Mac and cheese is one of those foods that would be the poster-child for soul food. As a matter of fact, if you look up soul food in the dictionary, nine times out of 10, macaroni and cheese would be there. That’s why it’s so weird for me to share this recipe because the term “vegan” goes against everything I know when it comes to soul food. But believe me when I tell you, this happens to be one super good mac and cheese! So good in fact that I almost mistook it for real cheesy mac and cheese! Here’s the recipe
Ingredients
16 oz elbow macaroni
1 cup cashews plus 2 cups water
1 large yellow potato peeled & sliced
1 cup baby carrots or two large carrots, peeled
1 large yellow onion chopped
4-5 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
3 1/2 cup non dairy milk (rice milk works great!)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tbsp hot sauce or jalapeno juice for a kick
2 cups vegan cheese
Instructions
Bring 2 cups of water to a boil, then add in the cashews (and a teaspoon of salt in the water).
Remove the pot from the heat, and let the cashews soak for 1 hour.
Add the potatoes, carrots, and garlic into a bake dish.
Drizzle the olive oil, all over the veggies the cover.
Roast the veggies in the oven on 400, for 20 minutes or until tender.
Boil the pasta until al dente, then drain.
Add the carrots, potatoes, garlic, cashews, non dairy milk, nutritional yeast, seasoning salt, and hot sauce into a food processor, or blender.
Puree the ingredients.
Lightly oil a casserole dish, then add…
… in the pasta.
Pour in the “cheese sauce”, and sprinkle in 1 cup of vegan cheese.
Fold the ingredients, then top off with remaining vegan cheese.
Bake in the oven uncovered on 350 F for 20 minutes.
Serve & enjoy!