vegan chipotle mac and cheese

Having grown up in Minnesota, I used to have what my friend, DG, affectionately called "Scandinavian tastebuds" (or was it Midwestern tastebuds? This was over 10 years ago, so I forget). Anyway, I used to hate spicy food. I would break out in a sweat at the sight of a jalapeno pepper. Everything had to be mild, which often overlapped with bland. 

DG didn't give up on me. In the two years that we lived together, in addition to introducing me to fresh herbs and garlic, she worked on improving my tolerance for spicy food. For instance, despite my half-hearted protests, she made her enchiladas with the hot or medium sauce instead of the mild. She might have even tossed in a jalapeno pepper for good measure.   

But it worked. Between DG and Drew (whose tolerance is higher than mine), my tolerance for spicy food has increased exponentially. Sometimes I don't even recognize myself. A few years ago, we were at an Asian restaurant in Milwaukee and when I ordered the stir fried noodles, with a spiciness level of 3 chili peppers, Drew turned to me and asked "You sure you want to do that?" It's a valid question; the old me would have balked, but I responded "It's okay because 3 chili peppers in the midwest are probably like no chili peppers in California" (and I was right).  

After years of living in California, I've also become somewhat of a hot sauce fiend. Between my refrigerator at home and in my office, there are 6 bottles of hot sauce. Last weekend, I read that putting hot sauce on your food is a very California thing to do, and I laughed out loud as I recalled dousing my breakfast burrito in Cholula earlier that day. For the most part, I've resisted turning Californian, but I guess I'm not immune to some of its influences. It's a good thing I'm leaving; otherwise, the next thing you know, I'll be getting botox, plastic surgery, and a diamond so big that a village in Africa surely died for it. 

So last week, I made this vegan chipotle macaroni and cheese from the Post Punk Kitchen.

It was really simple. You soak some cashews, drain them, and then process them in the food processor with veggie broth, garlic, nutritional yeast, and chipotle peppers. The recipe calls for 4 peppers, but I was feeling adventurous (or stupid, depending on how you look at it), so I added 6. I surprised myself by doing this, as the old me probably would have added only one or maybe two. This dish turned out really well and just manageably spicy. As you can see, I added corn and black beans because I love veggies. 

A while ago, in an effort to inject lots of veggies into one meal, I made the Chubby Vegetarian's taco salad. The filling is a mushroom and eggplant "meat."

And scrolling through my phone, I found this picture of the granola bars I made a couple months ago. The recipe is from the Smitten Kitchen. 

And so is the recipe for the mushroom lasagna I made a few weeks ago. Sadly, I was so ravenous that I forgot to take a picture.