This Southwest Macaroni & Cheeze is not your typical vegan mac, this dish has some added flair with ingredients like jalapenos, cayenne, and black beans!

It may not be the very start of the month, but today is the start of a new bloghop! I thought for a bit that I wasn't going to be able to participate in this month's theme, but inspiration (and a little extra time) struck and I had my first dish made before I knew it! Of course, I had almost every ingredient on hand.. except for normal pasta noodles. But, I did find a bag of macaroni salad noodles in a deep, dark corner of my pantry; hey, it ended up working out great! It just looks a lil' funny.

There is just one problem with this amazing Southwest Macaroni & Cheeze dish, it is HIGHLY addictive. My friend Amanda and I were having a hard time keeping ourselves from grabbing thirds, but the fact that our tummies were full stopped us ahead of time. This dish has all of the comfort of traditional mac & cheese, just with some added oomph!

More vegan Mac and cheese recipes for you!

• All-Time Best Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipes
• Grilled Seitan Kimchi Mac and Cheese
• Buffalo Chickpea Mac n Cheese
• Baked Mediterranean Mac and Cheese

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Yield: 4

Southwest Macaroni & Cheeze

5.0 Stars (2 Reviews)

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This Southwest Macaroni & Cheeze is not your typical vegan mac, this dish has some added flair with ingredients like jalapenos, cayenne, and black beans!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups (238 g) dried noodles, gluten-free if necessary
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 cup (190 g) cooked black beans
• ½ cup (95 g) chopped tomato
• ½ cup (60 g) chopped red or orange bell pepper
• ¼ cup (10 g) diced green onion
• 1 tablespoon (3 g) diced, fresh jalapeño
• 1 tablespoon (1 g) minced cilantro
• 2 cups (185 g) vegan cheddar shreds
• 1 cup (235 ml) unsweetened non-dairy milk, depending on how creamy/thick you want it
• ½-1 cup (120-235 ml) reserved pasta cooking water
• 2 tablespoons (10 g) nutritional yeast
• 1 ½ teaspoons onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon chili powder
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Cook noodles according to package instructions.
2. While the noodles are boiling, in a small pan on medium heat, start sauteing the black beans, tomato, bell pepper, green onions, jalapeño, and cilantro together until the bell peppers start to soften (approx. 5-7 minutes).
3. When the noodles are fully cooked, strain pasta in colander, reserving ½ cup (120 ml) pasta cooking water. Add cheddar shreds, non-dairy milk, pasta water, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne to pot, and simmer over medium heat until shreds have melted, whisking occasionally. If you find the sauce to be very thick, add more pasta water.
4. Stir the vegetable mixture into the noodles, as well. Taste the dish and season accordingly with salt and pepper. Serve warm!

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g

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What is one of your favorite recipes for Mac & Cheese? Don't like mac & cheese, what's your favorite pasta?

The bloghop, this month, is filled with so many amazing blogs! I love that I’m able to be a part of it, and continue to share the foodie love. Here’s a list of all of the bloggers that are participating!

ASTIG Vegan ~ Richgail ~  @astigvegan
Badger Girl Learns to Cook ~ Kimberly ~ @BdgrGrl
BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker
Bon a croquer ~ Valerie ~ @Valouth
Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess
Elephant Eats ~ Amy
Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19
Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk
No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ TR ~ @TRCrumbley
Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose
Rico sin Azucar ~ Helena ~ @ricosinazucar
Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem
Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood
The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd
The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian
Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack
Vegetarian Mamma  ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma
You Made That? ~ Suzanne ~ @YouMadeThatblog

Please join in on the #pastalove fun by linking up any pasta recipe from the month of May 2012. Don’t forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #pastalove event! The twitter hashtag is #pastalove.