Cashew Carrot Mac and Cheese Sauce

You won't believe what ingredients are in this sauce. I'm so excited it turned out so yummy; I love combining healthy fats and veggies. The trickiest part of this recipe was deciding what to use for the orange color that typical mac and cheese sauce has. With it being autumn, there are quite a few veggies that are the perfect color and that blend well with cashews and spices. It's no secret anymore, see below, that I used carrots and butternut squash. Awesome. 

This recipe is perfect if you are already vegan or if you are learning how to kick dairy. You can make a perfect non vegan sauce with ingredients that are already in your kitchen cabinet, all whole ingredients that will give you efficient and sustained energy throughout the day. Pick your favorite pasta for this dish; anything you want, I used regular organic pasta that I bought at Trader Joe's. If you want to keep this recipe gluten-free, get gluten free penne, rotini or elbow pasta.

You need your food processor and a steamer for this recipe. Soak the cashews overnight first since they blend better when soaked. You will also need a creamy non dairy milk; I love canned coconut milk. This recipe is love. Love for the earth, animals, yourself, it's ethical, sustainable and completely bananas yummy. Just try it for yourself! Don't want your kids to develop a taste for dairy? Just make them mac and cheese with a cashew or coconut base and they won't even miss the cheese. Children develop tastebuds early on so they won't miss cheese if they are never given the opportunity to be exposed to it.

I have been dreaming about this recipe for a while and finally got my butt to Trader Joe's last night. I bought the ingredients for this recipe as well as a raw cake recipe and bought fillers for my sushi rolls and rice paper rolls; I can't wait to start eating sushi again! Amazon....amazon has affordable nori sheets, like lots of them :)

Cheese Sauce Recipe:
1/4 pound of cashews, soaked
1 organic carrot, steamed

3-4 pieces of quartered butternut squash, steamed
2 tsp of turmeric

1 tbsp of sea salt

2 tbsp of nutritional yeast

1/4 cup of coconut milk

Soak your cashews overnight, or if you cannot wait, soak for about 2 hours in warm water. Steam your carrot and squash until you can easily get a fork through them. In your food processor, blend the cashews, milk and spices until creamy. Don't add all the milk at once, add it slowly so you can stop when the sauce is at the consistency you desire. Once everything is blended, add the carrot and squash; the sauce will turn an orangy/yellow color. Stop your food processor, scrape the side and taste. I added a little more salt and kept blending. You can add more milk to make it thinner. I like thick sauce but not too thick.

To make your sauce thinner and resembling a "cheese whiz" consistency that is a little more orange in color, ditch the cashews (this version is also good if you are allergic to nuts). Combine the following in your food processor:

2 organic carrots, steamed

3/4 of a can of coconut milk

2 tsp of turmeric

1 tbsp of sea salt

2 tbsp of nutritional yeast

Process until it is the consistency you like. You can add more milk also. And for this recipe, you can add more nutritional yeast; I add a fair helping of nooch in all my cheese recipes. Make the pasta according to the package directions. When the pasta is done and drained, mix it with the sauce. You can also add cherry tomatoes, kale or spinach. One local restaurant adds coconut bacon to theirs and it's pretty good.

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