Creamy Baked Mac and Cheese

Mac and cheese is a childhood favorite (who doesn't love a good mac?), but I never tried to make my own vegan version. UNTIL NOW! I wanted to make a dish that was creamy, tangy, and of course cheesey. For a vegan friendsgiving, I whipped up this vegan mac and cheese that uses Kite Hill's Jalapeño cream cheese and almond milk yogurt to make the dish creamier with the bonus of having a kick of spice. Both my vegan and non-vegan friends loved this recipe, so hopefully you all will too!

Serves: 12-16
Time: 15 min for Breadcrumbs, 30 min for Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

Fresh Breadcrumbs

• 5 slices of bread (any regular store loaf will do. I used multi-grain bread)
• 2 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast
• 1 Tablespoon Thyme
• 1 Tablespoon Rosemary

Pasta

• 2 packages (14 ounces) shell pasta
• 8 tablespoons vegan butter
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups soy milk
• 1 package (8 ounces) vegan cream cheese (I used Kite Hill jalapeno cream cheese)
• 5.3 oz of plain dairy free yogurt (i used Kill Hill almond milk plain yogurt) 
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese (I used Daiya)
• 2 tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast
• 13 oz of vegan beef crumbles (I used Gardein's Beefless Ground Crumbles)

Steps

Breadcrumbs:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
2. In a bowl,  either cut or rip by hand the slices of bread into small pieces (about 1 cm each)
3. Mix in the nutritional yeast, thyme, and rosemary and toss until the bread crumbs are covered
4. Distribute breadcrumbs over a tray and bake for 10-15 min until they are lightly toasty

Pasta:

1. Preheat oven at 400 degrees F. 
2. Cook the pasta according to package directions.
3. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan. Stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add soy milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Reduce heat; add the cream cheese, nutritional yeast, cheddar cheese, and yogurt. Stir until cheese is melted and the sauce is thick, yet smooth.  Drain the pasta and add to the cheese sauce and stir to coat.
4. Transfer to a greased shallow 13 x 9 baking dish
5. Melt the remaining butter and toss with bread crumbs over a pan. Then sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the pasta.
6. Sprinkle the vegan ground beef over the pasta
7.  Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown