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This dish takes macaroni and cheese to a whole other level with truffle oil, sliced mushrooms, chives, and non-dairy cheese sauce made from almonds! If you love mushrooms, you’re going to love this dish, because who doesn’t love mac and cheese?!

I first created this delicious meal for a customer of mine, Gigi. She loves mushrooms and is a fan of pasta, as well. When I know what people like, I try to make them dishes based around those ingredients. As soon as I tasted it, I knew not only would it be perfect for Gigi, but I had to add it to the blog too. It was simply too tasty not to!

The sauce in this dish is similar to the cheez sauce for my Mock-A-Roni n’ Cheez w/ Facon Bacon, which was a casserole I’d previously created for another one of my customers, and friends, Jen. Due to dietary restrictions, Jen couldn’t eat pasta of any kind, so I substituted cauliflower. For my truffle cheez sauce, I used the same ingredients as I did in my sauce for Jen, only I used slightly different amounts and added the beloved truffle oil.

I wouldn’t say making this dish is hard. You don’t have to spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but you do need to think ahead of time and make sure to soak your almonds beforehand.

After the almonds have soaked, you must remove their peels. This task shouldn’t be hard. My almonds usually slide right out. If it is difficult, cover them with water again and pop them in the microwave for a minute. Once hot, the almonds should easily come out of their skins. This job is a bit tedious but easy. You can do it sitting down or recruit a helper. My daughter loves doing this for me. She finds it satisfying to feel the almonds pop out of the peels. LOL! You can skip this step and leave the skins on the almonds. However, this results in a less creamy sauce.

Once your almonds are ready to use, all the sauce ingredients need to be blended until smooth. I use a Vitamix. I’ve never tried blending almonds in a standard blender, so I don’t know if it can be done. I’ve successfully made smooth sauces from cashews without a high-speed blender. However, cashews are a bit softer than almonds. This does not mean it can’t be done, and I just don’t want to tell you it can when I’m unsure of it myself.

If you do attempt this recipe using a standard and not a high-speed blender, please leave me a comment to let me know how it goes! I would be sure to first soak the almonds overnight and expect it to take longer blending. Sometimes blending nuts takes patience, but the end result is always worth it!

OK, your almonds are soaked, and your cheez sauce is blended. By now, you may or may not have boiled the macaroni. I always suggest simply using the package instructions on pasta. Many of my readers are gluten-free, and all the choices for gluten-free kinds of pasta out there have different cooking times.

The only real cooking (aside from boiling the pasta, of course) is to sauté diced onions and sliced mushrooms in a large skillet. Once the onions are translucent, and the mushrooms are soft, you will stir in the pasta, truffle cheez sauce, and chopped chives. When everything is hot, taste and add a little salt. Now the dish is ready to be served. I always finish off each portion with a topper of chopped fresh chives.

Typically I have omnivorous friends taste-test my recipes. However, this is one we’ve always gobbled up right away, being left without any leftovers to share. It has thumbs up from us at home, and of course, the awesome Gigi. If you try it as well, please let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, or take a picture and tag me on Instagram, @veggiesattiffanis.