cauliflower mac & cheese: it was 'ok'

I was pretty excited about this recipe at first. It seemed like just the kind of thing that I want to be posting about on here. Things that are clever, delicious and good for non-vegans. 

It LOOKS good, right? 

But it was SO disappointing! :(

It's not that I expected it to taste like cheese. Cauliflower and nutritional yeast hardly a cheese make, but I was hoping it could at least be the friend I turn to when suffering the sad grief of my break up with cheese.

But it wasn't. It was just something else entirely. Not BAD, necessarily, which is why I chose to write about it, but just . . . too strong, I think? Too much cauliflower. Too much nutritional yeast, which I don't really like the smell or flavor of in the first place, but I kind of forgot that part.

My recipe was adapted from this and I'm gonna tell you what I did, and what I would do differently.

What you need:

1 head of cauliflower (just the florets, really)
2 large carrots, chopped and peeled (not in that order)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/3 cup water
1/3 olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp honey or dijon mustard
dash of nutmeg
salt, to taste
1 lb. pasta (elbows, or spirals or shells, whatever you like)

In a large pot, boil your cauliflower florets and carrots until mashable with a fork (15-20 minutes).

If you have a large and/or powerful blender or food processor, throw everything in there until smooth and creamy.

If you have a small weak food processor like mine, mash your cauliflower and carrots in a bowl and combine remaining ingredients. Spoon into your processor in batches and blend until smooth and creamy.

I hope you cooked your pasta in the meantime, according to box directions, because now you can mix the whole thing together and serve hot.

Now. If I do this again, which I may, I will make the following amendments to the ingredients:

1 head of cauliflower
2 carrots
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup (or slightly less) nutritional yeast
1/2 cup of almond milk
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt

I've also read that it can be made with potatoes instead of cauliflower which would maybe make it better. That sounds a lot less healthy, but I'll have to try it with that sometime, too.

Anyway, try at your own risk!

Peace,
-A.