Adventures in Dairy Free Cooking: Macaroni & Cheese... or so you think

This may look like macaroni and cheese, but it most definitely is not.  

My diet has been dairy-free for almost 2 weeks now, and I'm starting to get used to planning and cooking dairy free meals.  The one thing that's been in the back of my mind for the past few days is how I'm going to make kid friendly dairy free food for Emerson when she's old enough to eat "real" food.  As I've been thinking about the best way to provide dairy free options for her, I've decided that I am not about to start making 2 of everything-- one with dairy and one without.  While I will still have regular milk, cheese, and yogurt in the house for Caleb, trying to make as many of our meals dairy free is really the best option-- especially since Doug is lactose intolerant.  So, I figured it's time to start practicing now.

Over the weekend I was enjoying some yummy (dairy free) butternut squash soup from Trader Joe's... as I was eating it I thought to myself, "this is the same consistency and color as the 'cheese' sauce you put in macaroni and cheese... hmmmm."  At lunch time today, I decided to give it a try.  As I was cooking the macaroni, I whipped up a fake, dairy free cheese sauce.  Here's what I put in it:

1 Tbsp vegan Becel

2 Tbsp Tofutti (a tofu substitute for cream cheese)

Sea Salt

Onion Powder

Enough Butternut Squash soup to make 1 cup of sauce

1 Tbsp steamed carrot puree

I whisked it all together over med heat until it was smooth and cheesy looking-- the pureed carrots were a last minute addition.  As I was about to pour it over the macaroni I decided that it wasn't orange enough.  I remembered that I had made some carrot baby food for Emerson, so I pulled 1 serving of carrots out of the freezer, warmed it up, and stirred it in.  I strategically decided to let Caleb enjoy his lunch while watching some cartoons-- I figured that if he was distracted while eating he would be less inclined to notice that his mac and cheese tasted a bit different.

Results?  I thought it tasted pretty good!  It doesn't taste exactly like KD, but it's pretty close... and healthier.  Caleb?  He didn't notice.  He ate the whole bowl.

I felt so sneaky.  Then I felt a bit guilty for being so deceptive and whipped up a batch of Rice Krispie squares and offered Caleb a piece... he didn't want it!!  Fine with me.  Glad you enjoyed your mac & tofu squash... more Rice Krispie squares for me!!

I'm going to go ahead and call this dairy free cooking experiment a success :)