Vegan Mac & Cheese

Is it just me, or does 'vegan mac & cheese' sound like an oxymoron?

I'm participating in a Crazy Cooking Challenge at Mom's Crazy Cooking. The challenge this month is mac & cheese. 

Serendipitously, my mother-in-law just passed along a cheese-like sauce recipe from a friend of hers. It's the best cheesy cheeseless sauce I've come across since giving up cheese 3+ years ago. So whether you're just curious (cuz why would anyone give up cheese) or you try to minimize your dairy intake, here's our take on Vegan Mac & Cheese.

Start with organic, locally grown carrots and potatoes, preferably with dirt still on them.

Just kidding! Whatever carrots and spuds will work.

Wash them and cube them. You'll need about 6 cups of potatoes and 2 cups of carrots.

Boil them in a big pot. 

 When the carrots and potatoes are soft, drain any remaining liquid and put them in a blender. Add 1/4 cup raw cashews, 1/4 cup brewers yeast (also called nutritional yeast), 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and 2 teaspoons salt. 

Blend until smooth.

This is a Vitamix blender. I tried my food processor, but it just didn't get everything smooth. No one wants crunchy cheese sauce, so go for the blender!

Doesn't that look like cheese?! Velveeta?

Pour the cheese into a large bowl, then mix in pre-cooked macaroni noodles.

I also added garlic salt and pepper-like seasoning, but do a taste-test and add what your family likes: herbs, seasoned salt, real pepper... real cheese... No--wait! at least try this first!

The mac & cheese is ready to eat at this point. Well, if the noodles you added were hot. I like to put the mixture in a baking dish and bake it for 20 minutes or so at 350*.

I also added homemade breadcrumbs to the top, but crushed crackers would be yummy too.

Enjoy your faux mac & cheese. Vegan mac & cheese. Macaroni noodles with cheese-like sauce. Whatever!