The last few weeks of summer have been so wildly busy - with one of the first weekend's I've had in a while where I have nothing to do, and Frank is out with friends, its kind of the perfect night for a big bowl of mac + cheese, some at home spa treatments and hulu and Netflix. Don't get me wrong, I love an original baked macaroni and cheese with multiple types of cheese, covered with bread crumbs, all ooey and gooey. But as much as I love all that dairy, my body, on the other hand does not. If you are able to go full fledged with dairy - by all means, this may not be the recipe for you, but if you're like me and you need to be conscious of how often and how much you consume, this is an amazing alternative to get that creamy goodness that is everyone's childhood fav.
The flavor profile of this is definitely different from your standard Kraft or Velveeta - its more grown-up version of mac and cheese. Not only is it totally vegan, but if you make it with gluten free pasta you're wont even feel guilty about having own bowl, or ten. I start with baking a sweet potato - if you haven't learned by now, I like to pop them in the microwave for 5 minutes to get this done fast. I'll also prep that ahead of time so that when I'm ready its cooled enough to peel.
Another key ingredient to this is nutritional yeast. This might be one of the first unfamiliar ingredients from the recipes I create. But the truth is, it's what brings to the table that nutty cheesy flavor. I bought mine on Amazon - it was like $7.00 and the bottle is huge. If you've never heard about it before, let me tell you a little more. It's from the same family of baking yeasts, for making bread or brewing beer. It's a great source of protein and vitamin B, and it also can help boost your immune system or lower cholesterol. There's so much more we can talk about, but this is a great start.
When you're ready to prepare your sauce, its as simple as this, all the ingredients, in a blender and go. You can always prep this in advance and pour over pasta (or veggies or protein) later. Sometimes I'll put a little sriracha on top for some extra heat. So go ahead, curl up with a bowl, I think you're really going to like this one.
mac + cheese (vegan + gf!)
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 small/medium sweet potato - peeled and mashed
3 cups of pasta - I used GF for this
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon dried minced onion
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
dash of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Make your pasta according to directions. Set aside or prep your sauce as the pasta cooks.
Using a small to medium sweet potato that has been peeled and mashed - throw that and all of the remaining ingredients into a blender.
Blend until smooth.
Pour over pasta when ready and stir.
xx
Rita
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