vegan mac n' cheeze done right

This recipe is near and dear to my heart. After eating the delicious vegan mac n' cheeze from Soul Vegetarian in Chicago we needed to know how it was done. However, when we learned the recipe from one of the cooks we found it to be way too oily. So oily that when we tried to keep leftovers, the ingredients would separate and there would be an inch of oil at the bottom of the pan. not so delicious anymore. I knew that there had to be a way of introducing some thickeners and adjusting the ingredients to make a delicious, and somewhat less bad for us version of this favorite. Tada! After years of making it over and over, I've developed this ultimate recipe. As long as you follow the directions exactly, you'll have the tastiest vegan mac n' cheeze ever in addition to a recipe which stores well and provides yummy lunches for the rest of the week.

The recipe makes a lot because Tom and I love having mac n' cheeze leftovers in the fridge. I've never tried scaling it down, but feel free to give it a try.

Ingredients

12 oz bag of Cavatappi
3 cups Soy Milk
1 cup Nutritional Yeast
1/2 cup Olive Oil (Veggie and Canola Oil work well too)
1 tbs Paprika
1 tbs Onion Powder
1 tbs Garlic Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Turmeric
3 tbs Tahini
1 tbs Soy Sauce
1 tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tbs Corn Starch
1 tbs Arrowroot

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

There are a lot of steps to this recipe, and they must be followed exactly. It's actually not that challenging, but it is important that ingredients are added in the right order if you want the awesome creamy consistency of mac 'n cheeze.

Step 1: Boil water and put pasta to cook.

Step 2: Pour soy milk into a blender. With lid in place, turn blender on a medium speed. Most blender lid's have a center piece which can be removed, do so now. If no center piece, carefully remove entire lid. While soy milk is rotating in a funnel shape, slowly pour oil into the center of the blender. If blender is not turned on when oil is poured in, it will not incorporate well with the milk. Once oil and milk are combined, turn off blender.

Step 3: Add nutritional yeast, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and turmeric. Pulse a few times until combined.

Step 4: Add tahini, soy sauce and apple cider vinegar. Blend.

Step 5: Blend in cornstarch and arrowroot.

Step 6: When pasta is ready pour into a 9x13 baking dish. Spread cheeze sauce over cooked pasta and stir until noodles are well coated. The sauce will still be pretty liquidy at this point, but no need to worry!

Step 7: Place pasta mixture in oven. The total baking time will be 30 minutes, however there is an important last part you must not neglect! Every 5-7 minutes while the pasta bakes, you must open the oven and stir the noodles. If you skip this part, the top of your sauce will get creamy and the bottom will remain liquidy. If you want cheezy deliciousness you must stir the pasta during the baking process.

Step 8: Remove from oven and serve!! Tom likes his salty and I like to add black pepper, so feel free to season it up to your liking. So YUM. I also like mine with ketchup and bbq sauce. Or with cut up cooked veggie dogs! Reminds me of when I was kid.

The mac 'n cheeze will keep well in an air-tight container one week in the fridge. Leftovers are the best.