Roasted Red Pepper Baked Mac & Cheese with Spicy Pumpkin Seed Crumble

The red pepper creamy cashew sauce sings as you bake into your favorite pasta shells!

Roasted Red Pepper Baked Mac & Cheese with Spicy Pumpkin Seed Crumble

2 red bell peppers

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 c raw unsalted cashews

1 whole peeled lemon

1 tsp black pepper

Gluten free pasta shells

Raw unsalted pumpkin seeds

Red pepper flakes to taste

Directions:

Roast the red peppers until soft, I like to keep the skin on as I don't roast them too long so the skin doesn't turn black and is edible

Add cooled roasted peppers, olive oil, cashews, lemon, and almost all of your black pepper (save some for the crumble) to a high speed blender and blend till smooth and creamy

Add sauce to your shells and add to a cake or brownies tin so it fills up the sides for a nice crust

Take your pumpkin seeds and put them in a baggie with your remaining black pepper and as much red pepper flakes as you would like and begin to crush them (I like to use my tin measuring cup or anything that is strong enough not to break when you bang it on the counter (we are only looking for a crushed consistency, not pulverized)

Add crumble to top of mac and cheese and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes (depending on how strong your oven is, you can add the pumpkin seed crumble for the last 5 minutes if you are worried about it burning) until top becomes crispy and crunchy

Yum yum yum!