Wednesday, September 25; Vegan Mofo Day 25

Happy Herbivore Baked Mac & Cheese with Steamed Broccoli

Rating: 4

OK, so I’m a little embarrassed that I microwaved a Field Roast frankfurter, cut it up & mixed it with my mac & cheese like a 6-year-old, but that’s totally what I did. Seth was at a seminar, so I was alone for dinner and left to my own devices this is what happens. I was feeling like a little comfort food for several reasons. It was a rainy, icky day here – the second one in a row and I was already in kind of a gloomy mood. I’d been working on sewing the dress for my Halloween costume - I’m a slow seamstress, it takes a while for me to make anything, and as my friend, The River Wanders, can tell you, I detest anything that requires me to affix sleeves to it (if you need a square though, I’m your girl). Although today the sewing was going surprisingly well - all three pieces I’d stitched together (told you I was slow) worked as they were supposed to and I hadn’t been reduced to a sobbing mess surrounded by a pile of scary fabric. Anyway, while I was sewing, I was watching the show Nerdgasm on Syfy – what else could I be watching? – and I actually did burst into tears when one of the guys started crying after he met George Takei because he used to watch the origianl Trek with his great-grandmother. (I grew up watching with my dad, so I'm a softie for familes that trek together.) So, all this to have said I wanted something comforting for dinner. And easy. I was thinking about soup, but I really didn’t feel like wrestling a butternut squash or chopping a bunch of veggies. I decided I wanted mac & cheese, but not my usual Tons-of-Daiya version, so I pulled out the Happy Herbivore Cookbook and went with the baked shells and cheese recipe. I didn’t have any shells, so I used rotini. I don’t know why I’ve never tried this recipe before, because I’ve wanted to for some time. I think maybe it’s because the last two healthier vegan mac & cheese recipes I’ve tried weren’t very good (neither was an HH recipe). This one is really good, though. I liked it a lot, but next time I’ll use a little bit more salt. Instead of topping it with bread crumbs, I went with some Chipotle-Cayenne Parma I had in the fridge instead, which was really good on it. I nuked a Field Roast dog, cut it into pieces and mixed it in with my mac & cheese on the plate. (It looked ugly then, so I didn’t take a pic of it.The green stuff in the pic are some of the tri-colored noodles I had.) It kind of reminded me of being a kid when my mom would make us “franks & eggs” sometimes for dinner, like if my dad was out of town for work or something. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a really good cook and has gone out of her way for the last almost 20 years to make first vegetarian, and now vegan dishes for me at family meals. I don’t know where the weird eggs & hot dogs thing came from, but I loved it when I was 6. Anyway, I steamed a little broccoli to go with it, because I needed a veggie, but what I really wanted was peas since I was in childhood mode again. <Note to self – buy more peas; you’re out.> But, other than the lack of peas, consider my soul comforted.