Baked Mac and Cheeze

The recipe below is from 1,000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson.

---x-posted over at Cooking from 1000 Vegan Recipes---

I've had a favorite vegan macaroni and 'cheese' recipe for years (New Farm Cookbook recipe) and have been quite dedicated to it. I see new recipes for macaroni and 'cheese' all the time and have not been able to bring myself to try another. I sometimes even buy ingredients to try another recipe and wind up making the old standby. Well I finally did it. I made a different recipe.

I tried the Baked Mac and Cheeze and you know, I loved it. I still like my old recipe too, but I cannot decide which one I like more. This recipe is less creamy (and probably a lot healthier) but it tastes great. It has a little onion in it which gives it a nice flavor and also has a healthy dose of cayenne for a big kick. I think I might use just a tad less cayenne next time, but otherwise, I would not change a thing. This recipe will probably now be the go-to macaroni and 'cheese' recipe for a while. It was time for a change.

I used whole wheat breadcrumbs for the topping.



Served it with broccoli.

Instant Mac and "Cheese"

Everyone remembers the blue box; the quick, easy lunch or dinner. There aren't very good (readily available) vegan replacements for the blue box. Leahey makes a pretty good version, but I hate the crappy pasta they put with it. If you order the cheesy sauce separate and make your own pasta, that's pretty good... but you have to order it online. Here is a version that you can make it home in almost the same time, once you've made the mix. Here is a recipe from the Uncheese Cookbook for Instant Cheese Sauce Mix.

Now that you have the mix, you can have mac and cheese anytime. I am still working on the proportions. I think I have too much sauce to pasta. Next time, I might cut the sauce in half. Play around with it and see what you think. It might be best to make some extra pasta (till we completely figure it out) so you can correct the sauce amount.



Note in the pic that it looks like I found the elusive straight macaroni. I didn't. This is Barilla Picollini (or mini ziti). It is bigger than straight macaroni. I think I will just use macaroni next time.

Instant Mac and Cheese

2.5 oz Macaroni Pasta
1/4 cup Instant Cheese Sauce Mix
1/2+ cup rice milk or soy milk
1 T Earth Balance Margarine

Cook the pasta in a medium pot according to directions. When tender, drain and leave in colander till sauce is done. In the same pot, over low heat, melt the margarine. Add the rice milk and sauce mix. Stir with a whisk. Careful because this will thicken very quickly since the pot was already hot. Once thickened, remove from heat and stir well. If it is too thick, add some more rice milk. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir well.