The magic ingredient in this creamy vegan mac & cheese? Cashews! They absolutely deserve a front-row spot in your pantry and in the recipes you use every day. When listing off all of the homemade vegan alternatives to cheese, cashews are usually the go-to because of their ability to achieve that creamy, cheesy texture (no need to have an industrial-strength blender either – all you need to do is to soak the cashews for about an hour to make them both easy to digest and to blend). The sauce base for this vegan mac & cheese is super simple: cashews, some liquid (broth, almond milk or cooking liquid from veggies), nutritional yeast for that cheesy kick, lemon juice, garlic, tomato paste, and spices. With just these ingredients, you’ve already got quite the rich and creamy sauce, but there’s still room for improvement in both the taste and nutrition department – so why not add a vegetable? Take advantage of the abundance of all kinds of squash varieties to jazz up this sauce. Just boil or steam and voila! Your sauce has not only doubled in quantity, but is twice as tasty too! The creamy cashew and squash blend is amazing on pasta, but also goes great with rice and grilled vegetables.