Mac And Cheeless Pasta

By á-4939

Ingredients

• cheeseless sauce: (note: if you like A L OT of cheese and want leftover sauce, double this recipe)
• 1 small sweet potato (to make about 3/4 cup mashed)
• 3/4 cup canned butternut squash puree*
• I used half butternut squash and half pumpkin
• 1/4 cup Earth Balance vegan buttery spread, melted
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast (or more..)
• 1-3 Tbsp roasted garlic (you roast it, see below)
• 1/2 cup plain soy creamer or milk (almond varieties work too)
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1-5 pinches of cayenne or red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp salt (or to taste)
• For the roasted garlic: 1 head of garlic + 1-2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• sweet potato, pumpkin or butternut squash can be used
• Pasta: tube or macaroni pasta (make as much as you would like to serve.**)
• Upon serving, add about 1/2 cup on cheeseless sauce for every 3/4 -1 cup of cooked pasta. Easy to modify based on how thickly sauced you like it.
• serving garnish: freshly chopped parsley (optional)

Preparation

Step 1

. Roast the garlic: Heat your oven to 400 degrees. Slice off the top of your head of garlic and place it in a large piece of tin foil. Drizzle olive oil over top garlic, close foil tightly around garlic and place in the oven to roast for about 25 minutes. When done, remove garlic carefully (hot!) and squeeze out the roasted garlic pieces. You will have leftover garlic - this can be used to make garlic rubbed toast to pair with your pasta. Or store leftover garlic wrapped in fridge to use in soups or other dishes. I love it slathered on toast.

2. While your garlic is roasting, you can also be baking your sweet potato. Bake in the oven until tender. This usually takes about 35-45 minutes for a small potato. The oven can be set anywhere from 375-400.

3. Make your sauce. Add all the ingredients to a food processor or blender (Vitamix) and blend until smooth and creamy. Taste test and add more nutritional yeast if you'd like. Adjust other seasonings as well as desired.

4. Boil water in a large pasta pot and cook pasta until tender. Drain and transfer to a large mixing bowl.

5. Fold the sauce into the warm pasta until well coated.

6. Serve as is or transfer to a large casserole dish and bake the pasta at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. I topped mine with some fried onion bits. Bread crumbs, extra vegan cheese or other toppings can be added before baking.