Vegan Mac and Cheese

A creamy, dreamy comforting meal to warm the cockles of your heart and nourish your body & soul. Packed full of hidden veg and nutritious nuts, this comfort food is surprisingly wholesome. To increase the protein content of the meal, choose some pulses penne or any other high-protein, gluten free pasta of choice. The nutty topping adds a beautiful contrast to the creamy, soft pasta bake and adds an extra hit of nourishing, healthy fats. I used ingredients from @thewholefoodsrefillery – their quinoa elbows pasta, vegetable broth, cashew butter, nutritional yeast, almond meal, pine nuts and onion + garlic powder.

Serves 4

 2 cups chopped pumpkin

2 cups chopped cauliflower

1/3 cup nutritional yeast

¼ cup cashew butter / ½ cup cashews

1 tsp. vegetable stock powder

1 tsp. Dijon mustard

1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. smoked paprika (optional)

Pinch of salt

1 cup CocoQuench/Bonsoy

2 cups quinoa macaroni (or pasta of choice)

‘Breadcrumb’ topping

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/3 cup almond meal

Pinch of salt

2 tbsp. fresh parsley, minced

1.     Preheat oven to 200C and line a baking tray with paper. Chop the pumpkin and cauliflower and toss with olive oil and salt before roasting for 30 minutes.

2.     Meanwhile, place the macaroni on to boil. Cook according to packet instructions until just under-cooked. Mine took 6 minutes. Drain, rinse and stir through a drizzle of olive oil to prevent it from sticking together.

3.     Place all other sauce ingredients into a blender – nutritional yeast, cashew butter, vegetable stock, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika and milk of choice.

4.     When the pumpkin and cauliflower are cooked, add them to the blender with the other sauce ingredients and process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning (add more salt or stock powder if needed, or more nutritional yeast for ‘cheesiness’).

5.     Pour the blended sauce into a large mixing bowl and then tip in the drained pasta. Stir well to combine. Pour into an oven proof dish.

6.     Heat a small frying pan over medium heat and add the pine nuts. Toast until just golden and then add the almond meal, stirring until it turns golden. Add a pinch of salt and remove from the heat before stirring through the finely chopped parsley.

7.     Sprinkle the pine nut ‘breadcrumb’ mixture over the top of the macaroni and place into the oven to bake/warm through for about 15-20 minutes. Enjoy!