This creamy dairy free pasta is the perfect fall comfort food and is packed with immune boosting nutrients to keep your little ones full and healthy. This healthy take on mac and cheese is entirely free of dairy which is helpful during cold and flu season. It is loaded with Vitamin A and C from the butternut squash, packed full of B complex vitamins and protein with the nutritional yeast. If you have a toddler who loves anything with macaroni or spiral noodles, this is the recipe for you. The name mac and cheese may be slightly misleading, as it doesn't really taste like a true mac and cheese. But it looks like it and the creaminess of the butternut squash and the slightly cheesy flavour of the nutritional yeast make this a tasty comfort food that you can feel good about giving to your kiddos!

Butternut Squash "Mac & Cheese"

Author: Stephanie || Serves: 4

Ingredients

Medium butternut squash (or 3 cups cooked)
3-4 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4-1/2 cup of dairy free milk or broth of choice (i used coconut milk and almond milk and each variation worked)
1 tsp. dijion mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried onion flakes
generous amount of salt and pepper to taste
handful of chopped parsley
2 tbsp hemp hearts
A scoop or two or cooked pasta water
3/4 of 16 ounce (450 g) bag of brown rice macaroni or spiral pasta

Instructions

Slice the butternut squash in half, scoop out the seeds (these can be roasted but we can save that for another recipe!) and roast in the oven for 35-45 minutes (or until soft or fully cooked) at 400 degrees F, with 1/2 inch of water in the roasting pan.
Boil water and prepare pasta as instructed on the package, cooking until al dente.
Meanwhile, blend the squash, olive oil, nutritional yeast, cider vinegar, dijon, onion, garlic, and salt and pepper for a few minutes in food processor until completely smooth.
The consistency of the sauce is going to vary depending on the squash (some have more water than others). So slowly add your coconut or almond milk until you reach the desired consistency. It should be thick and creamy but easily mixed in with the pasta. You can also use some of the cooked pasta water to add as needed.
Once the pasta is cooked and strained, stir in the sauce to fully coat the pasta.
Sprinkle with hemp hearts and parsley.
Serve hot.

Notes

The roasting of the squash is the part that takes the longest. So if you know you want to make it, just cook the squash ahead of time while cooking another meal. Then you'll have it on hand and can pull this together in ten minutes!

I don't feel great if I eat pasta (even gluten free) on a regular basis, so I will often have this on top of some spaghetti squash. And my toddler even loves this just as much too!

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