Vegan Mac & Cheez using Daiya Cheddar Shreds

Yesterday was Father's Day and although we don't have any human kids, we have three furbabies. We celebrated FurFather's Day by going to the dog park as we always do every Sunday morning. It was his day, so we decided on BBQ chik'n and mac&cheez for dinner. Hubby is omni and LOVES Kraft Deluxe Sharp Cheddar (which happened to be on sale for $1.50) so I bought it for him because it doesn't require me to mix some unnatural neon orange powdery grossness. I'd never made vegan mac&cheez before and I thought today would be a good day to experiment. So here we go!

Best baked vegan Mac&Cheez you'll ever consume:

12-16oz pkg of elbow macaroni (or other small macaroni)

1.5 cups (almost a full bag) of Daiya Cheese Shreds

2 tablespoons Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese

3 tablespoons of vegan butter (I use Earth Balance because it kicks ass)

3 tablespoons of cornmeal (I don't measure.. I just kinda eyeballed it)

1 cup of unsweetened or original soy/rice/milk substitute

Panko Breadcrumbs (enough to cover dish)

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

Onion Powder (or diced onion.. your choice)

Crushed Red Pepper

Preheat oven to 400

Salt and oil water, boil pasta for 5ish minutes until just tender (do not completely cook through, it will finish cooking in the oven)

When this is done, drain and put in a large bowl. Mix in a small handful of the cheese and set aside.

In a small pot or sauce pan (on medium heat) melt the vegan butter, toss in a couple pinches/shakes of crushed red pepper, onion powder* and salt and pepper to taste. *If you're using diced onion instead of powder, add them in now and wait until they are translucent to continue to the next step.

Shake in about 3tablespoons of cornmeal (remember, I eyeball so I can't be sure) and stir until combined.

Stir in the cup of soymilk, and stir continuously until it just begins to boil. Lower heat and stir for another minute, add in the Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream and stir until melted. Toss in two handfuls of Daiya Cheese. Once that has all combined, turn off heat and pour mixture over the pasta in the bowl.

Mix until all pasta is coated and pour into a grease baking dish. I used a 8.75" pie pan.

Sprinkle pasta with paprika and cover with remaining Daiya Cheese.

Generously cover dish with Panko Breadcrumbs and a little more paprika.

Place uncovered in oven for about 30mins until bubbling and brown.

ENJOY!

This was so amazing, seriously even omni mac&REALcheese obsessed hubby said it was good! I could only eat one slice of this because I was stuffed from all the other food we had, but I'm definitely eating this for lunch and freezing some of it for later.

I paired it with BBQ chik'n nuggets and

The only green beans I'll ever eat:

1 can of organic green beans (or use fresh but it'll take way longer)

1/2 cube of vegan Not Chik'n bouillon

1/4 cup of dried pumpkin seed and soynut mixture (you can use whatever nuts/seeds you like and have on hand)

Coat pan with EVOO and place on medium heat, put in 1/2 cube of Not Chik'n bouillon and sauté until its combined with the EVOO.

Drain can of organic green beans and toss them in with the seasoning, cook until the green beans start to brown and throw in your seeds/nuts and sauté for 5 mins.

DONE.

Easy and sooooo yummy.