this cashew mac n cheese is one of my favorites. this year for the vegan mofo (month of food), where we’re trying to change your minds about foods you hate. i think this meal will get you rethinking your dislike of nutritional yeast. this won’t hit you over the head with nutritional yeast flavor, but there’s enough of it in there to give it loads of flavor and ease you into eating it more often. it’s a very hearty, comforting kind of mac n cheese, perfect for days that are getting colder.

prep ingredients

• chop 2 small carrots, one small/medium onion, and peel & chop 2 small/medium potatoes 
• put the potatoes in some boiling water and cook until softened. cook the onion in a little earth balance for a few minutes, or until they’re translucent.
• blend together 2/3 cup rice milk and 1 1/2 cups raw cashews.

get to it!

• put a pot of pasta on to cook (suggested: elbows or shells)
• put the vegetables and the cashew cream in a saucepan. pour in 1 1/2 cups of nutritional yeast, 1 tbsp sea salt, and stir. from here you can add any number of spices - we usually go for oregano, thyme, tarragon, and ginger for this meal. it all depends on your personal taste :p
• pour in 1 cup rice milk, or more as needed, depending on how thick you want your sauce. taste as you go, and add in more salt or sweet or whatever else you think it needs.
• when the pasta is done, drain it and fold in the sauce.

from there, you can just eat it as is, or you can do what i like to do! put some of it into a sautee pan, toss in some panko breadcrumbs, and fry it up to make it creamy AND crispy.

the amount of people this will feed depends on the amount of pasta you cook. we used about 4-6 cups of pasta and it was the right creaminess for us. with ours, it could probably feed about 4-6 people as well :P enjoy!