Vegan Mac & Cheese

• 16 oz macaroni noodles (or noodle shape of your choice)

"Cheese" Sauce

• 2 cups yellow potatoes (weighing a total of 325 grams before peeling), peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup carrots (40-50 grams), peeled and sliced
• 2/3 cup yellow onion (100 grams), chopped
• 1 cup (128 grams) raw cashews
• 1 1/2 cup vegetable cooking water
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• sprinkling of paprika (topping)

Boil vegetables and cashews in some water until tender (or cook in an Instant Pot for 6 minutes).

While veggies are cooking, boil noodles until al dente (6-8 minutes). Drain, rinse, then return to the pot.

Once veggies are done, strain while reserving 1 1/2 cups of the water. Transfer veggies/cashews to a blender and add all remaining sauce ingredients including reserved vegetable cooking water. Blend until smooth.

Pour sauce over cooked noodles, stir, and serve with a pinch of paprika sprinkled on top. You can also place the mac & cheese into an oven-safe dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs, and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Variation: Add steamed broccoli to make Mac & Trees! If using the instant pot, simply do the pot-in-pot method float a stainless steel or glass bowl of fresh or frozen broccoli florets on top of the veggies and cashews in the instant pot, seal the lid, then pressure cook as normal.