Easy Vegan Mac N' Cheeezy

Total Time: 30-40 minutes

Yield: serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 1 medium head of broccoli/cauliflower/romanesco - cut into florets & steamed

• 4-8 cloves garlic - crushed

• 1 yellow onion - diced

• 16 ounces penne pasta - cooked

Cheeezy Sauce Ingredients:

• ¼ cup vegan butter - I used earth balance

• ¼ cup flour

• 3 cups oat milk

• 1 cup nutritional yeast

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 3 teaspoons yellow mustard

• 1 teaspoon pepper

Instructions:

1. Cook your pasta, strain, set aside

2. While pasta is cooking cut your broccoli* and steam for 15-20 minutes or until soft enough to easily pierce with a fork, set aside

3. Crush the garlic and chop the onions, saute on low for 10-15 minutes

4. Mix pasta, broccoli*, and sauteed garlic & onions together in a serving bowl

5. Begin making the cheeezy sauce by melting the vegan butter in a saucepan on medium heat

6. Add the flour to the melted butter and then slowly pour in the milk, whisking as you pour

7. Bring the mix to a boil, regularly whisking

8. Lower the heat down to medium/low and add the nutritional yeast, mustard, salt, and pepper

9. Continue heating and mixing until thickened - about 5-10 minutes

10. Add more salt or pepper to taste

11. Add the cheeezy sauce to the serving bowl and mix everything together so the cheeezy sauce is evenly distributed

12. Serve & enjoy!

I have no evidence to go with this theory but I’m pretty sure kids would totally love this vegan mac n’ cheeez. Eating broccoli as a kid was so easy for me as long as it was covered in cheese. Does anyone else remember - maybe they’re still around - those frozen packets of broccoli and cheese sauce? I was OBSESSED with those. I no longer buy my broccoli frozen but I do still eat a good amount of Kraft Easy Mac and I think this vegan recipe is really impressive. I feel like I would have been so into this dish as a kid. I quickly put this recipe together one night so I could use a head of cauliflower in my fridge that needed to be used and then I made it again just a few days later because I couldn’t stop thinking about how good it was. It made for fantastic leftovers as well. My only criticism is that the pasta isn’t in the shape of cartoons. Hope you’ll give it a try anyways! Cheers!