Vegan Mac'n'Cheese

I LOVE cheese. I love cheese with bread, cheese with noodles, cheese with vegetables, cheese in any way I can get it. Thus, before trying the recipe below, I was very skeptical of the possibility that vegan mac 'n' cheese could resemble anything comparable to the real deal. 

Fortunately, my love of trying new things won out over my cheesy skepticism. After the first bite, I was impressed. It seemed like a miracle that the ingredients could transform into the gooey cheese-like deliciousness gracing my mouth.

Even the die hard omnivores I ate with went back for seconds!

The following recipe comes from vegweb.com. It is in it's original form with my suggestions in (brackets).

Vegan Mac 'n' Cheese

1 1/2 pounds pasta, preferably macaroni

    "Cheese" Sauce:
1 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk (I used home made almond milk; just soak almonds for 1-6 hrs. and puree them in a blender)
    1 1/2 cups nutritional yeast
    1 cup canola or vegetable oil
    1 cup water
    1/3 cup tamari or soy sauce
    1/4 (12 ounce) block firm (not silken) tofu
    1 tablespoon garlic powder (I used the full amount, but if you are leery of garlic, use less; I certainly will next time)
    1 tablespoon paprika
    1 tablespoon vegesal or in lack of fancy product, just use salt (salt is perfectly a-ok, I used it, what the heck is vegesal anyway?)
    1 dollop mustard, optional (didn't try this)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Boil water in a big pot and cook pasta according to package directions.

2. Add all of the "cheese" sauce ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Once pasta is cooked, drain and put it in the baking pan (about the size of a brownie pan) (I used an 8x11 dish). Pour the "cheese" sauce over the pasta. (I sprinkled a layer of panko bread crumbs over the top, definitely recommend that little touch)

3. Bake until the top of the pasta looks slightly browned and crispy, about 15 minutes.

This is very simple and tastes amazing! If you are cooking for yourself, it will last about 5 days if you eat it for all three meals of the day.

Serves: a lot; Preparation time: about 8 minutes; Cooking Time: 15 minutes