Vegan Mac & Cheese

One of my last tasks at my job was coming up with a vegan macaroni and cheese that still tasted good with gluten free pasta and could be reheated or hold up if they were serving it at a wedding. After a lot of trial and error at work, I decided to take this one home at taste test on Paul because I had too many other projects before baby #2 came and I left work. The perfect combination was not as easy as I first thought.

All the trial and error was worth it. As a true Wisconsin cheese lover, I would pick this mac and cheese over any real cheese one that I have tried. However, I am a nutritional yeast lover. It may take kids that aren’t as familiar with the flavor a bit to get used to it, but it is an amazing ingredient to get their taste buds used to sooner rather than later! Nutritional Yeast is packed with good proteins and lots of Vitamin B12, which us veggie people could use. You can always find it at your local health food store. I do warn you, you may (and should) get hooked. You will find yourself sprinkling it on your popcorn, kale chips and everything else that needs just a little more flavor. Sorry, back to Mac & Cheese ...

This recipe works great when making it in advance and heat up later for the kids or for a party … nice added bonus, if I do say so! If you are making it gluten free, I found that a corn and rice mix noodle holds up better than straight rice or quinoa noodle. They tend to turn mushy.

Vegan Mac & Cheese

Serves 6

3/4 lb pasta

Cheese Sauce
3/4 c almond milk
3/4 c nutritional yeast
1/2 c canola oil
1/2 c water
1 T tamari
6 oz tofu
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 T paprika
1/2 t salt
1/2 T dijon mustard
1 t tumeric
Breadcrumbs to top, for gluten-free Mac n Cheese, use Lundberg Sea Salt Rice Chips

Cook pasta as directed. Meanwhile, mix together the cheese sauce ingredients with your immersion blender or food processor.

Mix the pasta with the cheese sauce.

Top with breadcrumbs or rice chips and bake 20 min at for 350º.