AIP Mac and Cheese

Comfort food carries real weight on this path. It is not a small thing to sit down with a bowl that looks and feels like the food you grew up loving. This cassava pasta with butternut squash sauce is not a pale substitute - it is its own satisfying thing, golden and creamy, and most people who try it forget to be skeptical. If pasta has felt off-limits to you since starting AIP, this one is worth knowing about.

Butternut squash is a source of beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A - a nutrient involved in immune cell function and gut lining integrity, both worth tending on an autoimmune protocol. Nutritional yeast (use an unfortified brand) contributes B vitamins and zinc. The coconut milk brings richness and the medium-chain fats that make this sauce thick and satisfying without any dairy.

There is something quietly generous about a pot of sauce that can be made ahead, frozen in portions, and pulled out on a hard evening. You cooked when you could. That counts.

Ingredients

Sauce

• 1 2/3 cups full-fat canned coconut milk
• 1/3 cup broth (chicken or vegetable, clean-label)
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast (unfortified)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp tapioca starch (or arrowroot starch)
• 2 tbsp avocado oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 2 cups butternut squash, cubed (fresh or frozen and fully defrosted)
• 3/4 cup cauliflower florets (fresh or frozen and fully defrosted)

Pasta

• 1 box Jovial cassava elbow pasta (ingredient list: cassava flour and water - AIP-compliant, grain-free)

Method

1. Whisk together the coconut milk, broth, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast, turmeric, sea salt, garlic powder, and tapioca starch in a bowl or jug and set aside.
2. Heat the avocado oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the butternut squash and cauliflower florets. Pour in the liquid mixture and stir to combine.
4. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover loosely, and cook until the squash and cauliflower are fully tender, about 15 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Blend until completely smooth - a countertop blender gives the silkiest result; an immersion blender works well too. The sauce will be quite thick.
6. Cook the cassava pasta according to the package directions, then drain well.
7. Combine the drained pasta with the sauce in the pot over low heat, stirring until every piece is coated. The sauce thickens further as it coats the pasta.
8. Taste for salt and serve warm.

Notes

• Full-fat coconut milk is essential here. Light coconut milk or nut milks will produce a thin sauce that does not cling.
• If using frozen butternut squash or cauliflower, defrost and drain fully before adding - excess water thins the sauce.
• Sweet potato can substitute for butternut squash, but may require a little more liquid.
• The sauce makes more than one box of pasta requires. Extra sauce keeps in the fridge for several days and freezes well - make a double batch and keep some on hand.
• Optional protein additions: crumbled cooked bacon or diced cooked chicken stirred in at the end.
• Use a broth that is clean-label with no nightshade-based seasoning or seed spices.

*Adapted from unboundwellness.com*

*Provenance: source-derived (re-grounded). Method rebuilt in ARM's own words from the ingredient list in /Users/Christopher/Documents/Claude/01-Projects/ARM/aip-source-archives/unbound-wellness/aip-mac-and-cheese.md (unboundwellness.com, author Michelle Hoover). Ingredient quantities used as factual reference. Introduction and health framing written fresh. No third-party method text reproduced. Per-serving nutrition from source retained as reference only, not published in recipe body.*