July 17, 2015: vegan Friday

"Comfort food" is not something that I'm ... comfortable with. Something about the idea of turning to food for comfort has always seemed not quite right to me. When I encounter this term in one of my favorite cookbooks, I know that the recipe will probably be something familiar, something that my mother or grandparents might have prepared. Maybe a better term would be "traditional foods," since I do associate many dishes labeled as "comfort food" with the food traditions passed down to me by my family.

When I became a vegetarian and then a vegan, I quickly realized that I would need to figure out how to re-create some traditional recipes without using ingredients I wanted to avoid. I've learned how to make a mushroom and barley stew that somehow satisfies me in exactly the same way as my mother's beef stew, and I've settled on a chocolate-chip cookie recipe that's just right. Macaroni and cheese is another dish that I knew I wouldn't want to do without even after I decided to go vegan a few years ago. Fortunately there are many recipes for vegan mac & cheese that are quite good. Today I'm sharing one of our favorites, from one of Alicia C. Simpson's cookbooks, Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations.