Vegan Spinach Artichoke Mac and Cheeze

If you enjoy spinach artichoke dip, then I can only recommend that you give this recipe a try. It has all the creaminess of a traditional spinach artichoke recipe, without the guilt. There are two options to preparing this dish; once you combine the pasta with the sauce you can either already enjoy, or you can pour it into a baking dish and add the topping to make a delicious pasta bake. The topping is the recommendation for a gluten-free topping, but you can of course always process two slices of bread with nutritional yeast to have a more traditional bread-crumb topping. 

As another alternative you can follow steps 2-4 to prepare a vegan spinach artichoke dip. Once you combine the cheeze sauce with the spinach and artichoke and it thickens you will place it in an oven safe dish and bake 20 min. Serve with homemade corn tortilla chips. Anyway you choose, I know you won't be disappointed. 

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Vegan Spinach Artichoke Mac and Cheeze
vegan, gluten-free, plant-based, refined sugar-free

Ingredients: 

• 12-16 oz gluten-free pasta of choice (or whole wheat pasta if you eat gluten)

Cheeze sauce:

• 1 1/2 cups water
• 2/3 cup raw nuts (cashews or slivered almonds)
• 3 Tbsp tapioca flour
• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Spinach and Artichoke:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 jar of artichokes in water, chopped
• 4 cups fresh spinach

Topping:

• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions: 

1. Cook pasta for only half of the recommended cooking time (if not making the baked dish, fully cook the pasta), drain, rise quickly and set aside. 
2. Add all Cheeze sauce ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and set aside.
3. Cook onions, garlic, and artichokes in a large skillet until tender.
4. Add the spinach and cheeze sauce and stir until the cheeze has thickened (at least 5 min).
5. Then pour this mixture on to the pasta (at this point you can stop and eat as is, or continue to create a baked pasta dish). Add to a 9 x 13 in baking dish.
6. Mix together the topping ingredients and spread over the top.
7. Bake at 400°F for 15-20 min, until the sauce is bubbling.
8. Let cool 5-10 min and enjoy.