Hot Dog with Mac & Cheese

Hello on the 16th day of the Vegan Month of Food! It's hard to believe that this grand blogging adventure is already halfway over! Today, my Nostalgia Week post is a vegan version of "hot dogs and mac & cheese," which was the quintessential Monday dinner of my childhood.

Hot Dog with Mac & Cheese

Ingredients:

(mac & cheese)

--1/2 cup elbow noodles

--1/4 cup soy milk

--1 tsp vegan butter

--1/4 tsp turmeric

--vegan cheddar cheese (didn't measure, but it was probably ≤ 1/4 cup of the Daiya shredded cheddar)

--salt, to taste

(hot dog)

--vegan hot dog (I used a Lightlife Smart Dog)

--vegan hot dog bun (I forgot to get some when I last went grocery shopping, so I improvised with a slice of bread, just making this meal further nostalgic, as that was what we'd do if we happened to be out of hot dog buns)

--mustard

(corn)

Cook noodles, strain, and return to pot. Add remaining ingredients, simmer on low to allow cheese to melt and soy milk to be (mostly) absorbed before serving. In a second pot, prepare a hot dog; I did the stove top option, which was to simply boil water, turn off heat, and place the hot dog in the water for 2 minutes (other options are grilling or microwaving). When it's done, serve on a bun. Enjoy the hot dog and mac & cheese with corn on the side (I later added a pickle, too).

I remember "Hot Dog Mondays" fondly, especially "drawing" on the hot dogs with mustard. My dad (who loves puns, riddles, and jokes) commented once, "This hot dog has my name on it." We looked to his plate only to see his name literally written on the hot dog in mustard. After that, it became a fun little tradition to use mustard to spell out our names or draw something (I often did stick people, for whatever reason) on our hot dogs before digging in to dinner. 

I tried to draw a stick person, didn't turn out too well...

For all the fun that that was, I always enjoyed the mac & cheese more. Growing up, I loved the boxed macaroni, the more creamy and orange, the better. Often my mom would add a handful of cheese in addition to whatever cheese/flavor packet had come in the box to make it even cheesier. As a vegan, I've experimented with a bunch of mac & cheese variations (hello, nutritional yeast!), and I'm a lot less picky than I was growing up (vegetables in my mac & cheese would have been unthinkable back then!), but it's nice to go back to plain and simple versions like this for nostalgia's sake.

Also, yay, I finally did a "Mac-and-Cheese Monday" post (see the Vegan MoFo official daily themes)!

If you haven't seen it already, be sure to check out yesterday's Mutts comic for a simple yet powerful vegan message.

Peace. :)