About a year ago, I made this dairy-free macaroni and cheese recipe for my daughter – it worked great, we loved it… but it took a long time. Noodles, sauce and baking in the oven with a cracker crumb topping… not so fast for busy moms and hungry kids.

This week when she asked for mac & cheese I decided to make the same recipe, but skip the cracker crumbs and the baking and see how it turned out. And you know what? It was even better. AND faster! So I thought I’d revisit the recipe here in it’s new simpler form:

Dairy-free Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients:
4 ounces (1/2 box) Dreamfields Pasta (see why I like Dreamfields here)
1.5 tablespoons non-dairy margarine (we love Earth Balance)
1 cup non-dairy milk (we use Rice dream)
1.5 cups Daiya shredded cheese (I used both cheddar and mozzarella)

Cook pasta and drain. In a separate pot, simmer dairy-free margarine. When melted, stir in the dairy-free milk. Then add cheese shreds. cook over low/medium heat for about 2-6 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. After a couple of minutes, you’ll notice it will thicken into a sauce. Add the sauce to the noodles, mix. Also add in diced chicken if you’d like. Let cool, serve.