Vegan Mac and Cheese

Growing up I, like most kids, absolutely loved mac and cheese. On Christmas Eve my grandma always made it herself, but most of the year we ate the box kind. The kind that comes with a packet of powdered cheese stuff, and the elbow pasta gets sort of mushy. 

Even when I got into my early teens, went vegetarian, and became a health nut, I still ate that box mac and cheese. Have you ever had one of those moments where despite eating healthy you just cave in and eat a whole bag of chips or a massive ice cream sundae or drink your body weight in soda just because? Well, for me mac and cheese was one of those undeniably unhealthy meals that I occasionally gorged on. 

So you can probably guess that when I went vegan and stopped consuming dairy I was a little heart broken that I could no longer indulge a little with a bucket sized bowl of mac and cheesy goodness. I mean, seriously, take away the cheese, milk, and butter and all you have left is mushy pasta, and that's just not very satisfying. 

At that point in time, I figured I had given up mac and cheese for life. I looked a plenty of recipes for vegan versions, but none of them looked particularly appetizing. I'm not really into those fake cheeses you can find at the supermarket. Other recipes called for silken tofu, nutritional yeast, and a bunch of other things. Although I love firm tofu, I haven't had much success cooking with silken tofu, so I ruled that out quickly, and nutritional yeast sounded weird (apparently a couple decades ago it didn't taste as good) so I didn't bother trying that either. And I wanted a simple recipe, so I refused to try recipes with ingredient lists that went on forever. 

However, about a year ago, I finally decided to give nutritional yeast a chance, and I quickly grew to love it. It's so nutritious and absolutely delicious. So I finally decided to try using it to make a vegan version of mac and cheese. 

But still unsatisfied with the recipes I found, I created my own. Looking back on it now, I should've just done that in the first place. After all, thats what I usually do, but oh well. 

So anyway after a little experimentation I came up with this recipe, which I love. If you're thinking this is stupid because it's not really mac and cheese without cheese, well you're right, but be that as it may please try it regardless, with an open mind. I've had plenty of non-vegans try it and they've liked it.

The recipe is super simple. What I think makes it really good is the spagetti sauce and the pepper. The sweetness of the tomatoes along with the tang of the pepper seems to really enhance the cheesy flavor of the nutritional yeast. 

And one (or maybe 3) last thing: the ingredients, like all my recipes are really flexible. They are just guidelines. Don't be afraid to experiment. I think experimentation is the key to becoming a good cook. Also, I use whole wheat pasta. I think it tastes better. If you use white pasta the proportions of ingredients might also change. I'll try using white pasta soon and post a recipe for that if i think it drastically changes proportions. 

Vegan Mac and Cheese
1 box of whole wheat pasta
1/4 cup vegan margarine (I use earth balance)
1/2 cup soy milk (I prefer unsweetened)
2-3 Tbl nutritional yeast (the amount I use depends on my mood the day I'm making it, so try two, if thats not enough add another - simple)
7-8 Tbl spagetti sauce (I'll add my recipe for this soon)
salt (I've never measured it. try about 1/2 tsp. maybe it needs a little more. I tend to make things low sodium, but salt really brings out other flavors in foods)
a generous grinding of pepper
chopped fresh parsley as a garnish - about 2 tsp per serving

cook and drain pasta. put back in pot and mix everything else together except parsley. serve and garnish with parsley.

Extra things you might want to add: freshly chopped tomato and/or basil

NOTE: If you like my recipes but never know how much salt and pepper to use let me know and I'll actually measure it out. I just never have and always forget to because I get in the zone when I'm cooking and forget that I should measure salt and pepper rather than just shaking/grinding them into the pot until I'm satisfied. But if you want me to measure them I will.