Simple

It doesn't matter whether you are vegan or not, dinner - or deciding what to have for dinner - can be stressful.  Our evenings tend to be very busy, so many nights I am rushing around like a mad woman trying to throw something together so Mr. B and Little B don't have to eat ketchup sandwiches, applesauce and canned green beans for dinner.

Well, tonight, I happened upon something so easy and so comforting.

I ran to the store after school since the Bees were expecting a dinner guest. I needed something quick, but wasn't in the mood for chili or spaghetti. I am always game for macaroni & cheese, but have yet to force my Daiya on visiting omnivores. Good vegans don't scare omnivores with cheese alternatives.  I think it's some sort of unwritten vegan rule of etiquette.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, our local grocery store has EGG FREE NOODLES. I grabbed a bag in nervous anticipation, because if I've learned one thing it is that you NEVER know what's going to be in that ingredient list, no matter what the package says. 

Only four ingredients, which is nearly a miracle and NO EGG. Yay for me.

As soon as I dropped those bad boys into the cart, I nearly left skid marks as I high-tailed it to the frozen section.  Because you know what goes best with noodles?

Mashed potatoes.  Duh.

Now some of you food purists out there would have headed the other way to grab potatoes and do it the old fashion way. Not me, not today.  Yesterday was Halloween people and I teach first grade, remember? Needless to say, I won't be interested in over exerting myself for the next 3-5 weeks.  So  I bought the ready-to-mash. Genius.

So once I had the goods, here's how it all went down...

1. Water in giant pasta pot with Veggie Better than Bouillon, dashes of salt, pepper, onion powder & garlic salt.
2. When boiling, add noodles and a generous squirt of Bragg's.
3. Throw bag of frozen potatoes in the microwave: 10 minutes.
4. Throw bag of frozen broccoli in the microwave: 4 minutes.
5. Partially drain noodles. 
6. Mash potatoes with Earth Balance, almond milk & pepper.

If you are feeling fancy, feel free to put the above mentioned foods into different dishes to fool your family into thinking it was all from scratch.  Or serve as is. 

Can you guess what I did?

So simple and so easy. I would add stress-free, but I forgot to run the dishwasher this morning, so I was left with a grotesque number of dishes to wash by hand.  But after eating my weight in noodles, I needed to remain active - even if I had to undo the top button on my pants.

That was going a little far, wasn't it? Sorry.

Now, as I hunker down for the night, I imagine that there will be visions of sweet carbohydrates dancing in my dreams.  Did I mention I made enough noodles & mashed potatoes to feed 10 people?

Leftovers.  Goodnight.