Tasty Thursday: Vegan, Gluten-Free Crockpot Macaroni & Cheese

Yesterday I came upon this recipe.  If I had to choose a handful of foods to be stranded on an island with, Mac 'n Cheese would definitely be on that list.  Along with pizza, kale salad, broccoli and fresh fruit.  Hey, no one is ever gong to see me on this island, right?  So I don't have to worry about my appearance after eating all that starch.

But anyway, I read all the comments and saw that modification for the recipe is definitely possible so I was excited to put this in my crockpot right away.  My daughter stopped in and helped me decide what ingredients we would use.  Here is what went in the crock:

4 cups Trader Joe's GF pasta
Roughly 4 cups Daiya cheese, equal parts cheddar and mozzarella ***see update***
A few twists of pink sea salt from the TJ's grinder
A handful of dried farm parsley
Roughly 1 teaspoon dried garlic bits
8 Tablespoons Earth Balance ***see update***
1 1/2 cups almond milk
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 cup water

Just prior to putting the lid on:

I'm wondering if I'm going to regret stirring it, if perhaps the pasta won't cook if it isn't at the bottom covered with fluid.  We shall see...

UPDATE:

You can see how oily the finished product is.  Next time we're going to go with three cups Daiya and no Earth Balance. All the pasta cooked fully, however some were more al dente than others so you definitely don't want to stir the ingredients when you put them in the crockpot; leave the pasta at the bottom so it cooks evenly in the liquid ingredients.

I cut up a few slices of organic farm tomato and topped my bowl of Macaroni & Cheese with it.  Boy was it yummy.   If it lasts the day (we are all home so it might not) I will pack up some to take for lunch tomorrow.