Macaroni and "Cheeze"
Normal macaroni and cheese recipes that are vegan contain cashews, and I love nuts, but I know lots of people have allergies, or just don't like them. I did a few tests with a few other things besides nuts that I could use to replace cashews. Other vegetables, more starch, that kind of thing. I was in the grocery store one day and saw beans, and thought, well those are incredibly creamy when you blend them together, so why not use those instead? And the result, was magical. We eat this recipe at least once a week because it tastes like my childhood. And I hope that it makes you think of your childhood when you eat it too.
1 lb macaroni noodles
2 cups potatoes, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
3 large cloves of garlic
1 cup white beans
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp soy sauce
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp almond based yogurt
228 grams baby portabella mushrooms
1 1/2 cups puffed rice cereal (or breadcrumbs)
1/4 tsp each salt, pepper and paprika
parsley, to garnish
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
In a medium sized pot, bring water to boil. Put potatoes, carrots, garlic, and onions in the water and cook for 20 minutes until soft.
Cook macaroni according to package directions, strain, add to a 9 x 9 baking dish, and set aside.
Strain the vegetables, reserve 1 cup of the water, and place them in your blender. Add the reserved water, add in the beans, nutritional yeast , spices, lemon and yogurt.
Blend until smooth, set aside.
I used a plastic bag to crush up the rice cereal, and a wooden spoon. I just smacked the bag until you get a crumb consistency. If you want to just use breadcrumbs, you can skip this step. Add in the salt, pepper and paprika. Set aside.
Slice up your mushrooms into bite sized pieces and add into the baking dish, set aside.
Pour the prepared sauce and mushrooms over your noodles and stir until combined.
Sprinkle the prepared cereal mixture over the macaroni.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, serve, and enjoy!