Woo. Been awhile (again)

I guess it probably wouldn't have been so long if I'd actually been cooking. However, since I haven't I guess I'll do a little food item review today.

So, Michael is still only vegetarian, so even though he is lactose intolerant he feels the need to indulge in tasty dairy treats... frequently. This mostly doesn't bother me... occasionally when he brings a pizza home I get whiny... or lately it has been boxed mac & cheese. I haven't had that stuff in a LONG time. I crave it now and then. So when Michael was at the local food co-op he bought a box of Annie's mac for himself and a box of Road's End Organics Dairy Free Shells & Chreese for me made by Edward & Sons. Now you guys have heard me mention Edward & Sons before when I mentioned some really really REALLY awesome NOT Chick'n bouillon cubes.

I didn't realize that they were by the same company until after I had started munching away at the macaroni goodness.

First thing I DID check was to see what the Chreese mix had in it. Nutrtional yeast is the second ingredient. This is really what most of the vegan mac & cheeses I've seen begin with.

I cooked according to directions, and as suggested added a dollop (1-2tsp) of buttery spread (olive oil based from Bestlife) and used almond milk. *Note on almond milk... if you haven't tried it, you really should.

The sauce was pretty creamy, not that awful bright yellow color other boxed mac & cheese suffers from. Almost "alfredo" colored. I put the pasta in it, mixed - had a similar consistency to "homemade" mac & cheese. Gooey and creamy at the same time. My mouth watered.

I tasted it before seasoning. It was ok. I didn't think it was cheesy really at all, but again - I don't think nutritional yeast is cheesy so I wasn't surprised. Overall I thought while the ease of tossing it into a pan was great and the appearance was nice... that I probably would rate it a 2 out of 5 star rating. I added hot sauce (almost any hot sauce that has garlic would work here) to it to give it a bit of a kick which helped some. I also ate it with a side of steamed kale which is still my absolute favorite green.

I've been really busy with work, finding stuff still missing from the move and working in the yard. Here in Eastern TN. It is absolutely incredibly gorgeous. For my birthday the other day (YAY ME) it was in the mid 60's... in early MARCH. Holy COW. I'm from upstate NY originally and I'm used to my birthday being snow covered and freezing. So this was a wonderful change.

I have also been planting vegetable seeds which will hopefully appear as full grown veggies sometime this summer.

One other thing you guys might be able to look forward to is my adventures in wild food foraging. I've have a few things I would like to taste and see if I can't work into a recipe or two. Can't wait until the world is green once more!