Friday Night Photos

The punches just keep coming at me. I really hope that after this bout of things just not going according to plan, I can take it easy for a while without extra stress.

Today's problem was entirely my fault for starting a project this big. For the record, though, I thought it would be a finish-in-a-day thing. I didn't think it was going to turn into the mess it did, but now I have a HUGE problem on my hands.

Jerry is visiting a friend in Wisconsin for the weekend, so I had plans of redecorating the bedroom while he is gone, including installing luxury vinyl planking (we had almost enough left over from the rest of the house to do my bedroom, so I ordered a couple of boxes of the same planking and now we can do the bedroom). That was the plan, anyway.

I noticed that our floor had started creaking a bit and that I felt some high/low spots in the floor. I really hoped there was nothing wrong with the floor under the carpet. If all was good, then the installation of the floor should've been really easy.

Well, since nothing goes as planned, this was far from easy. And right now, my bedroom looks like this:

First of all, I was right about the floor being kind of wavy. That concerned me and I knew I'd have to fix it, but it wasn't until I got to the far side of the room that I completely panicked. The shower is just on the other side of the wall. When I pulled up the carpet there, I found this lovely scene:

Clearly, there is water damage from the shower. We've needed a new shower for a while, but as far as I knew, there weren't any leaks or anything. However, there is a soft spot on the floor in front of the shower, so I know that we need to fix the damage there, too. 

I'm just ready to tear my hair out. The kittens, though, LOVED this whole process.

Needless to say, I won't be surprising Jerry with an awesome bedroom makeover. I'll be lucky if we have any flooring at all.

This next photo is even grosser than the water damage. I had some holes in my walls that I had to patch up with some drywall compound (just from hanging things there). I went in the garage to get the compound, which I'd just used last fall. When I opened it, I couldn't believe what I saw:

I guess I didn't close it tight enough--it was all mold! So that was awesome.

On a more positive note, Noah's birthday party went off very well! I didn't stay for his actual party (which was in the garage), because the kids are 18 years old and what 18 year old wants their mom at their birthday party?

But I did spend a lot of time cleaning the garage and decorating. I love how it turned out!

The green screen in the corner was for them to use to take fun pictures or videos. We set up two Christmas trees (a little one and a larger one). For each of the kids young adults coming, I set up a stocking in front of the "fire place"--inside, I included a few silly toys, some goofy Christmas glasses and headbands to wear. (Now I wish I'd at least have gotten a picture of them with their stuff on.)

Here is a pic of the skeletons and me wearing some:

I bought all of these Christmas mugs at the thrift store--I thought it would be fun to serve drinks in those! I also made Christmas cookies for them to decorate and came up with a couple of things for them to do.

Noah and his friends had fun, and while he has no idea the time or effort I put into it, I'm glad that it went well.

Jerry and I went to Lowe's for a couple of things and we were looking at tool chests. I opened the drawer to this one and saw balloons spelling BYE. Haha! Just thought it was funny. Clearly we weren't meant to get a tool chest ;) 

At the thrift store, I saw this jacket and noticed the price was crazy high for a thrift item--$29. I googled it because I thought maybe it would be worth buying and reselling if it was a good brand. It looked brand new, too. I looked it up and they retail for about $150, so $30 was definitely a bargain. Too bad I'm not a cyclist.

I saw these shoes at the thrift store and just HAD to buy them for Riley! Are they so adorable?!

As I was flipping through jeans, I came across this pair that I thought was funny--the previous owner had written "skinny" twice across the back. I have no idea what that was about!

This was another impulse buy yesterday when Jerry and I were out doing some errands. It's a cactus scratching pad. It looks different than other scratching posts I've bought, so I thought it would be fun to give it a try.

Chick totally went to town on it right away. He was a blur of fur attacking that thing.

Duck was a little more chill. And Chick was watching him like, "C'mon, you're supposed to attack it!" Phoebe and Estelle showed a little interest at first, but then went back to being their old lady selves.

When we were looking at cat toys, I saw this one and nearly had a heart attack. It's literally a ball of yarn for cats! If you haven't read about what happened to Duck after swallowing some yarn, definitely read that before giving your cat yarn to play with. There are a million more toys to give them; I'd skip the yarn or string. It's just not worth the risk! (Or the $3,000 vet bill.)

And finally, we got around to power washing the deck. I still have some screws to replace (and even a few boards to replace) but it'll be ready for stain or paint very soon. We planned on stain, but now we're leaning toward paint. It doesn't make any difference to me, but Jerry seems to want to paint it. Still, though, look how satisfying it looks with the power washer!

Okay, I'm going to try to figure out a solution to this whole mess with my floor. It's sounding like I'm going to have to replace the shower (which we needed to do anyway), replace some of the underlayment/subfloor, and then finally install the planking. This was supposed to be a weekend project! My brother may be able to come over tomorrow to help me. If not, I'm going to have to hire someone because I don't want to cause even more problems.

And I'm out. Have a great weekend! xo

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Mental Health Day

Getting the garage ready for Noah's Christmas-in-July birthday party (the skeletons wanted to take part, too)

If you read yesterday's post, then you know I'm just not feeling so great mentally. Jerry is off work today before going to visit a friend for the weekend, so I'm going to spend the day with him. I always feel less anxious when I hang out with him.

So, I'm declaring today a mental health day for myself and I'll be back to regular blogging tomorrow. Right now, Jerry and I are going to attempt cross stitch of all things! Hahahaha. It was an impulse buy, but we thought it would be fun to work on.

Have a great night :)

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Wednesday Weigh-In: Week 61

I know I used this picture a couple of days ago, but I really do love that outfit and I figured there was no point in taking another picture today.

Another Wednesday, another weigh-in. It feels so redundant! Still, I have such a hard time letting go of streaks--and this one has been well over a year. Also, my daily posting has been going since January 1, 2020.

I have to admit that I really don't want to write today. Or at all lately. I've been feeling depressed and I just keep hoping it'll go away. I feel like I'm invisible in my own house sometimes and lately it's really been getting to me. I am sure that most moms go through a period of feeling invisible--where you give advice to your kids, they don't listen to it, then someone else gives the same advice and they're thrilled because their friend TikTok was so smart(!) to think of that.

Eli is a good example: Eli was going to the gym every single day for at least nine months to lift weights; he LOVED it. I took a personal training certification class (a very long time ago, but I remember everything very well!) and took several college classes that gave me all sorts of information about the human body and physiology. I told Eli all about how he needs rest days and how he needs to switch muscle groups so he allows each muscle group to rest. I said that if he goes every single day he'll burn out and not want to go anymore. (And don't even get me started on the nutrition part of strength training!)

Anyway, you can guess what happened... he got injured from working out without rest days and then he got burnt out from working out every single day. So he stopped going. But does he admit that mom was right? Of course not--I'm 40 years old, so what do I know about life and learning from the mistakes I made?

The example with Eli was just a small part of it; I feel like this a lot lately. I don't even know why I bother giving advice, because unless it comes from TikTok, it's wrong. *eye roll*

Okay, well, I didn't mean to get into that. I hate complaining about feeling sad or depressed when I know that I have a great life, family, kids, the whole works. Feeling unappreciated for everything that I do is just getting to me, and I'm probably writing this at a bad time today. (I spent SO MUCH TIME and effort working on things for Noah's birthday party today and he didn't thank me or even seem to notice. So I'm feeling very unappreciated right now!)

Alright, let's set all that negativity aside and get on with my Wednesday Weigh-In...

I was at 142.0 today, which is down a little from last week's 143.2. I don't really think the weight loss this week is from anything I did; I just didn't have much of an appetite because of the way I've been feeling. So, I'm happy with the loss, but I'm pretty sure it's not permanent. Hopefully I'll feel better this week and then I'll be back to eating like usual.

Lately, I've been spending as much time as possible cleaning and organizing things. I don't like the cleaning part, but I love organizing! I returned most of the plastic containers I'd bought at Hobby Lobby because the quality was terrible. I wish we had a Container Store around here! I went to one in New York once and it was one of the coolest stores I've ever been in. (Spoken as a total organizational nerd.) Also, I would probably need $20,000 worth of containers to organize my house and garage, hahaha. So, I've just been trying to get creative with what I already have.

Anyway, as far as my "diet" goals this week, I just want to get back to my usual eating routine. I feel a lot better when I eat regularly (and I'm sure my mood is better, too!)

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Transformation Tuesday #80: An Update on Gilda

Happy Transformation Tuesday! Like I did a few weeks ago, I posted a single transformation of a cat adoption that didn't seem like it would work out, but it had a very happy ending. You can find that story here.

Today is going to be a similar post--more like a guest post than a typical Transformation Tuesday. This transformation is pretty long and I like to keep editing to a minimum when I can, so I chose to do this in a post by itself.

This is another heartwarming cat-adoption story, and it's actually a continuation from a previous Transformation Tuesday. So it's more of an update from the post on June 8, 2021. You can find that story here. This is about Gilda, the cat who was bounced from shelter to shelter and very clearly needed a permanent home. Runs for Cookies' reader Michelle adopted Gilda and worked hard with her to help her be a happy and healthy cat. This is the update on Gilda and how she's been doing in her new home. You can find more pictures there, too.

I'm going to turn it over to Michelle, who will continue Gilda's story...

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A quick recap: The short summary is that it was difficult to find a cat to adopt during the pandemic, but after several months I found one that according to the shelter needed a bit of "work," which was kind of short-hand for a cat that had been sad, scared, angry, not good with change and needed some special attention. She was a bit over a year old when I adopted her, an owner-surrender with an unfortunate name she didn't respond to at all, so I named her Gilda.

Gilda and I spent lots of time getting to know each other, going at her pace. I can't believe it's been 14 months since I first got her, and my life is so much better with her in it.

Things about Gilda: She likes food--okay, LOVES food--especially kibble, but also a prescription wet food that can best be described as sticky-brown-smelly-sludgy-wallpaper-paste. (It's so gross but she loves it and it's a prescription she needs). Gilda gained nearly three pounds (almost 40% of her original body weight!) in the first six months I had her, before I got a handle on her ideal weight and how much I should be feeding her. She's back down to a healthy weight but would definitely be a very large (unhealthy) cat if I gave her unlimited access to food.

Gilda likes to sit near me, most often touching me, but she is not and may never be a lap cat. She loves to give me head-butts, and rub her cheeks on my glasses and my nose. When she's begging for dinner, she'll sit silently beside me with a thousand-yard stare, and then put one paw on my shoulder, very gently--it's so sweet. If I don't react to that, she bops my nose with her paw (yes I am a sucker.)

Gilda is *still* terrified of towels, but I've made progress with her fear of paper bags (I thought all cats loved paper bags!). I set up a giant paper bag meant for lawn waste in my living room, and cut a door/window in the end and she likes that well enough.

She ADORES something called Da Bird (which I highly recommend)-- basically a wand toy with feathers on the end that kind of "fly" when you use it-- it's pretty realistic. When she "catches" the bird in her mouth, she prances around proudly, dragging the wand behind her. (Katie here: I have to agree--my cats LOVE that toy! You can find it on Amazon here (affiliate link)). 

Gilda has a *wide* ranging vocabulary from little beeps to sweet soft squeaks when she's trying to butter me up so she can have more food. She makes a crazy yodeling noise when running around at night (or, um, during the day) and can project extremely loud obnoxious meows when I'm not getting her dinner ready fast enough.

Other things that have happened over the past year: Gilda and I navigated getting her to take anti-anxiety medicine so that I could put her in her carrier and take her to the vet for a checkup. The staff there *adored* her--she was well behaved (and acted kinda drunk)--and she was pronounced pretty healthy. She was also VERY happy to come back home with me. 

It was good that we had a successful first vet visit because we've had to return a few times--poor Gilda has some skin issues that were alarming. She'd scratch herself absolutely raw and cause large open wounds. I've learned that skin issues can be tricky to treat, but after about five months of a special diet/allergy challenge, we found out she's allergic to dairy and fish.

I learned that dairy and fish is in just about *everything* for pets, even things not fish-flavored and even some 100% freeze dried chicken, if it's been prepared on the same machinery as fish)...sigh. the good news is that I've found a mixture of prescription food plus one other chicken/turkey only brand that she LOVES and help about 80%. Of course, she also has some seasonal allergies that cause her to itch, so I have to keep a close eye on her, but I think we're at a place that we can both live with.

As for socialization, Gilda has come to really like my (elderly) mom and dad, who occasionally take care of her if I need to be out of town--I'm lucky they live close by. Gilda has also met my sister and niece and done well, and really adores another good friend of mine who we see regularly--but she still growls when she hears one of my neighbors opening their back door (I live in a small condo complex), etc.

Lastly, she's mastered "high five" when she wants a treat (the treat is just a piece of kibble, but she likes it as much as a treat), as well as "sit" and "up" which is when she gets on her hind legs.

I've been very inspired by a YouTube channel called Billi Speaks. During the early days of the pandemic, a veterinarian in Florida decided to teach her 12-year old cat to "speak" by using buttons--and BOY does Billi speak--her first word was MAD and if you're a pet person and watch it, you'll be impressed (and will laugh lots).

This kind of training has been done with dogs, and I'm a bit obsessed with the idea of it, but the buttons are a bit expensive--as is her prescription food--I think she eats better than I do! So I don't see myself tackling this project any time soon.

Please enjoy the before and after photos-- and I appreciate you hearing more than you probably want about Gilda.

Have I mentioned I adore her?? ;)

P.S. Thanks to Katie (and Duck), I make 100% sure that any string/yarn I have is well-secured in a closet Gilda can't get into, and if I need to do a project--such as repairing a sweater, etc.--I'm very very mindful of everything!

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Katie here... I am SO SO happy to hear that Gilda is thriving! She seems like she's come such a long way since last year. I was thrilled that you chose to adopt her and that now she has a forever home with someone who adores her :)  I am absolutely sure that Gilda is grateful for your patience and she'll reward you with lots of love. Please give her a high-five from me! Thank you so much for sharing the update <3

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My $200 Thrift Store Wardrobe

After Jerry and I won our DietBet a few weeks ago, we agreed that we'd keep the money we won (not for paying bills or anything--something that we wanted). Our payout was $388 each, which includes the money we spent for the DietBet. Still, we agreed that we could each keep our $388 for all the work we did!

After losing over 50 pounds in the last 14 months, my wardrobe had dwindled down to pretty much nothing that fit me. I'd gotten rid of most of my "thin" clothes because I thought I'd never be able to wear them again. I even got rid of my running clothes because I thought I wouldn't run again!

One of my very favorite things to do is go thrift shopping. I don't just buy and wear thrift clothes because they are cheap; I buy them because I can find unique things, because they are worn in already (I hate stiff jeans!), and you truly never know what gems you might find. I find high-end clothes all the time. I found a couple of pairs of designer jeans this time, but sadly, they weren't my size.

I didn't have to buy business clothing, but even if you do, there is a ton of it. Lots of suits--including women's suits--dresses, skirts, blazers, etc. I just stuck with MY preferences.

The last few times I went thrifting, I just couldn't find much at all. So on Saturday, I drove up to Ann Arbor to the Salvation Army (it's absolutely enormous) to try my luck there. Ann Arbor is the home of the University of Michigan, and finding cute clothes there is much easier--college kids dump their stuff before leaving for home at the end of the school year.

I tried on a MOUNTAIN of jeans and by that time, I just couldn't fathom trying on more clothes. So, I picked some shirts off the rack and hoped they'd fit. I was really happy with the jeans I found, though, and even more so that they fit. I hate trying on clothes when everything is too small--it's so disheartening.

I spent a few hours there and in the end, my total was just under $200. I paid the full thrift price for a lot of them, but there were several that were 5 for $5. Including some seriously nice things!

I actually took the time to try on everything today and take mirror selfies (could I be any more vain? haha!). I just wanted to show all of the stuff you can buy for less than a pair of brand new high-end jeans. All of the clothes I'm wearing in these pictures came from that shopping trip, so you may see the same shirt twice with different jeans or vice versa. The point is, it was all included in that $200. And lots of them are great brands! I will be the first to admit I know nothing about fashion, but I've never been a "fashion person". I just wear what's comfortable (jeans and a cozy shirt).

So, here goes...

I can't remember if I posted this shirt yet or not, but I love it! (Also, see how many cats you can spot in all the photos)

I'm going to post side by side pictures just for the sake of space. There are a LOT of pictures! So I collaged them together when it felt right.

I thought the shirt on the right was a size small that was meant to fit very big, but when I got home, I realized it was an XL. Still, I kind of like it!

On the contrary, the shirt on the left is an XS but it's meant to fit large. I don't love the shirt on the right, so I'll probably donate it.

I just had to buy the OSU shirt; as you know, I love Portland and when I find an OSU shirt in Ann Arbor, Michigan, I just felt like I was meant to have it. I am not crazy about the shirt on the left, so I don't think I'll keep it. Thankfully, it was only $1!

I never wear gray running bottoms! It always looks like I peed my pants when I sweat. But they'll be good for running on the treadmill.

The shirt on the right is super heavy duty. Being cold 100% of the time, I'm going to love it outside this fall. And I think the purple and gray cardigan is super cute.

The jacket on the left is REALLY nice and in great shape. I got it for $1! I hoped that the kids would be interested in it, but that's SO not cool, haha. Oh well, I'll wear it! And even the Nike running top on the left was only $1.

Duck was so irritated that I wasn't paying attention to him. 

These jeans are MY MOST FAVORITE jeans I've ever bought! I love the placement of the rips and I especially love the rip where the buttons are. Not sure if it was intentional, but I like it!

I just HAD to buy these shoes for Riley! They were only $1, too.

When I saw this shirt, I just had to get it. It's a men's large, so I'll probably just wear it for pajamas. It's so perfect, though.

Yes, Friends, I bought a dress! I liked that it covered the spots of my body that I wanted it to. And my waist looks small ;)

I absolutely LOVE this shirt and these jeans. The jeans were straight-legged before and those look bad on me, so I added some dark denim to create a flared bottom.

This was an a different pair of jeans, not the ones above.

And there you go! I did buy a few other things that probably totaled about $15, so this wardrobe cost about $180-185. Now the fun part is going through my closet and pitching just about everything! All of these fit really well, so I don't need to keep the too big stuff anymore.

Well, I've got to get stuff ready for Noah's birthday party on Thursday. It's a Christmas in July theme and I have so many ideas! (The mugs you notice in the picture with everything on my bed are all Christmas mugs--so I'm going to have those set out for glasses at Noah's party.)

I would love to see some of your best thrift items! Please email them to me so I can share them in a post: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. If you happen to know the price you paid, please share :)

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Deep Thoughts With Jerry

Let me start by saying that "Deep Thoughts" is not meant to be taken seriously--because this post is by Jerry! (Although I have to take credit for the brilliant photo I chose above.) I had a post all planned today; I went thrift shopping yesterday and I had a ton of luck finding things. I was going to do a post about what I bought, but I haven't had time to take the pictures. So I'm going to work on that and hopefully post it tomorrow.

So, lucky us, we get to read an interview with Jerry. These are just silly ice breaker questions that I got from this website. The video of his worst haircut is a must-watch!

Q. What “old person” things do you do?

Jerry: Geez! The older I get the more I realize there are a lot of things I do that seem old, especially when the kids point them out. Dad jokes--they're hilarious to me and I crack myself up. Everyone else, not so much. I find myself saying or doing things that my dad used to do when I was young. For example, 'Are you going to drive the fucking car or park it!' when someone is driving too slow. Or, 'When I don't need it I'm tripping over the thing!' whenever I'm looking for anything and I can't find it within one minute. LOL.

I also talk a lot about the weather. When I hear there's a storm possibly coming in I tell Katie right away and I walk outside to view the conditions for myself. 

Q. Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Jerry: There are so many! I grew up a Looney Tunes kid. Screw the PC of it all, those were damn good cartoons and I still watch them from time to time to this day. From Wile E. Coyote and Foghorn Leghorn to Marvin the Martian and Bugs Bunny. I reference them all the time and they make up so many cool conversational drops. For example, when I get on a walkie talkie I can't help but say, 'Earth to Bugs Bunny. Come in Bugs Bunny.' 

Q. What is your guilty pleasure?

Jerry: I don't know if it's a guilty pleasure but I sooo love Cheddar and Sour Cream Ruffles. I can eat about a million and a half of those. 

Q. What are your favorite songs from your teenage years that you still rock out to when nobody else is listening?

Jerry: I'm a total 90's guy butI also enjoy a lot of the 80's... essentially I'm all over the place with my music loves. When the mood strikes I turn up some Hall and Oates 'Maneater', Spanau Ballet 'True', Reel Big Fish 'Beer', Counting Crows 'Mr. Jones', or Korn 'A.D.I.D.A.S.' just to name a few. 

Q. What did you get into the most trouble for with your parents as a kid?

Jerry: Katie and I came home early from my family reunion and we decided to paint my room at my parents house a "unique" pea-green color. We loved it so much we also decided to paint my parents living room the same color. Needless to say, they hated it. With a passion. 

Q. What dance move are you secretly awesome at?

Jerry: There is nothing better than seeing the surprise on people's faces when I bust out 'The Worm' at a wedding. I do it at all the weddings and it's a hit. 

Q. What commercial jingle gets stuck in your head all the time?

Jerry: Again, so many of these, too! I get the 'Limu Emu...and Doug' from the Liberty Mutual commercials. Or the 'We are Farmers, bum ba dum bum bum bum bum.' from Farmers Insurance. And 'Nationwide is on your side.' from Nationwide Insurance. Now that I think of it... all the insurance jingles get stuck in my head! 

Q. What’s the worst haircut you ever had?

Jerry: This is easy... it's the two times I failed miserably at cutting my own hair. I used a #8 on the clippers and went all over my head. After I put everything away, I noticed I had some strays so I busted out the clippers again and cut the strays out... and completely forgot the blade guard until after I swiped a spot on my head.

Q. If you had to change your name, what would your new name be, and why would you choose that name?

Jerry: Jerrick Damon. I've had the name picked out since I was a teen, and completely randomly, Katie and I went to the courthouse to legally change it. It was $500, though, so that was a no-go. I had created a wrestler on a video game and gave him the name Jerrick Damon. All my friends started referring to me as Jerrick Damon and they still do to this day. They even held signs up at our wedding referencing JD.

Q. If you had to delete all but 3 apps from your smartphone, which ones would you keep?

Jerry: I would have to keep my MLB app and my Facebook app of course. It would be It would be a hard choice for the third. But I will have to say it's my Accuweather.

Q. What two things do you consider yourself to be very good at?

Jerry: I'm very good with movie trivia... I used to play 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon' at work all the time with co-workers and I nailed it almost every time. I even won tickets for a show from a radio station when I played it with them and stumped them. I even remember the name I gave them--Richard Belzer. 

I also consider myself very good at talking to new people. I never really thought about it before but I see new employees at work all the time and I can ease the awkwardness in the room with a simple wise crack or joke. 

Q. What is something you hate doing? Why?

Jerry: One word--DietBet.

Q. What is something you love doing? Why?

Jerry: I love playing disc golf because it gets me outside and I can have low-key conversations with people. It's stress-free and a million times cheaper than regular golf.

I can clear the water hole now; this was in 2009

I've recently started teaching Noah how to play; Eli's not really interested in it

Katie here. Hopefully you enjoyed Jerry's "deep thoughts" ;) He loves getting to take over the blog once in a while!

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VEGAN RECIPE REVIEW: Mac & Cheese Powder

Today's recipe review is a bit of an odd one--it's for a powder mix that you can use for things like macaroni and cheese. You know the Kraft boxed mac and cheese? I used to LOVE that as a kid! Well, this powder is supposed to be a replacement for that. You could also use it as a "cheese" dip. (I'm going to stop putting quotes around "cheese"--being vegan, there is no cheese in this, but it's easier than trying to figure out what else to call it.)

I actually got this recipe from a book by Sam Turnbull, who owns the website It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. I've found that I like how her recipes don't use a ton of ingredients; nor do they use weird ingredients that you'll only use one time and then have the rest of it leftover. When I was at Barnes & Noble with Noah for his birthday, I spent some time looking through the recipes in the book and I found SO many that looked good to me. Just check out all the post-it tabs I used!

This recipe for the Mac & Cheese Powder is in this book, but it's also on her website (I wanted to try to find a recipe that I could link to). You can find the recipe here on It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken. (I'll link again at the end of the post.)

I did make another recipe earlier in the week for a queso dip but I realized it wasn't in the book. If you're a new vegan or if you just want to experiment with some recipes, I think hers would be a good start. You can find the book here on Amazon (affiliate link). As much as I love my Kindle, I would not recommend the Kindle version. There is a picture with every recipe and it's a beautiful book! She has a ton of recipes on her site, though, too.

Anyway, I was absolutely starving last night for dinner and I was on my own. I had no idea what to cook, so I started flipping through the recipes that I'd marked. The Mac & Cheese Powder was so simple and looked super quick and easy to make, I decided on that. And really, it couldn't be any easier.

To make the powder, here are the ingredients:

Nutritional yeast, flour, sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, turmeric, paprika, lemon pepper, and salt. I'd never used turmeric in my life until becoming vegan and now I use it all the time. I think it's used for color in this recipe (in a lot of recipes, actually). Simple enough!

The recipes says to just mix everything together and store in a container. However, I don't love the texture of nutritional yeast, so I ended up putting it all in the blender for 20 seconds or so to make it more uniform.

This is what it looked like before blending:

It doesn't make a huge difference, but this is what it looks like after blending. It was a lot smoother:

It made probably about 1-1/3 cups. I filled an 8-oz mason jar and had some leftover to make my macaroni and cheese as well as a couple of tablespoons that wouldn't fit in the jar.

Anyway, making macaroni and cheese with this was SO EASY. While I was measuring out the ingredients for the powder, I had a pot going on the stove for the macaroni. Once the macaroni was done, I drained it and set it aside for a moment. Then I poured some unsweetened almond milk into the pot along with 1/4 cup of the cheese powder. I stirred it over medium-high heat until the sauce thickened (which happens really quickly--probably three minutes).

Then you just add the macaroni back to the pot! I made a single serving of this, which was perfect for me when I had the house to myself and I was starving.

I was very skeptical about this one, but I was really surprised when it actually resembled macaroni and cheese! I didn't expect it to taste like mac and cheese, but I hoped it would be good. And honestly? It was! Clearly, I like black pepper on my mac and cheese, but it didn't even need more seasoning. I thought it was delicious and creamy and it absolutely hit the spot for macaroni and cheese.

My favorite part, though, is that I have the powder on hand so that I can make it very easily whenever I need something fast. It has about a million less calories than traditional mac and cheese, too! Just for reference, I used 2.5 ounces of elbow macaroni (which was 1/2 cup dry). And I used six tablespoons (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) of almond milk.

Eli came home right as I was about to eat, so I asked if he would try it. It said it's not bad--which is a big compliment from Eli! I don't think he'd eat a whole bowl of it like he did with the vegan Truffle Mac & Cheese, but I'm glad he didn't hate it.

Noah's having a birthday party with his friends this week, and I think I'm going to try making the vegan chocolate cake for next week. (I'll make a back-up dessert as well, but I think it'll be fun to try a cake--let's hope it works out!)

Once again, here is the link to the Vegan Mac & Cheese Powder.

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