Vegan Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese used to be one of my favorite guilty pleasures. I was so happy to find a way to create the same satisfaction of mac and cheese by using vegetables! This has to be one of my favorite vegan comfort foods.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1. 500g pasta (I used wholegrain)

2. 1 cup cashews (soaked)

3. 1 cup non-dairy milk + more to get the right consistency

4. 1/2 cup nutritional yeast

5. 1 cup of chopped butternut squash

7. 1 onion

8. 4 cloves of garlic

9. 1 tsp wholegrain mustard

10. 1 tbsp tomato puree

11. 1 tsp hot sauce

12. 1 chilli

13. 1/2 tsp paprika

14. 1 tsp chilli flakes

15. Juice 1/2 lemon

16. Salt/pepper

17. 1 tsp thyme

Toppings (optional)

1. Handful of cherry vine tomatoes

2. Handful of green olives

3. 1 tsp olive oil

4. Salt/pepper to taste

5. 1 tsp thyme

Instructions

1. Start by chopping the butternut squash into cubes. Place in a steamer and let it steam for 15 - 20 minutes until soft.

2. In the meantime, you can cook the pasta as instructed on the package and put the tomatoes and olives in the oven. Slice the tomatoes and olives in half and place in a small backing tray with a drizzle of olive oil, salt/pepper and thyme. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.

3. Fry the onion, garlic and leave to the side.

4. Once the vegetables are cooked, you can add all of the ingredients into a blender: onion, garlic, butternut squash, soaked cashews, almond milk, nutritional yeast, mustard, tomato puree, chilli, hot sauce, lemon juice and spices.

5. Blend all ingredients until a smooth, cheesy sauce is created. You may need to occasionally add more almond milk to get the right consistency.

6. Add the cheese sauce to a pot to heat up and then throw in the pasta. Give it a stir and it's good to go!

7. By this time, your roasted cherry tomatoes and olives should be ready to take out of the oven. Place as much as you like on top of your mac and cheese and serve.