Hey guys!
It’s been a fun past couple of days that have included a hot (as in sweltering) day at Disneyland and lots of delicious home-made vegan food.
Last night, we had my boyfriend’s best friend (since childhood!) over along with his wife and their adorable 7-month-old baby! I love being at an age to see new families developing out of my friends.
Since we were having such honored guests over, I knew I had to come up with something amazing; and I knew I wanted it to include a vegan macaroni and cheese dish! Mac ‘n cheese is one of those dishes that just seems inherently warm, cozy and easily shared, dontcha think?
A lot of vegan mac ‘n cheese recipes either rely on nutritional yeast for a “cheese” flavor — which no omnivore I know has ever really agreed tastes like cheese — or loads of processed fat via soy to give a richness to the dish. Neither of those really float my boat, esp. when I know what a discerning (read: picky) eater my mac-n-cheese-loving boyfriend is. So, I was stoked that when searching for cashew “cheese” recipes, I found an intriguing-looking mac ‘n cheese recipe on VegNews!
I revised the recipe to fit my needs — no enriched flours, little processed margarine, added panko bread crumbs for extra crunch — and it came out amazingly well. By omitting an entire 3rd cup of margarine, you save a total of 533 calories and 58.6g of fat! Damn! The link next to the recipe title goes to the original, but I’ve listed it in the text below with my amendments.
Macaroni and Cheese
original via VegNews here; listed below w/ The Cranky One’s revisions
6 servings
Can you even tell this is mac ‘n cheese? Nope, more like bread crumb city. C’est le vie!
Ingredients
- 4 quarts water
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- 8 ounces whole-wheat macaroni
- 4 slices of whole-wheat bread, torn into large pieces
- 2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated margarine
- 1/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 2 tablespoons shallots, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup red or yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1/3 cup onion, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup raw cashews
- 1/4 cup eggplant or regular hummus
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1 tablespoon teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Directions
- In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until al dente. In a colander, drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
- In a food processor, make breadcrumbs by pulverizing the bread, margarine and almond milk to a medium-fine texture. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, add shallots, potatoes, carrots, onion, and water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft.
- In a blender, process the cashews, hummus, salt, garlic, mustard, lemon juice, black pepper, and cayenne. Add softened vegetables and cooking water to the blender and process until perfectly smooth.
- In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta and blended cheese sauce until completely coated. Spread mixture into a 9 x 12 casserole dish, sprinkle with prepared breadcrumbs and panko bread crumbs, and dust with paprika. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the top has turned golden brown
- Approx. nutritional information per slice (1/6th): 267 calories, 10g fat, 211mg sodium, 5g fiber, 1g sugar, 8g protein [via SparkPeople recipe calculator]
- Note: If you make the mac ‘n cheese as per VegNew’s original instructions, the approx. nutritional info. per slice will be: 369 calories, 17.3g fat, 270mg sodium, 2g fiber, 1g sugar, 8g protein
While the boyf did complain that he wished it had had cheese (womp womp, cry me a river), that didn’t stop him from going back for thirds. My boyf’s friend claims that he had never liked mac ‘n cheese before, but really enjoyed this version (cool!). If you’ve got picky eaters on your hands, sell it as a pasta dish (don’t say “cheese”) and then watch as each picky person licks his plate and proclaims that it tastes an awful lot like this stuff called ‘mac ‘n cheese’ 
What’s your favorite comfort food? Have you ever made your own mac ‘n cheese from scratch or are still using Kraft?
<3,
The Cranky One
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