Sharing is caring!

*Note: I received product to try for free, I was not compensated for my time writing this post and as always all opinions and thoughts are my own.

Happy Thursday Friends! Today I have a quick and easy meal idea for you for those nights you just don’t want to cook. Anyone like Mac and Cheese? I thought so!

Even though I don’t follow any particular diet pattern, I believe that a plant based diet that includes lots of plants in the form of vegetables, some fruit, nuts/seeds, and plant based oils is extremely beneficial. Actually, my graduate school, Loma Linda University promoted, emphasized, and lead in depth research on the benefits of Vegan/Vegetarian diets. Most of you probably don’t know this but during that time I did a 21 day Vegan Cleanse via Kris Carr’s book the Crazy Sexy Cancer Diet. I still apply a lot of the plant based practices I learned doing that cleanse to my eating now! So, when folks over at Earth Balance offered to let me sample their new Vegan Mac and Cheese I was super excited!

I wanted to make a full meal of it so I pulled a can of black beans from the cupboard (for some protein and fiber) and a bag of frozen green beans from the freezer, then I was ready to rock. I also got to sample their soy free baking sticks to help make the mac and cheese come alive! Plant based oils are largely anti-inflammatory and have many healthy benefits so I was excited to try out cooking with it!

I didn’t have any non-dairy milk that wasn’t flavored vanilla so I used 6T of the reserved pasta water and it came out great! (I’ve made the mistake of using Vanilla almond milk in Mac And Cheese before #fail ) In no time at all I had a delicious meal reminiscent of my childhood minus the Yellow Dye #5 and mystery cheese sauce mix. The vegan sauce was just as creamy and I’d even honestly venture to say better than the dairy version! Honestly, it was pretty dang delicious, it was hard to save any for Mr. Hungry but I managed because it made quite a bit.

How to Make A Healthy Meal With Upgraded Mac and Cheese:

Ingredients:

1 box Earth Balance Vegan Mac & Cheese

2T SoyFree Earth Balance Sticks (or other Earth Balance/Non Dairy baking sticks)

6T non dairy milk or reserved pasta water

1/2 can of black beans, rinsed

1 cup of green beans, thawed

Directions:

Cook Mac and Cheese following directions on box. Add in black beans and green beans Enjoy!

Makes 3 servings

What’s one of your favorite meals from your childhood?

Since the holidays are coming up I have a peppermint stick stuck in a lemon on my mind, a treat my Grandma would give me every holiday season. Don’t knock it till you tried it!

Are you a boxed Mac N’ Cheese person or homemade only?