BUTTERNUT SQUASH MAC & CHEESE

Sometimes ya just want a giant bowl of creamy mac and cheese. Sometimes ya gotta make one, especially if it's super healthy and nutritious! I don't have much to say about this recipe because it basically speaks for itself. There are already so many great vegan mac and cheese recipes out there so if you don't like the looks of this one, feel free to Google "vegan mac and cheese" and find even better ones. But this is what I made yesterday, and I figured you'd want me to share it with all you wonderful humans. 

To be honest I actually ended up giving this to my dad for his dinner, because I lost my appetite just as I finished making it! I was looking forward to it all day too! My period really messes up my metabolism... am I the only one!? Yesterday I didn't want to eat much at all, but today I am ravenous. I dreamt about bananas and juice last night so that's all I want. Having said all that - I promise this recipe is really tasty! Try it out! Note: it's more butternut squashy than cheesy, so if you're looking for a cheesier recipe, this one looks crazy good. 

BUTTERNUT SQUASH MAC & CHEESE 

Base:

3 cups of quinoa penne is in the photos, but you could use whatever you want. 

Sauce:

3 cups cubed butternut squash, baked until soft

1/2 onion

1 garlic clove

1/4 cup cashews

1/2 avocado

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon turmeric 

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon coriander 

3 dates (or 1 teaspoon liquid sweetener)

Salt & pepper, to taste

Water, as needed

Prepare your base: cook your noodles, rice, or whatever... or slice a zucchini into zucchini noodles!

To make the sauce: blend everything until smooth and creamy. Mix into your noodles or rice or whatever base you want and nom it up! Oh... this would probably be amazing if you baked it in a bowl with Daiya vegan cheese shreds over top. Mmm.

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peanut butter cups... gone wild!

Get it? Because they have no tops. Ha-ha. I should really spend more time developing my comedic talents, and less time making peanut butter and chocolate concoctions.

On second thought... bad idea. PB and chocolate always comes first. Last night I was thinking of ways to use the raw mesquite powder my parents got me for x-mas (buy it here). It has a light flavour of cinnamon and cocoa. I love chocolate, and I add cinnamon to everything, so it's perfect for me!

I decided to make peanut butter cups. But of course, forgetful me... I spooned out all the chocolate mix for the bottoms, and had none left for the tops. Woops. So they're wild and topless pb cups.

Deal with it.

They're still just as delicious and comforting as regular ones. And WAAAY more nutritious than Reeses.
To compare, here's the ingredients in a Reeses:

Milk Chocolate (Milk Chocolate contains Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Nonfat Milk, Milk Fat, Lactose, and Soya Lecithin and PGPR (as Emulsifiers), Peanuts, Sugar, Dextrose, Salt, and TBHQ and Citric Acid (to Preserve Freshness) ---> Freshness??? What's fresh here?!

Here's the ingredients and recipe for MY "Reeses", enjoy, guilt-free! 
(Aside from the PB, they're raw. If you can afford raw jungle peanuts, go for it!)

topless peanut butter cups: makes about 10 normal or 25 small

chocolate:

4 Tb cacao

2 Tb raw mesquite 

1/4 cup melted coconut oil

1/4 cup agave or maple syrup 

Pinch of salt

1 t vanilla extract

3-4 dates, if you want

peanut butter: 

3/4 natural peanut butter (I make my own) - you can use other nut butters if you want

3 Tb agave, if you want

2 Tb nutritional yeast, if you want

NOTE: My "chocolate" ended up not being very hard, like real chocolate. Still mind-blowingly good, but if you want harder chocolate use more coconut oil and cacao/mesquite OR simply melted dark chocolate.

Blend all ingredients from first list together until you have a smooth, chocolate mixture... I couldn't stop eating it right out of the food processor. Spoon one teaspoon or so into the bottom of several cupcake papers, until you run out. Set aside.

Mix the PB, agave and nooch (if using) and then put a dollop of that onto each of the chocolate bottoms. Stick 'em in the fridge for a few hours and then serve! YEAH BABY!