Nacho Mac and Cheese Casserole with Taco Tempeh ‘meat’. Vegan Recipe. Can be made soy-free with cooked chickpeas or beans instead of Tempeh. Serves 3 to 4

One evening, hubbs gets home as usual very hungry and sees the casserole ready to eat. I hand him a medium sized helping. He starts off with mmm it looks funny with those chips.. after 2 bites.. mmmm, interesting.. It does taste like nachos, but theres the pasta in it.. so I am confused or rather my tastebuds are confused.. mmmm interesting… mmmmmmm this is amazing.. (huge spoon fulls in).. mmmmmmmmm, can I have another helping? .. lets add more of those jalapenos.. mmmm mmmm.. this is awesome.. AAWwesome! Is there anymore left..mmm mm. gobble .. gobble..

One word.. Make it 🙂 I mean seriously, this is a filling one pot deliciousness that you have to eat to believe. I just had to have my mac with the nacho cheese and all the fix-ins and make it into one delicious and healthy meal:)



You can also put this whole thing on a pizza! or in sloppy burgers. There is just so much flavor going on in the dish. The sauce tastes like Nacho cheese. There is layers of Mac in Nacho cheese sauce, Tempeh taco/nacho meat, salsa, cheddar, more Mac and cheese, chips, jalapenos. Lets hear it for a Nacho Mac and Cheese Casserole.







Those chips look funny but they actually work well to slow you down.. When you eat a bite with a chip you think snack and slow down, else you will want to finish the whole helping without stopping. You can omit the chips or other layers. The cheese sauce and tempeh meat are amazing by themselves.



You dont need the Daiya cheddar in this casserole. The cheese sauce has enough Nacho cheesy flavor profile. And no fear, there will soon be a melty stringy Nacho cheese cheese on the blog.

Without the Daiya and Chips, this Casserole is refined oil-free. It can be made Gluten-free by using glutenfree pasta and replacing the flour in the sauce with a gf flour or more cashew flour.



You can add some cauliflower in the cheese sauce like this Mac and Cheese.

For more bakes, pastas and such see the Collection here.



In other news, if you missed the crazy pinning frenzy(see the pin counts on them posts!), it is because of Vegnews featuring my Lentil and Cauliflower Burger in their Awesome things to do with Cauliflower Roundup here.

And my Roasted butternut, Sriracha Mayo Sandwich in Must eat Spicy round up here. 😀 I think I should keep making them burgers:) Thanks for the features Vegnews! and Thank you to everyone who made the burgers and loved them:)) me = super happy!



Virtual Vegan Potluck(VVP) sign up is now open. If you can cook vegan, want to connect with a bunch of awesome bloggers and win some prizes doing so.. Sign up here!









Steps:



Mix everything for the Tempeh Nacho meat and cook covered for 25 minutes. Also in another pan boil the water to cook the Macaroni.







Chop up, gather and Add the cheese sauce ingredients to the blender.







Blend away until smooth. Taste and adjust salt and spice.



By this time the Mac must be cooked. Strain and add the cheese sauce to it. Mix and let sit. The heat for the pasta will thicken the sauce a bit.







In a casserole dish, layer the Mac and cheese. The tempeh should be almost done by now. Or take a break, play with your dog, eat some chips, and make some Salsa.







Then layer the cooked Tempeh filling.







Layer with Salsa.







then Daiya cheddar.







then more mac and cheese







then corn chips and pickled Jalapenos. Humor me.







Layer with more Daiya cheddar.







Bake for 25 odd minutes. Let cool for a few and dig.















