Comfort food

I've been thinking a lot lately about macaroni and cheese, which is odd because I can't eat cheese. Over the years I've tried using processed vegan "cheese" but it doesn't melt like the real thing and it has a flat taste. A while ago I made vegan lasagna using a cashew cheese and it was really good so I thought – why not but I knew it needed a something to kick up the taste and make it cheesy. 

I started by soaking a cup of raw cashews for about 8 hours. Then I sautéed ¾ of a diced onion in a little bit of olive oil and added 4 cloves of garlic and cooked until browned on the edges and removed from the heat to cool a bit.

Meanwhile, I set a pot of water to boil and cooked approx. 10 ounces of pasta until al dente. To my trusty Ninja blender I added the onion/garlic mixture, 1 ½ cups vegetable broth, 1T cornstarch, 2T nutritional yeast, ¾ tsp. chili powder, ½ tsp. cumin, 3 ounces mild green chilies, and cashews (drained of course) and blend until smooth.

Drain the pasta and put the sauce into the same pan and cook until thickened. Add the pasta, some chopped cilantro, approximately 3 – 4 ounces of green chilies and a few sprinkles of paprika and serve.

I was skeptical about how it would taste, but I have to say it was delicious, not like traditional mac n cheese, because it isn't traditional mac n cheese, but great vegan mac and cheese. I'd definitely make it again and the husband asked for seconds. I served it with a side of oven roasted root vegetables – the perfect dinner for a Minnesota Spring/Winter night.