MEALYroni!

It just so happens that my large mealworms fit perfectly inside of penne pasta, which is where this idea was developed from. The sauce that I made for this recipe is completley vegan, for I am trying to limit my animal product consumption. So, if you aren't so much into mealworms, disregard that part of the recipe and  it becomes a great macoroni for a person following a vegan diet.

MEALYroni

50 mealworms, blanched, and patted dry

3 cups almond milk

1 tsp nutmeg

Pinch of salt

50 pieces of penne (or enough for the amount of mealworms that you have), cooked al-dente
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup vegan cheddar spread (I used the Wayfare brand, made from oatmeal)

5 large mushrooms, chopped fine

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

 

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium sized pot, bring almond milk, nutmeg and salt to a simmer. Poach mealworms in almond milk for 8 minutes, or until color has changed from a brownish-yellow to a cream color. Remove mealworms from milk and pat dry. Transfer them to a olive-oiled sheet tray and toast the worms until slightly browned, about 10 minutes.

Add nutritional yeast, vegan cheddar spread, and chopped mushrooms to the almond milk. Simmer these together until a thick cheese sauce has formed.

Stuff each penne pasta with a mealworm. If one mealworm does not fit snug inside of the pasta, then stuff it with two. Toss the stuffed pasta shells in the cheese sauce. Transfer to a casserole dish, and top with breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, and enjoy :-)
Mealworms are the larva of the Tenebrio molitor, otherwise known as the mealworm beetle or darkling beetle. They go through four stage of life: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Commercial growers of mealworms add a juvenile hormone to their feed in order to keep them in the larva stage of life. This is because they develop the most amount of protein in this stage of life.

To rear a mealworm into an adult beetle, you must keep your worms in a well-ventilated area eight-ten inches deep with smooth sides to prevent escape. They will begin to molt, and go into the pupa phase. They stay in this phase for an average of 20 days, until they molt again, regrown their exoskeleton and repeat the process until they are fully developed beetles.