Happy Vegan Couple's video: HAPPY VEGAN COUPLE: Mac n Cheese Cooking Video

We have a great plant-based version of mac n cheese to share with you. We have adapted this recipe from one in the terrific book, "The Cheese Trap" by Dr. Neal Barnard, Director of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. This version is chock full of colorful veggies and the cheesy flavored sauce is amazing. There is no added oil or sweeteners; there is a bit of salt you can omit if you prefer. So get your taste buds revved up. You're going to love this recipe!!! A great dish for pot-lucks. PS: If you have not yet subscribed to HAPPY VEGAN COUPLE, please do and hit the notification bell so you will receive an email when we post our next video. MAC AND CHEESE PREPARED BY THE HAPPY VEGAN COUPLE *for best health, use organic ingredients as much as possible* Ingredients 3 cups uncooked whole wheat spiral pasta 2 cups of each vegetable: cauliflower, broccoli, sliced mushrooms, sliced carrots, cubed sweet potatoes, 1 cup each: sliced zucchini, frozen green peas 1 1/3 cup raw cashews 3 ½ tbsp. fresh lemon juice 2 tbsp tahini 1 tbsp miso ½ tsp: garlic powder ¼ tsp salt ¼ tsp: black pepper ½ cup dried bread crumbs (we made our own with the heels of Organic Dave’s Killer Bread 21 Whole Grains and Seeds) ½ cup nutritional yeast 2 cups unsweetened soy milk ¾ cup water (you may or may not need this) Instructions 1. Steam sweet potatoes first for about 3-4 minutes. While steaming, start preparing your sauce in your blender. 2. Combine soy milk, raw cashews (if you do not have a powerful blender like a Vitamix, soak your cashews for a few hours to soften before using in this recipe), lemon juice, tahini, miso, garlic powder, ¼ cup of the nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. 3. When sweet potatoes are steamed, add them to your blender. Blend until very smooth. If the sauce seems too thick, add in a little water to your desired consistency. 4. Boil your pasta a couple minutes less than packaged instructions. So if it says cook for 6 minutes, boil only for 4. It will cook the rest of the way in the oven. Once cooked, drain all water out. 5. Steam the cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, and carrots. Once steamed, combine these veggies in a large bowl with the uncooked zucchini and frozen peas. Mix them up. Now you can assemble your casserole. 6. Preheat oven 400 degrees. Use a 15x10x2” pyrex pan. First layer in the pasta and spread evenly in pan. Next add all the veggies and spread throughout pan. Mix up the pasta and veggies a bit. Then pour in the sauce from the blender. Mix well. Add bread crumbs over top and add the rest of the nutritional yeast (you can sprinkle on more nutritional yeast too if you need to cover more of the pasta). 7. Cook the pan covered with aluminum foil or another cover if you have one for 15 minutes. Then remove the cover and cook for an additional 15 minutes. At this point, the casserole should begin turning golden brown on top; if not, you can try to cook a bit more but be careful not to overcook. Enjoy! PS: Denise likes to add cannellini beans to this recipe for an added protein boost. Georgie didn't include it in our video. This recipe was adapted from the Mac n’ Trees recipe in Dr. Neal Barnard’s wonderful book titled, “The Cheese Trap.”