Best Yet Baked Vegan Mac n' "Cheeze"

I've been experimenting for some time with different vegan mac n' "cheeze" recipes. Mac n' cheese is one of my favourite comfort foods, and lots of the recipes I've tried have been close to the kind of thing I was looking for but were not quite up to satisfying my cheese cravings. What I was looking for was a mac n' cheeze that was gooey, but not making the pasta mushy. Also one that was not thickened with flour or cornstarch, resulting in glue for leftovers. And of course, it needed to taste as close to cheese as possible without being cheese. This version is pretty darn good, and very satisfying. No mac n' "cheeze" is quite mac n' cheese, but I think I like this just as well (and I don't have a stomach ache after). With broccoli and tomatoes, it's a complete meal. My partner also likes to add veg sausage to his.

• 1 cup brocoli pieces (small florets and pieces of stem)

• 1 tomato, skinned and chopped into small pieces (place whole tomato in boiling hot water for a minute or two and skin will come off easily)

Recipe:

• About 3 cups large macaroni

• About 1/2 cup Daiya vegan cheese (this is optional, but it makes it cheesier tasting, and more cheesy textured, too).

• 1 Tbsp vegan margarine (I use Becel vegan)

Sauce ingredients:

• 1 C raw cashews

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast

• 2 cloves garlic

• 2 tsp lemon juice

• 1 Tbsp tahini

• 2 Tbsp mild yellow miso

• 3 Tbsp pimentos (from jar), roasted red pepper or salsa

• 1/4 tsp mustard powder

• 1/2 tsp paprika

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

• Few dashes of Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning

• 3/4 cup water or soy milk (can add more if the sauce is too thick)

Topping:

• 2 Tbsp home-made vegan “parmesan”

• 3 Tbsp panko breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 375 F. Put on a pot of water to boil. Cut up broccoli and skin and chop tomato. Put on macaroni to boil. For the last three or so minutes of the pasta’s cooking time, you’ll want to add in the broccoli to cook too. You want the broccoli barely cooked - still firm. So make sure your pot is big enough for mac & broccoli!

While the macaroni is boiling, make the “cheese” sauce by putting all of the sauce ingredients in a blender. Start blending on low, and move to high setting, until all ingredients are completely blended into a smooth, orange sauce. It should be thick, but not too thick. It should be a little thinner than you’d want cheese sauce to be if you were pouring it directly onto pasta for eating. It will thicken a little when the casserole is baking. If the sauce is too thick (ie. if you have to use a spatula to get it out of the blender) add a little more water or soy milk and blend. If it is really runny (seems more like a beverage than a sauce) add some more cashews and blend again until smooth. I like to do this sauce by taste, adding things as I go. If it tastes good raw, it'll taste better cooked.

Drain the macaroni and broccoli. Put macaroni and broccoli into a large bowl and coat it in margarine to stop sticking. Grease a large casserole dish. Mix sauce, tomatoes and Daiya into macaroni bowl. Pour the macaroni mix into the casserole dish. Top with panko and parmesan. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the top of the casserole is slightly golden and firm. Let cool at least 5 minutes before serving and eating. I love putting freshly ground black pepper on mine!