Baked Macaroni and Cheese, Wait, Make That Spicy Baked Macaroni and Rice Cheese!

Yesterday I was in the mood for comfort food, and all my comfort food cravings involved cheese. That can be a little tricky since I have a dairy allergy! I was out of "cheese" slices so no grilled cheese sandwich, out of my mozarella so no lasagna or pizza or any of that, out of my cheddar so no macaroni and cheese or scalloped potatoes. Wait a second! I had pepper jack style rice cheese already shredded in the freezer! And so a dish was born. I took a recipe I printed off 8 years ago (yes, 8!) from http://www.cooking.com/ and had never tried, then elminated or substituted almost all the ingredients and messed around with the directions. How's that for following a recipe? I'm really going to have to say that I was inspired by the recipe. Regardless, I prepared it in the afternoon, getting 5 mini loaf pans and one regular bread pan of baked macaroni and cheese (this recipe will make one 9x13 pan of baked macaroni and cheese). The regular loaf pan I made for dinner that evening, and I put the 5 mini loaf pans on a cutting board and sat them in the freezer (I'll double wrap them in foil and label them today) so that I can semi-thaw, bake, and have homemade baked macaroni and cheese 5 more times! Bliss. I can even take some of that chopped ham from Monday night and stir that in later for baked ham and macaroni and cheese. I'm drooling already.

The recipe turned out very good. It was slightly creamy but thick, just like baked macaroni and cheese should be. The flavor was excellent. Most homemade macaroni and cheese recipes call for good quality sharp cheddar cheese for good reason - use a bland cheese and end up with super bland macaroni and cheese (face it, the milk, flour, butter, and pasta aren't really the stars tap dancing on the taste buds for this). This is a problem I sometimes face with using cheese alternatives, as none of them ever really have that sharp bite. Still, if that's all you have.... The peppers in the cheese gave it some zing without overwhelming the tastebuds, and I really love how rice cheese melts so smoothly (really, far superior to soy cheeses many times). I baked the macaroni and cheese at 375 for 40 minutes, so that's what I did for our Italian sausages too - pull from the freezer, thaw, place 4 in an 8x8 baking dish, and bake them uncovered right next to the macaroni and cheese. Serve with some steamed whole green beans and some piping hot stewed tomatoes, and it was comfort on a plate.

(I messed with this so much that I'm writing this exactly as I did it - if you want to use dairy, just substitute in the appropriate items.)
1 lb elbow macaroni
12 T Blue Bonnet margarine (that's a stick and a half)
6 T flour
1 tsp onion powder
1 T dried parsley
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
4 1/2 cups Silk plain soy milk warmed to gently steaming (a few minutes in the microwave)
6 c. shredded pepper jack style Rice Cheeze
1 1/4 c. coarse bread crumbs (I used flax and fiber bread crumbs - I make bread crumbs with whatever stale bread we have and then freeze, and this was in the freezer.)
3 T. cold Blue Bonnet margarine
1/2 c. Parma Zaan sprinkles by The Vegetarian Express (usually, these don't really have much flavor, but added to the topping was a nice touch)

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 9x13 baking dishes (or other chosen baking dishes).
2. Cook the macaroni according to package directions until just done (should be 9 minutes). Drain well.
3. Melt the margarine in a medium saucepan over medium heat. In a small bowl, combine the flour, onion powder, parsley, salt, and pepper.
4. When completely melted, add the flour mixture and gently whisk it in. Continue to gently whisk and to cook over medium heat (medium-low if you feel that medium is too high) for 2-3 minutes until your mixture goes from golden brown to a more light brown color. This is important! This is the roux, and if the flour in the roux is not cooked, you will get a paste flavor until of the spices.
5. When your roux is done, start slowly adding the warm soy milk. I add 1/2 cup, whisk it in thoroughly, add 1/2 cup, whisk it in thoroughly, then 1 cup, whisk, 1 cup, whisk, last 1 1/2 cups and whisk.
6. When all the soy milk is incorporated, turn the heat to medium-high and cook at a simmer or just below for a few minutes until the mixture starts to feel slightly thicker when you stir it gently with the whisk (it's as if the whisk has just a tiny bit more resistance on it as you stir with it, not actually whipping with it). At this point, add all of the cheese and switch to a spoon (the cheese shreds will get caught up in the whisk!).
7. Lower the heat to medium-low and continue to stir occasionally and heat the mixture to melt the cheese. It's okay if there are bits that aren't melted, but it should be definitely more of a cheese sauce on the thin side Remember that the pasta will soak up the extra liquid and some will evaporate during baking.
8. Put the macaroni in its cooking pot, then pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni and stir to combine. Pour it into the prepared pan(s).
9. In a medium bowl, cut the cold margarine into the bread crumbs and parmesan cheese substitute until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. This can be done using the back of a fork, a pair of knives, or alternatively a food processor on pulse. It helps if the margarine is cut into bits or tsp sized slices before starting. This can be done while the sauce is being made; it doesn't have to be done at the end.
10. Sprinkle the bread crumb topping evenly over the macaroni and cheese. Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes in the preheated oven (everything is cooked, so this is just a browning on top, absorbing liquid, heating through kind of thing), covering with foil if the bread crumbs start to get too brown. Let it rest for 5 minutes to allow the liquid to absorb into the pasta.