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Secret Ingredient Baked Macaroni and Cheese (Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free)

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I grew up absolutely loving macaroni and cheese. Eek, I admit, I used to eat the neon orange KRAFT boxed macaroni and cheese (my favorites were the spiral and Flintstones shaped pasta).

When my mom was in charge of making macaroni and cheese though, it was the real deal. Although not considered healthy by today’s standards, it was pure homemade comfort food without the chemicals found in boxed macaroni and cheese (I didn’t need to wear any sunglasses to block the neon orange color while eating mom’s homemade macaroni and cheese either).

Macaroni & Cheese

My favorite part was the crunchy baked breadcrumb topping. Mmmm Mmmm, good!

What really set apart mom’s homemade macaronic and cheese though?

LOVE

There’s no getting around it; anything made with love tastes better.

Macaroni and cheese transports me back to childhood and warms my heart. But traditional ingredients found in macaroni and cheese cause me a lot of digestive distress and inflammation in my body. Since I didn’t want to give up one of my favorite comfort foods, I got the creative juices flowing. The result was this insanely delicious and healthy baked macaroni and cheese.

Baked Macaroni & Cheese

Inspired by love and a crunchy baked breadcrumb topping, this dairy-free, gluten-free, and grain-free macaroni and cheese will serve to please! You can easily make this Paleo by using Cappello’s paleo fettuccine noodles (just cut them into small noodle strips). You can also spiralize zucchini into macaroni shapes (just be sure to extract all the excess water) or use Brittany Sea Spaghetti (this has a strong seaweed taste and changes the overall taste). If you tolerate gluten-free grains, I recommend using Andean Dream gluten-free organic quinoa macaroni, shells, or fusilli pasta. This brand doesn’t use corn.

Now that we have the pasta down, you may be wondering how we can create a fabulous cheese sauce without dairy. That’s where the secret ingredient comes into play.

Here’s a clue…

We’re amidst Pumpkin Palooza month.

Take a guess…

You’re getting closer…

Pumpkin!

Print
Baked Macaroni and Cheese (Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 4 Servings

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup pumpkin purée (15 oz)

1 cup unsweetened cashew milk

3/4 cup nutritional yeast

3/4 tsp sea salt

3/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp dried mustard

1 Tbsp cassava flour

2 Tbsp garlic-infused olive oil

1/2 tsp asafoetida powder

1/3 - 1/2 cup grain-free breadcrumbs

Pasta of choice, cooked as directed

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Prepare the pasta of choice. Grease an oven-safe casserole dish with coconut oil.
  2. In a medium-sized saucepan, warm the olive oil and asafoetida powder over medium-low heat until fragrant. Add the pumpkin, cashew milk, nutritional yeast, salt, pepper, nutmeg, mustard, and cassava flour. Blend with an immersion blender until completely smooth.
  3. Combine the cheese sauce with prepared pasta of choice and transfer to the oven-safe casserole dish. Top evenly with the breadcrumbs.
  4. Bake uncovered at 375° F for 20 minutes or until the topping is slightly golden and crunchy, and the sauce is bubbling.

Notes

Great grain-free pasta choices include Cappello's, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash, and Brittany Sea Spaghetti. If not grain-free, you may use your favorite gluten-free pasta.

Substitution:

Pumpkin

Butternut squash purée

Cashew Milk

Unsweetened coconut or almond milk, or other unsweetened non-dairy milk

Unsweetened Coconut Milk Yogurt

Unsweetened almond milk yogurt, or coconut or cashew cream

Nutritional Yeast

1 cup dairy-free cheddar style cheese

Cassava Flour

Arrowroot or potato starch

Garlic-Infused Olive Oil

Ghee, or olive or macadamia nut oil

Asafoetida Powder

1/2 tsp ground garlic (if tolerated)

Grain-Free Breadcrumbs

Omit (heat sauce and toss with pasta without baking, or cover and bake) or use gluten-free breadcrumbs (if not grain-free)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Copyright: Christine Cherpak - KalenaSpire.

If you wish to share this recipe, please provide a link back to the recipe on the KalenaSpire blog. If you make significant changes to the recipe, please rewrite the recipe in your own unique words and provide a link back to the original post for credit. Thank you!

https://kalenaspire.com/secret-ingredient-baked-macaroni-and-cheese-dairy-free-gluten-free-grain-free/

 

This baked macaroni and cheese is AMAZING. You’ll feel satisfied, comforted, and nourished without a bellyache or post-meal heaviness. That’s what I call a meal!

 

Do you like macaroni and cheese with or without a crunchy breadcrumb topping? Share in the comments below!

 

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. KalenaSpire only joins affiliate programs for products that Christine believes in and sincerely endorses for quality and efficacy.

About Christine

Christine Cherpak is a Functional Nutrition & Wellness Expert, and the founder of KalenaSpire, a holistic health coaching and private yoga practice that specializes in freeing people from chronic digestive discomfort. Christine supports her clients in understanding the root cause of their digestive discomfort, creates a custom plan to put them on the road to healing, and shows them how to make sustainable lifestyle changes so they can finally enjoy and elevate their lives.

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Alexandria Z., M.S.

Christine is my wellness goddess. Her amazing support, extraordinary expertise, and undeniable compassion invited me to a world of freedom from digestive discomfort that I didn’t know was possible. The whirlwind of bloating, constipation, brain fog, and digestive upheaval was consuming my life. Exhaustion and frustration were becoming my very existence. And then I met my health goddess! Christine’s astute listening and meticulously tailored guidance, transformed my thinking and whirlwind of digestive discomfort. She helped me achieve a state of equilibrium. The balance I now experience is the center of my wellness existence—the core of my life with digestive happiness.

 

Christine instilled in me the power to embrace the grace and strength of my very own body! She has taught me to internalize the boundless evidence of my body’s functionality to heal digestively. While working with Christine, my exhaustion, pain, and bloating were overshadowed with energy, digestive comfort, glowing skin, and knowledge. Her coaching raised my awareness of food sensitivities, and promoted better food choices, which led to better sleep, a stronger link to overall wellness, clarity in my thinking, and ultimately, more joy in my life.  Christine’s remarkable spirit of wellness will forever echo in my digestive wellness journey. I bestow upon Christine the well-deserved exceptional title, “my wellness goddess.”
2015-07-27T17:47:59-04:00
Christine is my wellness goddess. Her amazing support, extraordinary expertise, and undeniable compassion invited me to a world of freedom from digestive discomfort that I didn’t know was possible. The whirlwind of bloating, constipation, brain fog, and digestive upheaval was consuming my life. Exhaustion and frustration were becoming my very existence. And then I met my health goddess! Christine’s astute listening and meticulously tailored guidance, transformed my thinking and whirlwind of digestive discomfort. She helped me achieve a state of equilibrium. The balance I now experience is the center of my wellness existence—the core of my life with digestive happiness.   Christine instilled in me the power to embrace the grace and strength of my very own body! She has taught me to internalize the boundless evidence of my body’s functionality to heal digestively. While working with Christine, my exhaustion, pain, and bloating were overshadowed with energy, digestive comfort, glowing skin, and knowledge. Her coaching raised my awareness of food sensitivities, and promoted better food choices, which led to better sleep, a stronger link to overall wellness, clarity in my thinking, and ultimately, more joy in my life.  Christine’s remarkable spirit of wellness will forever echo in my digestive wellness journey. I bestow upon Christine the well-deserved exceptional title, “my wellness goddess.”