OMGooey

I have fallen in love again. With another cookbook. Chloe's Kitchen, by young vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli, is AMAZING. While maybe a touch less healthy than Color Me Vegan, this is such a fantastic cookbook for the newly inducted/those transitioning from a SAD (Standard American Diet) to a healthier, plant-based diet. And Chloe's vegan mac and cheese (which I also made gluten free!), while certainly a treat, isn't all that unhealthy--and it's actually amazingly delicious, comforting and gooey. Mine came out of the oven picture-perfect--and Matt flipped over it! (Well, so did I. But he made himself ill. :)

Though the recipe says elbow macaroni, I used spiral pasta because I ordered a bulk shipment of Tinkyada Organic from Amazon. This saves money on a pretty pricey pasta (about $3/pack instead of $5). Also, the organic version isn't available yet at my local co-op, though I requested it so hopefully it will come in soon. I think elbows, shells, spiral or penne would all work pretty nicely. I used almond milk, because rice milk seems like it would be too thin and jury is still out on eating a lot of unfermented soy, so no soy milk in my house.

*I am tweaking this every time I make it, so I will add my notes in italics. :)

Best Ever Baked Mac and Cheese

We were too hungry to remember to take the picture first.

Ingredients
1 lb elbow macaroni(Use Tinkyada and only Tinkyada if you want this to be gluten-free; but note that a package is 12 oz, or 3/4 pound. Get a second package!)

¼ cup vegan margarine (I use organic Earth Balance)

1/3 cup flour or gluten-free flour

3 cups soy, almond or rice milk

½ cup nutritional yeast flakes

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp lemon juice (I replaced with cooking wine for a slightly more 'fermented' cheese flavor)

                                                                                    1 tbsp agave
2 tbsp white cooking wine

                                                                                    2 tbsp seasoned bread crumbs

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x13 pan if metal/aluminum. Glass and ceramic don’t need it.

Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. I do 2 tsp per quart of water, and use about 3 quarts of water, so--6 tsp. Add macaroni and cook according to package directions.  Drain and return to pot.

Meanwhile, in a medium/large saucepan, whisk margarine and flour together over medium heat until it forms a thick paste. (I use a fork for this, then switch to a whisk or beater attachment from the hand-held mixer to blend the forthcoming ingredients.) Add non-dairy milk, tomato paste, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Don’t walk away or it will stick to the pan! Reduce heat and let it simmer for a few moments if needed to thicken. Adjust seasoning to taste and whisk in the cooking wine and agave. Toss noodles with the sauce and transfer to the prepared pan. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top of the pasta and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and crisp and the edges are bubbly. Remove from oven and let rest 5-10 minutes before serving. YUM.