My Gram's Mac & Cheese Vegan Style

When I was a child, Sunday dinner was always an event at my grandma's house.  She roasted a chicken every Sunday and with it came her tomato base mac & cheese.  It was a simple dish, elbow macaroni, salt, pepper, tomato juice, and cheddar cheese.  Whenever I've gone to visit one of my brother's and sister, it's either on the menu or at least talked about.  I'm not sure if it's really that great a dish or the warm memories of grandma make it so special.  Probably a little of both. Tonight I veganized it and it came out pretty good.  I managed to capture the same flavors and texture without the dairy products or the canned tomato juice she used.

I took a quart of my own canned tomatoes, about a cup of filtered water, and a handful of nutritional yeast and blended into a thick juice.  I had a lot of little green peppers from our trip to the garden today so I sliced them and sautéed them with some fresh onion and garlic in a little grape seed oil.  I also took out about a half cup of the dried Shitake mushrooms and marinated them in a little Tamari and filtered water to soften. I  cooked whole wheat pasta shells mixed them with the sauce, the vegetable mixture and some Daiya cheddar cheese.  Baked it at 400º for about 35 minutes until the sauce was bubbling.

Good warm vegan comfort food on a cold fall night.

Warm, Creamy, Comforting, Mac & Cheeze

This is the Veg News signature recipe, Macaroni & Cheese .  It's been called the best mac & cheese on the planet.  It's pretty darn close, if it's not.  The cheese sauce is made with cashews and simmered vegetables.  This is really good.  I made some last night.  This is an easy recipe and I usually have most of the ingredients on hand. We we had such a busy day, it was late and we were tired. We ate a lot more than we should have. I wanted to have some of this for our meals this week, so I made another batch today.

Vegan Macaroni & Cheese
By Allison Rivers Samson

    * 4 quarts water
    * 1 tablespoon sea salt
    * 8 ounces macaroni
    * 4 slices of bread, torn into large pieces
    * 2 tablespoons + 1/3 cup non-hydrogenated margarine
    * 2 tablespoons shallots, peeled and chopped
    * 1 cup red or yellow potatoes, peeled and chopped
    * 1/4 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
    * 1/3 cup onion, peeled and chopped
    * 1 cup water
    * 1/4 cup raw cashews (soak the cashews in water for about an hour)
    * 2 teaspoons sea salt
    * 1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
    * 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
    * 1 tablespoon lemon juice, freshly squeezed
    * 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
    * 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
    * 1/4 teaspoon paprika

What You Do:

   1. In a large pot, bring the water and salt to a boil. Add macaroni and cook until al dente. In a colander, drain pasta and rinse with cold water. Set aside.

   2. In a food processor, make breadcrumbs by pulverizing the bread and 2 tablespoons margarine to a medium-fine texture. Set aside.

   3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a saucepan, add shallots, potatoes, carrots, onion, and water, and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are very soft.

   4. In a blender, process the cashews, salt, garlic, 1/3 cup margarine, mustard, lemon juice, black pepper, and cayenne. Add softened vegetables and cooking water to the blender and process until perfectly smooth.

   5. In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta and blended cheese sauce until completely coated. Spread mixture into a 9 x 12 casserole dish, sprinkle with prepared breadcrumbs, and dust with paprika. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese sauce is bubbling and the top has turned golden brown. I sprinkled some dried sage on top after it came out of the oven