Who doesn’t love a good macaroni and cheese.  Or an amazing tuna casserole.  I have said it before and I will say it again – I love tuna casserole and it is really one of the things I miss most about fitting into vegan.  Not being able to eat the cream of mushroom soup, flaked tuna or cheese – one of my regrets.  But, here is my Vegan Tuna Casserole and September Vegan Cuts Box, and boy did it turn out good.

It has been almost a year since I tried my hand at vegan cream of mushroom soup, and not being proud of the results.  So when I received my September Vegan Cuts box (which I paid for) I knew what I had to do.  Make vegan tuna casserole.  Know why?  Because there was faux-tuna in the box!  What?  Not tofu, tuna!  And vegetable chips!  Oh man, it was meant to be.

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When I had tried to make tuna casseroles before, even when truly vegetarian, it was always tofu that I used as a tuna replacement.  Chopped and sautéed tofu, while yummy, is not a tuna replacement.  Not the same flakiness of tuna, or even a flavor close to it.  Also, once I gave up chips I didn’t really see the point in making my fave meal when I couldn’t have 4 out of the 5 ingredients.  So with the fishless-fish and the veg chips, I was going to try it again.

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I decided to make a roux, but for this I watched the video of Rachael Ray making mac and cheese.  She is my go-to food person, and this video was easy to follow.  I literally had my computer sitting on the kitchen counter and watched it while putting the water on to boil.  Her steps are easy to follow and pushing pause was my best friend.  The roux was just a little oil,  two tablespoons butter and 3 of oat flour.  Whisk the flour for about a minute, then add 1 1/2 cups almond milk.  Turn heat down and let thicken, whisking occasionally.  I added one tablespoon of minced garlic and Dijon mustard.  Those were my only spices.  I then added Daiya Pepper jack cheese and let that all melt together.

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For the rest of the ingredients, I used whole wheat pasta, two jars of sliced button mushrooms and one bag of frozen cauliflower.  I defrosted the cauliflower while the roux was grooving and then chopped it all up.  I added all of these, the tuna and the cheese mixture to the drained pasta and mixed well.  After mixing I poured it into my baking dish then topped with some crushed chips and half a bag of Daiya cheddar shreds.  Baked for 20 minutes at 350 and done.  Oh.  So. Good.

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Have you tried the Vegan Cuts snack box yet?  It is a monthly subscription which provides  vegan snacks; some of these snacks are in full size packages!  Full size people.  I had started Vegan Cuts a year ago, when it first started and the boxes weren’t that impressive.  Small and not much in them.  Boy, have they come along way!

Vegan Tuna Casserole, 7 servings

1 Pkg Whole Wheat Noodles

1 Tbsp Oil

2 Tbsp Earth Balance Butter

3 Tbsp Bob’s Red Mill Oat Flour

1 ½ C So Delicious Original Almond Plus Milk

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

1 Pkg Daiya Pepper Jack Shreds

2 Jars Sliced Mushrooms, drained

1 Can Meatless Select Fishless Tuna, drained

1 Pkg Frozen Cauliflower, thawed and chopped

¼ Pkg Kiwa Vegetable Chip Mix

½ Pkg Daiya Cheddar Shreds

1. Turn oven to 350 degrees.
2. Turn large pot of water on high.  Pour in noodles when water is boiling, add teaspoon  salt.  Stir.

3. In smaller pot turn on medium high heat add oil, butter and flour.  Whisk about 1  minute.

4. Add milk and whisk until thickened, about 2-3 minutes.  Add garlic and mustard.  Add  pepper jack cheese and whisk until melted.

5. Drain pasta and pour back into pot.  Add cheese, mushrooms, tuna and cauliflower. Stir until combined.  Pour into baking dish.

6. Crush chips and sprinkle over top of mixture.  Spread half the bag of Daiya cheddar  shreds over the chips.

7. Bake for 20 minutes.

8. Enjoy!