Hey my Lovelies,

Welcome to the first episode and series of, What You Cooking Good Looking – Cooking with CRPS 

This series will be where I document my own original recipes once or twice a month, using alternative ingredients to replace foods that I’m intolerant to or that is a fun and creative way to experiment with a classic dish. My relationship with food hasn’t been the best, especially speaking over the past few years and so I’m trying to motivate myself to get back into experimenting with food like I’ve always loved doing whilst trying out my own recipes for meals I haven’t eaten in a long time.

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All future recipes will be easy to access via MENU dropdown bar and going to page – Cooking with CRPS 👩‍🍳🔥

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VEGAN-NOT-SO-VEGAN MAC & CHEESE

My absolute favourite food growing up was macaroni & cheese. I would ask my mum to buy it for me from Somerfields all the time on most weekends and couldn’t wait for it to finish cooking in the oven so I could eat it all up, Lol.

Today I’m cooking my own Mac & Cheese. Most ingredients are gluten-free and vegan but a few ingredients, unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get alternatives in the time I had.

 

Total Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

• Gluten-free Fusili pasta
• Violife vegan cheese block – mozzarella flavour
• Violife vegan cheese grated – mozzarella flavour
• I can’t believe it’s not Butter – margarine
• Croutons (plain & sea salt + black pepper)
• Alpro almond milk – unsweetened
• Mature cheddar grated
• Hot pepper sauce
• Thyme
• Garlic & herb seasoning
• Southern paprika seasoning

 

Step 1: Prepare Gluten-Free Pasta

Not many people know this fact but Macaroni is actually the type of pasta that you use to cook this classic American dish, hence the name being Macaroni & Cheese. I tried to look for gluten-free macaroni pasta but couldn’t find any so had to settle for gluten-free Fusili which is the twisty looking pasta, just as good for making this dish so no worries.

Boil gluten-free pasta for 10 minutes on 180 degrees – until it becomes a little softer than Al Dente texture (not too soft but retaining some firmness)

Check pasta every 5 mins for texture

*I don’t think it’s necessary to add oil or salt to the pasta as the ingredients that’ll be added later on contain salt in them already

Once cooked, drain pasta and move on to step 2

Step 2: Cheese Roux (sauce)

Pour almond milk into an empty pot and turn to 150 degrees. How much sauce you need is dependant on how much pasta has been made. I used almost all of a 1L box of Alpro milk.

One by one add ingredients to milk to build up into a cheese sauce;

• Violife vegan cheese block – mozzarella flavour (a whole block – 200g)
• Violife vegan cheese grated – mozzarella flavour (a handful)
• Mature cheddar cheese – (a handful)
• Croutons – plain (2 handfuls)
• Hot pepper sauce – (1 tablespoon)
• I can’t believe it’s not Butter margarine – (2 tablespoons)
• Thyme (2 tablespoons)
• Garlic & herb seasoning (2 tablespoons)
• Southern paprika seasoning (2 tablespoons)

 

In order to keep this 100% vegan, do NOT add margarine or mature cheddar cheese

Keep on stirring the cheese sauce in the pot for 10 minutes whilst still on fire, making sure the croutons are melting into the mixture smoothly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3: Mixing

Once the roux (cheese sauce) is nicely mixed, add the cooked pasta to the mixture and make sure to cover everything well.

Pour pasta and cheese sauce mix into an empty oven usable dish and smoothen out.

Sprinkle grated cheese on top. For extra crunch, crush some croutons on top with the grated cheese

Step 4: Cook

Cook Macaroni & Cheese in the oven on fan setting at 210 degrees for 20 minutes

 

 

 

 

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Step 5: Tuck In 😋

To see video clips of how I made this Mac & Cheese, sign into Instagram and watch my latest Insta-story!

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Thanks for stopping by.

Laura,

XOXO