Noodle-Phoni! (From the good people who brought you Noodle Kaboodle)

Last weekend when I was recovering from my barium study I was desperately craving comfort food. I wanted Mac&Cheeze, but I had none, and wasn't feeling up to going out on a mission for soy cheeze or a box of mac and chreese, so I decided to throw something together from what I had in my fridge. I didn't want a straight up Nutritional Yeast sauce, and I had some tofutti cream cheese in the fridge so in it went. It was crazy delicious. The next day I was eating the leftovers and the boy caught a wiff and wanted in on that action. He loved it. I decided to see if I could recreate it into a noodle-roni type dish, and tonight I did. It's nice and creamy and has that side-dish-in-a-box comfort food appeal. Here I served it with Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon, and Broccoli sauteed in garlic and olive oil and dusted with veggie broth powder. This dinner was way way way too good and we both ate so much we had to sit on the veg on the couch a while going "ughhhh" after dinner. (In the best way possible)

I swear I tried to measure things as I went along, but sometimes it needed a hair more this or that. This is as exact as it's getting for me, so taste as you go, and I won't be offended if you adjust seasonings as needed.

Ignore the rest of the plate, just zone in on the noodles. I tried to do a close up, but really they're not much to look at, and they kept photographing fuzzy.

Noodle-Phoni
8 oz whole wheat thin spaghetti, broken in half
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp plain rice milk
2 tbsp Earth Balance margarine
3 tbsp Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
4 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp paprika, plus extra for sprinkling
1/8 tsp dried oregano
Salt & Pepper to taste

1. Prepare spaghetti according to package directions

2. In a medium saucepan, melt the margarine over medium heat.

3. Add the rice milk and cream cheese and whisk together until it's as smooth as you can get it. (The cream cheese likes to be lumpy. Don't obsess over it being silky smooth)

4. Add the nutritional yeast, spices, and salt/pepper to taste and whisk until combined and smooth.

5. Remove from heat and toss with drained spaghetti. Sprinkle the top with a little paprika. Try not to eat the entire pot in one sitting.