food processor that is probably older than I am. An interesting ingredient in this version is roasted butternut squash. I was a little skeptical, afraid that it might make it stringy or super mushy. But alas, I gave it a go.

I cheated a bit and purchased pre-chopped butternut squash. I just couldn't see myself attempting to hack open a squash. I've done it several times before, but I lack nice, sharp knives. Have you ever tried cutting a squash with dull knives? Let's just say that it shot off the counter more and once. And I got the blade stuck a few times. I'm pretty sure that if I even walked into the kitchen with a whole squash, the knives would just crumble under the pressure.

Anyway. The ingredient list was short and the prep time was even shorter. The longest part of the whole process was roasting the squash. While that was roasting, I threw all of the other ingredients into a bowl, except for the cashews. Those little suckers went right into the food processor. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when trying to powderize the nuts, but it took a little longer that I thought it would. Again, my food processor is ancient. I think I heard it swearing at me after a few minutes. Once I had the cashew into powder form, I threw the remaining ingredients into the food processor, including the squash. It didn't take much blending at all to see the "cheese" sauce come into being. This is about the time I started to do a happy dance. What gave it the cheesy flavor is the nutritional yeast. It is the go-to ingredient for giving things a cheesy flavor.

I dumped the cheesy sauciness into a bot of cooked, drained pasta and cried tears of joy. I actually just did another happy dance, but I was close to crying tears of joy. A few stirs and a minute or two of heating…and I had a delicious, vegan mac n' cheese.  I was a little bummed to see that it didn't take very long for it to start getting thick and a little clumpy, but in my warped little head….that just meant EAT IT ALL! The recipe also gave the option to make it into a casserole, which will be my next attempt. The only thing I would maybe change would be to omit the garlic and add more mustard. I love garlic, but it just seemed like a bit of an odd flavor to throw into the mix. Give the recipe a shot and let me know what you think!

Also, don't forget to head over to my Facebook page True North Guide, like and share!

Be kind. Be curious. Be cheesy ;-)

Ingredients

• 1/2 butternut squash, peeled and chopped (yields: 3.5 cups raw)
• 3/4 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened + unflavoured soy milk), or more to thin out
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
• 6-7 tbsp Nutritional yeast (provides the cheesy consistency)
• 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp or a bit more of dried Italian seasoning
• 1/4-1/2 tsp Tumeric powder, optional (gives the orangey colour)
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4-1/2 tsp Paprika + more to season
• Your pasta of choice (I used ~450 grams/4.5 cups dry penne for the casserole) + mix-ins

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet. In a bowl, season chopped squash with some oil (~1 tsp) and kosher salt (couple pinches) and stir. Add to baking sheet and roast in oven for 40 minutes, flipping once half way through baking.
2. If making the baked casserole: Process 1 slice of bread + 1 tbsp Earth balance until crumbs form in a food processor. Set aside. If you plan on enjoying it straight from the pot you can skip this step.
3. Assemble your cheeze sauce ingredients (cashews, non-dairy milk, garlic, lemon, salt, nutritional yeast, pepper, mustard, seasonings) and add just the cashews to food processor. Process until a fine crumb forms similar to corn meal. Now add in the rest of the cheese sauce ingredients and process until smooth. Leave the sauce in the processor as you will be adding the squash.
4. Cook your pasta according to package directions. When squash is finished roasting, add it to the food processor and blend it with the cheese sauce until smooth. Adjust to taste. The sauce will thicken up with time. If at any point the sauce becomes too thick, you can add a bit of milk to thin it out.
5. Drain and rinse pasta with cold water. Now add the pasta back into the same pot and add your desired amount of cheeze sauce on top. Stir well. Add in any desired mix-ins like peas or broccoli. You can either heat this up in the pot, or pour it into a casserole dish (I used a 4 cup dish), sprinkle on breadcrumbs + paprika, and bake it at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. The casserole will serve about 4 people if you use 450 grams dry macaroni or penne. Store any leftover sauce in the fridge and use within a few days.