Yummy Comfort Food Alert: Cashew Macaroni

Since many of us on the east coast are snowed in right now, I thought some comfort food might be in order. A couple of weeks ago, I had some really tasty mac n cashew "cheese" at Cashew in Chattanooga, and was inspired to search for some recipes to make my own.  The recipe below is adapted from this one on the Whole Foods website.  You guys, it was fantastic.  Macaroni and cheese is my (non-vegan) husband's favorite food, and he thought it was the bomb. The addition of Almond Milk and eliminating the added oil made it a creamy and not too indulgent addition to the dinner table.

Food photo fail: forgot to take a picture of it before we ate half of it!

Ingredients

• 2 cups raw cashews
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2 tablespoons white miso
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (or other non dairy milk of your choice)
• 1 pound whole-grain elbow macaroni
• Sprinkle of vegan Parmesan cheese (if desired) 

Yield: 8 servings

Instructions 

1. Soak raw cashews with for at least 4 hours. Drain and discard water.
2. Place cashews in a food processor with oil, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, miso, garlic, salt, paprika and pepper. Pulse until cashews are finely chopped. With the motor running, add 3/4 cup non dairy milk and process until smooth.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F and lightly coat a 9x13-inch shallow baking dish with cooking spray. 
4. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to pot. 
5. Add cashew mixture to pasta and stir to combine.  
6. Transfer mixture to the prepared baking dish and bake 20-25 minutes, or until heated through and golden on top. 

 Nutrition

Amount Per Serving
Calories 254
Total Fat 5 g
Saturated Fat 1 g
Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 286 mg
Potassium 68 mg
Total Carbohydrate 46 g
Dietary Fiber 7 g
Sugars 3 g
Protein 9 g