So I wanted a quick meal tonight and pulled out a box of Road’s End Organics Mac & Chreese. Yes, chreese. It’s vegan.  In bold green letters, the front of the box reads “GLUTEN FREE, SOY FREE, LACTOSE FREE, CHOLESTEROL FREE”.  And, I thought, “TASTE FREE.” But I wanted to try it anyway.  

My previous experiences with instant macaroni and cheese have been. . .well, memorable. In a bad way. Most of the time, it’s vaguely cheesy and slightly salty with heady undertones of the cardboard box in which it’s packaged. These recollections have bred the skepticism I have today.

Now, be warned. The box says to cook the pasta for 6-10 minutes. That’s a lie. I boiled the hell out of it for about 15 minutes. It also says that that you should drain and rinse the pasta before adding the other ingredients. I never rinse pasta. Although it does purge the extra starch, I argue that the starch is what helps the pasta hold the sauce (or in this case, chreese). After draining it, I added organic soy milk and Earth Balance Whipped.

To say that I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement.

It was actually pretty good! But it didn’t taste like macaroni and cheese—it tasted like pesto. And I love pesto. Therefore, the next time I make this, I will use EVOO instead of Earth Balance and may add some fresh parsley or basil. That will rock.