Bottom-Friendly Mac n’ Cheese Bake

Ingredients:

For the Cheese Sauce:

• ¼ C Red Bell Pepper

• 1 Carrot

• 2 Yukon Gold Potatoes

• ½ Sweet Yellow Onion

• ½ C Cashews

• 2 tsp Salt

• 1 C Nutritional Yeast

• Reserved Pasta Water

For the Macaroni:

• 2 lb Macaroni Shells

• 4 tbsp butter OR vegan butter

• 7 oz vegan cheddar shreds (the kind that melts!)

For the topping:

• 1 C Panko Bread Crumbs

• 2 tbsp butter OR vegan butter

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

2. Make my Dairy Free Queso. Plain! No need to add the fixins.

3. Fill a large stock pot ¾ of the way with water. Place over high heat. Once the water begins to boil, heavily salt the water and add the macaroni. Cook according to the package’s instructions for al dente.

4. Once the pasta is al dente, reserve 2 cups of pasta water and strain the pasta. Mix the pasta with the dairy free queso, vegan cheddar cheese shreds, ½ cup of pasta water (more if needed---aka, if the pasta isn’t creamy enough) and pour the pasta into a 9x13 baking pan. Top the macaroni with panko bread crumbs and small pieces of cubed butter, spreading out everything evenly.

5. Bake for 25 minutes. Serve immediately. Bottoms up!