Butternut Squash “Cheeze” Pasta (Mind-Fall Edition)
🍂Pumpkins, Pasta, and the Practice of Presence
"Leaves are fallin’ all around, it’s time I was on my way…" — Led Zeppelin, Ramble On 🎶
I’ve always been a little bit of a rambler-on, so bear with me while I wander my way into Fall…
Tomorrow marks the first day of Fall, my favorite season. My mom says when I was two years old in Wayne, Michigan, I loved to throw myself onto the piles of leaves she had raked in the yard. By the time I was a teenager in New Jersey, Fall meant something sweeter — my mom’s apple betty and my Aunt Doris’s pumpkin pie. Those flavors were Fall for me.
My Dad’s family was from Kentucky, so my roots are more Southern than Midwestern, but those early memories of leaves changing colors along the East Coast, stitched together with pie, became part of the fabric of the season — and still hold a big place in my heart.
Here in SoCal, my four kiddos haven’t known that kind of Fall, but I tried to give them a sense of it through farm visits — searching for pumpkins and squash the way we’d hunt for a Christmas tree in December. Decorating the house with Fall’s harvest became our way of marking the season, a ritual that roots us to the cycles of change, even with endless sunshine and flip flops.
As we transition into Fall weather, Ayurveda reminds us that seasonal foods help balance the predominant elements of air and ether this time of year — think winds, cooler weather, dryness, leaves falling, skin feeling drier, and even a scattered mind. Swapping raw, cold foods like salads and smoothies for warm, nourishing meals — and trading iced drinks for warm cups of tea — helps keep us grounded, satisfied, and mentally stable. In short: it invites peace to our monkey mind.
Last week at the farmers market, I noticed the shift in produce, and butternut squash caught my eye.
Perfect for Meatless Monday and the first day of Fall: my Mind-Fall Pasta with Butternut Cheeze Sauce below. It’s cozy, plant-forward, and easy to pull together.
🍂Butternut Squash “Cheeze” Pasta (Mind-Fall Edition)
The season shifts, and so does what feels like comfort food: warm, golden pasta in a cheezy sauce that hugs every shell — grounding, plant-forward, indulgent, and cozy. This is my ritual for welcoming Fall.
For the sauce (cashew base + butternut squash blend)
½ cup raw cashews
4–6 cups warm water
½ cup onion, diced
1 small clove garlic, thinly sliced
2 tbsp neutral tasting olive oil (or avocado oil)
1 cup vegetable broth
4 cups (about 1 lb) butternut squash, peeled and cubed
1 tsp Himalayan pink salt (or to taste)
1 cup light coconut milk (from a can)
½ cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp onion granules
Pinch of garlic powder
½ tsp dry mustard powder
1 tsp mellow white miso paste
1 ½ tbsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch of white pepper
For the pasta
1 lb shell or macaroni pasta works too
2 tbsp vegan butter (like Earth Balance)
1 heaped tbsp Himalayan pink salt
Make the magic
Soak the cashews. Place raw cashews in a medium bowl covered with warm water and let them soften for 3–4 hours. Drain, rinse, and set aside like a singer backstage, waiting for their encore.
Soften the aromatics. Heat olive oil in a pan over low-medium heat. Add the onion and sweat slowly for 5–8 minutes until translucent and fragrant. Add garlic for 2 more minutes - you want it soft, not browned. Transfer both to a blender.
Cook the squash. In a large pan, bring vegetable broth to a boil. Add butternut squash cubes, sprinkle with salt, cover, and cook until fork-tender. Drain any excess liquid and add squash to the blender with the onions + garlic.
Blend the sauce. Add soaked cashews, coconut milk, nutritional yeast, onion granules, garlic powder, mustard powder, miso, lemon juice, white pepper, and another pinch of salt. Blend on high until smooth and glossy. Taste and adjust —sauce is as personal as pie crust.
Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil (1 heaped tablespoon does the trick). Add pasta and cook until al dente, then drain.
Marry pasta + sauce. Return pasta to the pot with vegan butter, stirring until shells glisten. Pour in the cheeze sauce, stirring until every curve is coated in golden velvet.
Serve immediately. Fall in a bowl — silky, savory, grounding, and the kind of comfort food that anchors you in the moment.
✨ Kitchen notes
Light coconut milk keeps the sauce creamy without shouting “coconut.”
A sprinkle of panko breadcrumbs toasted in vegan butter until golden adds a cozy crunch, and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper add a gentle kick.
Serve alongside roasted veggies or a simple green salad — or just eat standing at the counter while listening to Zeppelin.