CREAMY WHITE BEAN SHELLS WITH BROCCOLI

I finally got my pantry in order. Ok, that’s not totally accurate – it’s a mess of nuts, seeds, oats, and flours all piled on top of each other because nothing has “its place” yet in the new kitchen. But the fact that I have most of the essentials at least in there is progress (right?). So when I brought this beautiful broccoli home from the farmers market a few weeks ago, I turned to my mostly-stocked pantry to make my broccoli – stems, leaves, and all! – into a full meal. What came out is this creamy white bean puree that I poured over shells and broccoli.

One thing about this recipe – it’s not mac & cheese. I know it looks cheesy and there’s an option below to use cheese if you don’t want to use nutritional yeast, but this sauce isn’t meant to recreate cheese. It’s lusciously bean-y, a little tangy, super homey, and delicious in its own way.