Healthy Baked Mac and Cheese Sauce

• ½ cup raw cashews
• ¾  cup water
• 2 ½ cups cooked butternut squash
• 2 Tbsp oil
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 3 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 medium garlic clove
• 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 ½ cups milk or milk alternative (I used hemp seed milk)
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp ground pepper
• salt and pepper to taste

In a bowl, add the cashews and the water. Allow the cashews to soak for 1 hour. In the mean time you can roast the butternut squash. I used 2 small butternut squash to get 2 ½ cups of cooked flesh. Slice the squash in half, place face down on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 F for 1 hour or until tender.

Place the cashews and the water in a blender. Puree until almost smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and continue to puree until smooth. It will appear a little runny, that’s ok. It needs to be for the baking process.

Add sauce to cooked pasta of choice. ( I use buckwheat) Mix until the pasta is coated. Pour into a baking dish. Top with bread crumbs or Hemp Seed “Bread Crumbs” and bake at 375 F for 10 minutes.

 from beyondthepeel.net