Vegan Mac and Cheeze with Garlicky Spinach

I told you guys I wouldn’t stop posting veg*n recipes.

Today’s might be cheating a little bit, since I’ve already made a post about vegan mac and cheeze, but that one was just in praise of it. This has the recipe for it. I would have a picture, because it’s awfully gosh-darned pretty, but due to a sudden, hectic change in my campus life (read: I became an RA, how the hell did that happen?!) I’ve fallen into this horrible habit of actually, really and truly, no-this-isn’t-a-cry-for-help forgetting to eat until my stomach pulls an Alien  and bursts out of my torso, all the while screaming “I AM GOING TO EAT MY OWN LINING IF YOU DON’T FEED ME, LIKE, TWO HOURS AGO!”

…It’s times like this when I think that, despite being an RA, an executive member of my school’s campus activities board, the once-a-week game room monitor, the choir’s occasional ringer alto, and taking a full course load, I still have way too much time on my hands. This also happens when I start playing The Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” on repeat.

Anyway.

This recipe is pretty straightforward. Take your favorite non-dairy mac and cheeze recipe (I used Lauren Ulm’s from Vegan Yum Yum) and your favorite small pasta or macaroni (I used whole-wheat orrichette) and mix them together when they’re done cooking.

And then we have the spinach. For this, you will need pre-washed spinach (as much as you know you’ll eat; for me, it’s a lot. Probably two or three cups raw.), one tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, and one large clove of garlic OR two to three small ones. As another option, and to make it a little closer to the Italian-style spinach I grew up eating, crumble a few strips of tempeh bacon into the pan.

Rough-chop the garlic -chunk it up, more or less, unless you don’t like biting into chunks of garlic; in that case, chop it as fine as you like- and sautee it (and the tempeh bacon, if using) in the oil over medium-low to medium heat until it’s just fragrant, then add the spinach a few handfuls at a time. You can either wilt it or full-on cook it; I go for a happy medium between the two, where the spinach is still slightly crisp, but more than just wilted. This is all going to happen fairly quickly once your oil gets up to heat, so don’t turn your back on it or you’ll end up with green mush. Green mush is not good eats, unless we’re talking about mushy peas, and we are not. (And we never will, because I think peas in all forms except raw are Teh Ew.) Mix through the mac and cheeze, or don’t and eat them separately… Although that’s not much fun. I’m not sure a squirt of lemon juice or a dash of balsamic vinegar would hurt, either; in fact, I think that would taste amazeballs. If you try it, let me know how it tastes.

The Obligatory 9/11 Post

If the title makes it sound like I don’t want to write this post, you’re right. I don’t. Not because I’m a heartless, soulless monster, a terrorist supporter, or “one’a them towelheads” (excuse me, I threw up a little writing that), but because I think someone much wiser than me has already said what needed to be said about today. I’m referring, of course, to Jon Stewart and his heart-wrenchingly beautiful post-9/11 address on The Daily Show.

Nevertheless, even though I have friends on other blog sites and in real life who know why I hate writing this particular post, I know I should give my insight on this day to my audience here, who knows next to nothing about me. And please note that this will be the only post I make about 9/11 on this blog. After reading this, you’ll understand why.

9/11 is one of those events where you’ll never forget where you were when you heard. I had just started seventh grade, and I was just sitting down to take the first math test of the year when the teacher from across the hall came in. “Did you hear? A plane just flew into the World Trade Center!” he said to my teacher. She didn’t believe him; none of us did. But then she turned on the TV, and there it was: The North Tower engulfed in smoke and flames. As we watched, the second plane flew into the South Tower; then as the Pentagon was hit. The most outstanding thing of that day, in hindsight, was that this is the only time I can remember the entire school being silent. Some horrors are just too much for words, I suppose.

There really is nothing I can say that hasn’t been said to death. After a while, even the most sincere lines begin to sound like you pulled them out of a can. Do I feel for the families and friends of the victims? Absolutely. Have I wondered why it happened, or was there anything we could have done to stop it? Yes. And it is for these reasons that, every September 11th since 2002, I have avoided the TV as if it were capable of giving me AIDS, cancer, HPV, and West Nile virus all at once.

I’m not the kind of arrogant asshole who says “I hate TV”, but I can honestly say I hate 9/11 programming. All of the over-wrought speeches that have the same hollow messages, all the re-aired footage (as if we didn’t have it indelibly burned into our memories 24 hours after it happened), the celebrity appearances… I hate it. And I hate the insistence that it’s “paying respects” to the families and friends of the victims. Bullshit. If it was being done with any semblance of respect, there would be some actual fucking sincerity involved in the proceedings. It would come off as respectful and tragic; instead, and I’m know I’m not the only one who’s picked up on it, it comes off as a media circus. Anything for the ratings, right?

And what’s worse is this: In the aftermath of 9/11, our country was really united, probably for the first time since the Revolution. For the very first time, we were all in the same place: Scared and confused. As horrible as it may sound, one of the greatest times to be an American were the weeks immediately after the attacks. When we weren’t being barraged with footage of the towers falling, we saw footage of New Yorkers volunteering at soup kitchens for the firefighters who were digging through the rubble for survivors (and later, bodies). We donated money and goodwill to the families of the victims. But then the hatred started seeping in. The worst part of the 9/11 aftermath, to me, was hearing about attacks on Muslims and people of Middle Eastern descent all over the country. Even at the time, when I was a brainwashed Pentecostal, I knew it was wrong. They hadn’t flown the planes into the WTC or the Pentagon, and I couldn’t imagine that any of them actually supported the people who had. Hadn’t their home been attacked, just like mine had? How could we go from that kind of great goodness towards our fellow man to the kind of horror and depravity I heard being perpetrated against our fellow man? Why were people laughing about it? Did we all just forget about that?

So today, I will remember the events of September 11th, 2001. I will respect and honor the memories of the victims, and the suffering of their families and friends by not turning on the TV and not participating in the fake mourning the media is perpetrating. I don’t ask that you do the same, but I ask you to respect the people who are doing it this way. We have our reasons. You don’t have to approve of them.

Refurbished

Well, as you guys can see, this blog has undergone a slight name change. As well as a tone change. That’s right: I’m no longer a full-time vegetarian. Never fear, I’ll never give up meatless meals completely; and in fact they will still make up the bulk of the posts on this blog. But occasionally, I’ll post a meat recipe. I will be sure to label and tag them accordingly, so that you won’t see meat if you don’t want to.

I’ve decided to make this blog more budget-conscious and, since there seems to be a very significant lack of these type of blogs in the world, focused on cooking for one. (The “budget-conscious” part is a big reason veg*n meals will still be prominently featured here, because let’s face it: Meatless meals are very budget-friendly.) This serves the purpose of being a hell of a lot easier for me to update, since “budget-conscious meals for one” are my primary focus offline (aside from not failing out of college, I mean) and for serving the interests of others like me, who are either sharing one fridge with multiple people or have small fridges. It will also allow me to get re-acquainted with my true love, Baby the 2-Quart Slow Cooker. Finally, it will allow me to indulge my Pinterest addiction and see just how many of those “copycat” recipes are worth trying.

I’m back, I’m hungry, and I’m broke. Beware, internetz. Beware.