Mac & "Cheese"

I found this recipe in my Vegan Yum Yum book and all I can say is.. Oh my god. I've tried so many vegan mac&cheese recipes and they were all well.. pretty disgusting. I'd even given up trying. But then I was flipping through this book and found yet another macaroni recipe so I decided..Hey, why not. Thank God I tried it because now my search is over. Another new wonderful discovery that came with this recipe: nutritional yeast, my new best friend. So good.



Serves: 4
What you need:
3 cups elbow macaroni
1 recipe "cheesy sauce"
1 cup toasted bread crumbs
4 oven safe bowls or one casserole dish

Cheesy Sauce:
1/3 cup Smart Balance Light (or any other vegan margarine)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon miso (I like red)
1 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/4 cups soy milk (I used Silk Original, light)
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
2 pinches salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Cook the noodles. Once they are finished boiling, drain and set aside while you start to prepare the sauce:
Melt the margarine in a saucepan over medium-heat (be careful it isn't too hot so that the margarine doesn't burn!). Once it's melted, add the flour and whisk until the flour is dissolved. Add the miso, tahini, tomato paste, soy sauce, and lemon juice and whisk all of the ingredients together until they are fully incorporated (the mixture should be sort of thick by now). Slowly stir in the soy milk scraping the sides to prevent pasty-buildup. Turn the heat up a bit. Add the yeast, salt, and pepper and whisk until it thickens (Once it starts to boil it should be pretty thick). Take the sauce off of the heat, and toss with the macaroni. Distribute into individual bowls/ casserole dish.
Top the mac & "cheese" with the toasted bread crumbs and place into the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes until nice and bubbly.

*If using the individual bowls, place them on a cookie sheet in the oven for better handling.*

**If needed, place under the broiler for one minute or more to brown on top.**

***Squirt lemon juice over top for taste**