A typically low nutrient containing meal turned high fibre and high protein. It’s also vegan and is absolutely delicious! I love taking occasional foods like mac and cheese and making them healthier. It’s definitely something that makes eating enough vegetables and legumes, which are typically unpopular foods, easier to eat!
Meal prep:
It will keep well when stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or you can freeze it for a quick and easy meal another day
Adaptations:
If you’re gluten free you can use gluten free pasta. If you’re not dairy free or vegan you can absolutely use regular cheese
High protein, Vegan, Baked Mac and Cheese
A typically low nutrient containing meal turned high fibre and high protein. It's also vegan and is absolutely delicious! I love taking occasional foods like mac and cheese and making them healthier.
Ingredients
- 300 g wholemeal macaroni pasta
- 400 g pumpkin roughly chopped
- 1 cup cashews
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast or parmesan cheese
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- 1 tsp garlic minced
- 120 g baby spinach
- 800 g tinned chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup vegan cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 200c
- Add the pumpkin to a medium-sized saucepan and fill with enough water to cover the pumpkin. Bring the pot to the boil and allow the pumpkin to cook for 10-15 minutes or until soft. Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to packet instructions
- Drain the pumpkin and keep 1 cup of the water. In a food processor or blender, blend the cashews, nutritional yeast, salt, chilli, garlic, cooked pumpkin and 1 cup of the pumpkin water until smooth.
- In a large bowl mix the chickpeas, baby spinach, pasta and pumpkin sauce together. Transfer this to a large ovenproof baking dish and cover with the shredded cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Nutrition
Calories: 511kcalCarbohydrates: 61.4gProtein: 22.8gFat: 15.8g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
For more main meal recipes, click here
view + leave comments . . .