Most of the time when I make mac ‘n cheeze, I use a simple nutritional yeast sauce with no fancy ingredients, but I’ve been getting bored with my usual recipe, and I wanted to make an extra authentic version for our Christmas day lunch this year, so I came up with this. It’s way richer than what I normally make, but it’s so good! And it’s easy to make ahead–just do all the stove-top steps the night before, pour into the casserole dish, store in the fridge, then bake the next day. Simple!

Fancy Pantsy Mac ‘n Cheeze

1 7-ounce package brown rice or whole wheat pasta (spirals, macaroni, or penne works best) 1-1/2 cups shredded vegan cheeze (Daiya works well. Use cheddar or a mixture of cheddar and mozzarella) 1/3 cup nutritional yeast 1-1/4 cups unsweetened plain almond milk 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard 1 tablespoon cornstarch Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to a medium sized pot. Add the remaining ingredients and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until the cheeze is melted and the sauce is smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Preheat oven to 350F. Pour the mac and cheeze into a greased 8×8-inch casserole dish and bake for 30 minutes.

If you’re in a big hurry, you can skip the baking step and serve the mac right off the stovetop. It will still be good, but baking it adds that special, I-actually-made-an-effort-with-dinner-tonight touch. You could also add a pinch of turmeric to make it extra yellow, but I’m not so picky about the color as long as it tastes good.

I love good-quality vegan pizza. Load up some first-rate crust with fruits/veggies and/or vegan meat substitutions and some Daiya, and I’m in heaven. That’s why I’m happy that such top-flight Fort Worth pizza providers as Chadra Mezza and Mellow Mushroom offer Daiya and veg-friendly pizzas. Conversely, there are few things I dislike more than bad pizza – bad sauces, lame toppings, middling crust. When pizza is high quality, there are few more amazing foods, but when it’s bad, it’s really bad. Frozen pizzas, along with virtually all the major pizza chains, almost universally fall into the “bad pizza” category for me.

So it was with some nervousness that we tried the (new?) Tofurkey frozen pizza the other night. More specifically, we had the Tofurkey Sausage and Roasted Veggie model. Looking at the box, something surprising pops out – Daiya! Yes, frozen veg pizzas with Daiya are out there in the world now. The question is, would Tofurkey climb out of the “bad pizza” dregs to make something edible or, dare I dream, actually good?

I have a weird relationship with Tofurkey – I really don’t like their signature item, the Tofurkey itself, but I do like a lot of their other stuff. Success with these frozen pizzas wasn’t guaranteed, then.

The pizza cooked up in the oven and out it came. It was heavily loaded down with Tofurkey sasuage and lots of veggies, and indeed, the melty deliciousness that is Daiya is there as well. It’s a thin-crust style, which is OK by me, and seemed to cook up pretty nicely.

I’m happy to report that this Tofurkey veg pizza is thoroughly good. It may be one of the best frozen pizzas I’ve had, which still can’t compare to a really great pizza, but this isn’t your average grocery store frozen pizza nightmare. It’s pretty darned good. The Daiya helps a lot, but the sauce, Tofurkey sausage and veggies are very flavorful and make it hearty without being too over-filling. Even the crust is pretty good.

If you want to stock up on some frozen pizzas to tide you over when you’re not making your own or getting something from a really nice restaurant/cafe, the Tofurkey pizzas look like a good veg-friendly option. There’s this sausage & veggie version, as well as an extra-Daiya-y cheese version and a Tofurkey pepperoni version. We found them at Whole Foods, though presumably they’re available in other higher-quality grocery stores.

We can’t run a Fort Worth vegan blog without talking about Spiral Diner at some point. It’s a little hard, though – what can we say that hasn’t been said already? Spiral Diner, Fort Worth’s 100% vegan restaurant on Magnolia Avenue in the Near Southside, is the promised land for Fort Worth vegans. It’s a landmark, one that’s beloved by vegans and non-vegans alike. It has a wide-ranging menu full of variety and flavor, a cool staff, a fantastic location in a hip indie neighborhood, and tons of character. We realize most long-time FW vegans know about Spiral, but since we’re hoping this blog also encourages new vegans in Fort Worth, we need to post about Spiral.

Virtually everything we’ve tried at Spiral has been delicious. It’s some of the most flavorful vegan food you’ll find anywhere, let alone in Texas. There are incredible sandwiches, like the legendary Jamaican Jerk BBQ…

Or the Chopped BBQ…

Awesome salads like the Taco Salad…

Or the BBQ Salad…

Tasty Mexican dishes like the nachos…

And the quesadillas…

There’s the chili…

The smoothies…

And the frighteningly tasty desserts.

Even the appetizers are engaging, like the flavorful nacho cheese sauce (seen here with corn tortillas).

On Sundays, there’s even Biscuits & Gravy and an all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast!

Seriously – just go and take a look at the menu. Whatever your taste, it’s likely that Spiral will have ten things that satisfy you.

What’s more, they even do custom cakes:

(That’s actually the cake from our own wedding party – we had a 100% vegan wedding party catered by Spiral – check the spread in the pic below.)

One could go on and on about Spiral, but you get the idea. It’s ridiculously tasty 100% vegan food – in Fort Worth! The presence of Spiral serves to dispel the “Cowtown” stereotypes of this city, and has blazed a path for ever-increasing vegan dining options in Fort Worth. We salute you, Spiral Diner – you’ve made being a vegan in Fort Worth downright pleasant.

Spiral Diner 1314 W. Magnolia 817-3-EatVeg spiraldiner.com

What’s more, Nehme’s exploring offering up more vegan options!  It’s fantastic to see more vegan goodies popping up in the Near Southside.  Now, you don’t have to leave the district to get a vegan pizza with Daiya.

Chadra Mezza & Grill 1622 Park Place Fort Worth, TX 76110 chadramezza.com