1. Ramen
2. Pizza
3. Doughnuts
4. Tacos/Burritos (I'm counting this as one because I can't decide)
5. Mac & Cheeze
So it goes without saying that I don't let a new vegan mac & cheeze product pass me by. Sure, I love creating a creamy, cheesy whole foods-based pasta at home using nooch, cashews, or butternut squash. But I also love trying the easy packaged versions for those nights when you just don't have time to cook.
Friday night was one of those nights, so I turned to a box of Upton's Natural Cheesy Mac that I'd been holding onto for a few weeks.
I found it for sale at Natural Grocers in Jonesboro, Arkansas (an hour from Memphis, my hometown), and as a fan of all things Upton's, I had to put it in my cart. Memphis readers, we may have this here, but I haven't looked!
This shelf-stable mac comes in a box with a vacuum-sealed bag of pre-cooked, wide-noodle elbow mac and a pouch of liquid cheese (similar to the pouch in the boxed Daiya mac). The cheese is made from nutritional yeast, rice bran oil, sea salt, cornstarch, mustard, onion, garlic, paprika, turmeric, sugar. So while this may not be the most whole food (hey there, white pasta), it's not bad! The sauce is made with minimal ingredients, and they're all real foods.
To prepare, you simply dump the pasta and cheese in a pan and heat. Takes about two minutes. The result is a creamy, noochy pasta that made a perfect side for my Gardein crispy tenders and agave-mustard dipping sauce (told ya it was a busy night) and some steamed broccoli with tahini sauce.
Will I buy this again? You bet!
I still haven't seen this anywhere, including the Natural Grocers here in SLC! I did finally see the Chao mac and cheese but it's full of gluten!!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a tasty, fun dinner!
Oooh that dinner looks delicious! I've seen the mac n cheese but haven't tried it yet! Maybe I'll have to give it a try when I'm craving some mac! Definitely a great looking meal!
ReplyDeleteThat’s kinda crazy it comes with already cooked pasta! Was the texture ok or was it kinda over cooked by the time you rewarmed it? I haven’t seen this, but then again my whole foods keeps reducing the variety of what they carry (thanks amazon)
ReplyDeleteThe noochy sauce sounds tasty but not especially cheesy like the daiya mac. Those gardein tenders (or TJs version of them) are always somewhere in my freezer! Definitely handy for a quick meal
Ttrockwood
I love these easy version of foods. I don't use them often because of price, but when you have kids, uh.... sometimes speed is the way to go.
ReplyDelete