despite the craziness, we have still been eating

I have had my face buried in textbooks and been so in my head lately, that I just haven't had much free fun time to catch up on everyone's blog or even update my own too often. Mad props to all my blog friends who have busier schedules than myself and still manage to keep up with our interactions. I need to pencil in my blog time, for sure!
This past weekend, although a very sad one, did include some good food. Since Jared and I couldn't officially celebrate our third wedding anniversary last Wednesday (since Jared was working), we ended up going to one of our favorite places, Doc Chey's, for lunch on Friday. I got my very favorite dish there called Spicy Garlic Eggplant with Tofu.

On Saturday we made taco salads for lunch. I cooked up some tofu crumbles with chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt and black pepper along with a can of drained kidney beans and a splash of salsa to put atop a bowl of chopped romaine lettuce, diced tomatoes, chopped avocado and diced red onion. Since it was a salad, we used my dad's tostada vinaigrette that we call Rex Sauce (mixture of white vinegar, water, canola oil, salt and sugar) and a splash of sweet Thai chili sauce. I also placed a few corn chips on the side to crunch over top. Yum!

On Saturday night, I was feeling like having a good ol' plate of food that is good for the soul. I made fried tofu triangles that were coated in cornmeal, chipotle powder, chili powder, cumin, lemon zest and salt (inspired by the Chili-Cornmeal Crusted Tofu out of Veganomicon) along with some Cajun style red beans and rice and corn on the cob. I'm sad to say that the red beans and rice was a tad bit disappointing but what else might you expect from a packaged product? The tofu was addictive and the corn was sweeter than pie!

Okay, so after class today, dropping off the recycle items, laundry and studying, I really hope to catch up on everyone's blog today!!!

busy days = easy food

I had mentioned before that I was thinking about going to nursing school, and this past month I decided to make it happen. It seems like the past two weeks or so I have been doing so much stuff to get back into school. Between going to advising sessions, soliciting for transcripts from my high school, associate’s and bachelor’s degree from 3 different Florida schools, filling out forms, getting shots (YIKES!) and trying to convince this college I should be coded as in-state (for tuition purposes), I have been beat. Plus my stomach has been bothering me, which is probably stress related since the thought of going back to school in a program that is completely different from what I have already done (I have a BA in Business Management) is a little scary. I have been out of school since 2002 and it seems weird to be essentially starting over. I'm excited but I have to take all these prerequisite classes like chemistry, anatomy & physiology and microbiology (all classes I haven't taken in about 8 years!) and take/pass a nursing entrance exam before I am even considered into the nursing program. So, it'll be a lot more work and a couple years before I am done, but it will be so rewarding.
Anyway, since I have been so busy, I have been eating a lot of faster food. Tonight, I had a veggie burger on a toasted bun with Vegenaise, onion, ketchup and mustard along with a side of tomatoes, avocado and carrot sticks. I will get back into cooking once I know everything is set to start school this summer, which should be any day!

Tofu Scramble, Po' Boy, Beanballs and Lemon Squares

We had lots of yummy food today. We started off with a scramble with soy sauce-marinated tofu, fingerling potatoes, red pepper, onions, and fresh herbs.

Then, one of the best things I have had in a while. The Chile Cornmeal-Crusted Tofu Po' Boy from V-con. Holy crap was this good. It was a bit labor intensive but well worth it. We made a tartar sauce to go with the fried tofu, cole slaw and pickles.

Bonus pic of the endless sandwich.

For din din, we made some Spaghetti & Beanballs, also from V-con. Lori helped out with these quite a bit. We just made the beanballs and used a jarred sauce. Ours turned out a bit mushy, but they were still delicious. I think we will bake them next time instead of frying.

I made desert, too. Once again, from V-con (I love that book, btw), we had the Lemon Bars. Lori just walked by and said how good they were as I writing this. And she is right; they were super good.

Juicing Fast Results

Well, I'm not gonna lie. It was tough. We started off really good but by about 3 o'clock I was tired, hungry, cranky and had a headache. We drank juice every 1 1/2 to 2 hours, with TONS of water in between. I used a combo of knowledge from my favorite juicing book Juicing For Life by Cherie Calbom and Maureen Keane, past experience from working in juice bars and help from the Internet.
We were hungry all day, but in a weird way. I didn't feel anxious about not eating and at some points throughout the day, I felt down right wonderful. My stomach did growl a lot though. To supplement the fasting, I put psyllium husks in a smoothie made with fresh apple juice, fresh blueberries and a couple frozen bananas. We also munched on a couple of raw carrots when we were feeling really bad. Believe it or not, drinking mashed up fruits (like I did in smoothie form) and eating a few raw veggies is perfectly acceptable to some schools of juicing fast thought . . . mine included. I think the most important part is listening to your own body. If you can't do a full day, oh well. It's not the end of the world. Going one day was a great accomplishment to Jared and I and will be something we will do again.
Since it is Super Bowl Sunday, we did make a traditional feast of vegan burgers on homemade rolls, oven fries, sliced tomatoes, sweet pickle chips and a dill spear.

TVP: CHUNKS VS. GRANULES (they both win)

My soy sensitivity has gotten better now that I have not been eating soy, namely tofu, as much as I use to. I have been slowly adding soy products such as soymilk, tofu and TVP back in to my diet over the past few months. Tofu still gives me problems, but everything else, including TVP has been okay. I have been experimenting with TVP the past few days and fell back in love.
I have used TVP chunks in soups and stews but my favorite use of TVP chunks is to make TVP Teriyaki Jerky. This was one of the first things I made when I first became vegan because I loved the jerky at the store, but it is so expensive for what little amount you got. I discovered why it was so pricy . . . it takes TIME to make your own. I have done different versions and I have yet to come up with a set recipe but my favorite kind has about a cup of tropical juice blend, about a cup of pineapple juice, couple splashes of soy sauce, couple squirts of agave nectar, a couple tablespoons of natural sugar, a couple large peeled pieces of fresh ginger and about five large fresh garlic cloves (kept whole). In a saucepan, I combine these ingredients and heat until everything is dissolved and has had some time to thicken a bit. In the mean time, I rehydrate the TVP chunks (about a cup or so) with boiling water. I placed the drained, rehydrated TVP in the cooking liquid and cooked it down until it was syrupy. I drained the marinated TVP, placed it on a cookie sheet and into my oven at 175 degrees for about an hour (tossing it a few time through out). What results is a mighty fine homemade version of TVP jerky. If you've never made homemade TVP jerky, give it a shot one lazy afternoon. It tastes great on it's own as a snack or chopped into small pieces and used in place of baco-bits like in salads, on baked potatoes or in twice baked potatoes.

TVP granules are excellent as taco fillers but my favorite use of the granules are in chili. I make this batch of chili mostly when I'd like some leftovers around for chili dawgs. So, tonight's dinner (and chili dawgs tomorrow!) was my Cincinnati style chili. I sautéed a sweet onion in canola oil until they were translucent (probably my favorite culinary word) and added some TVP granules in with the cooked onion for a minute or two so that the TVP gets a nice coating of oil so it won't be too mushy. I then added in agave nectar, garlic salt, black pepper, chili powder, chipotle powder, cumin, cinnamon and cocoa powder along with a can of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, a can of pinto beans and a can of dark red kidney beans. Once everything was heated through, I blended most of it with my immersion blender until it looked mostly ground up. I do like to keep some of the chili with whole beans so you can see what kind of beans are in it. I added a few crunched up corn chips on top to make it extra tasty.

cheeze "steak" plate, homemade ice kream

Tonight's meal was really, really great. We picked up three new items this week: "Philly Style" Steak Tofurky Deli Slices, Vegan American Slices and 123'z and Chreese. We were mad impressed with all three products, especially the 123'z and Chreese. We found accidentally vegan "steak" rolls at our supermarket, which was also pretty great. I sautéed a sweet onion in olive oil, sea salt and natural sugar until the onions were caramelized. I added the "steak" slices in with the onions to heat it through. Next I toasted up the rolls and added Vegenaise and Vegan American slices on the rolls. What resulted was a pretty darn close version of a Philly Cheese Steak, minus the green bell peppers since we aren't a huge fan. We had a side of the 123'z and Chreese and steamed broccoli. Well rounded and awesome!

Jared and I got one another this ice kream maker for Christmas and couldn't wait to use it.

So, I made a Maple Brown Sugar Buttery Pecan Ice Kream that had soymilk, soy creamer, arrowroot powder, Earth Balance margarine, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla extract and chopped pecans. So good!
Before the pecans were added and still spinning:

After the pecans were added and still spinning:

Final product:

chik'n potpie: inspired by my mom and step mom!

Yes, more comfort food. It's still cold out and I have wanted to make this for a long time now. Growing up, my mom made potpie about once a week with store bought piecrust, chicken breast, frozen mixed veggies and chicken gravy. During college, I lived with my dad and step mom and use to make them this chicken pot pie every once in a while. After I moved out, my step mom, Delia, made what she called a Mock Lori Chicken Pot Pie with puff pastry instead of piecrust. So, I made her version tonight since I have yet to use puff pastry as a vegan. Pepperidge Farm's frozen puff pastry IS vegan, by the way. I used some frozen chik'n strips that I browned up in a pan. Once the chik'n was browned I removed it and instead of frozen veggies I sautéed carrots, celery, onions together with olive oil, poultry seasoning, sea salt and black pepper. In a separate pan I parboiled potatoes and frozen petite peas. I combined the chik'n, sautéed veggies, potatoes and peas together. I then made gravy with Earth Balance buttery stick margarine, all-purpose flour, a box of veggie stock, sea salt and black pepper. I mixed the chik'n & veggies in with the gravy, added it to a casserole pan and topped the mixture with one thawed puff pastry. I baked the potpie at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until the top was golden brown. The gravy wasn't as thick as I would have liked, but it was still AMAZING!
Right out of the oven:

Served and about to be eaten:

veggies n' dumplings

Pre-vegan days, I was a huge chicken n' dumplings fan. Now that I think of it though, I was, and still am, more of a dumplings and broth fan. Tonight it is going to be 24 degrees and has been a steady low 40's/high 30's all day so I wanted something both nostalgic and warm. I was originally just going to make a veggie and bean soup, but wasn’t in a bean kinda mood. So, I sautéed onions, celery and carrots together with olive oil and sea salt until translucent. Then I added a few diced small red skinned potatoes, a box of veggie stock, water, a bay leaf, black pepper and dry thyme. Realizing this wasn't a very substantial soup, I decided to thicken the broth and make dumplings. In a small pan I combined two tablespoons of flour and two tablespoons of margarine to make a roux. I added probably two cups of the broth (with a few bits of veggies) from the soup until it looked like a very thick gravy. I added the gravy back into the bigger pot of veggie soup and watched as it became stew-like.
I like a fluffy, biscuit like dumpling, not the dense, chewy kind that sink to the bottom. If you like a chewy dumpling, this is NOT for you.
The dumpling recipe I came up with was:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon natural sugar
1/4 cup of vegan shortening (I use Spectrum brand)
3/4 cup plain soy milk WITH 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together and cut the shortening in with your fingers until it resembles wet sand. In a measuring cup, mix soy milk and lemon juice together and be amazed (it gets soooo thick!). Add soymilk/lemon juice mixture to the flour mixture and stir until it just comes together. Drop by the tablespoon into the simmering pot of stew-like soup, and cover with a tight fitting lid for 15 minutes. These dumplings will get a bit soaked through after a while, but I actually like that feature.
This definitely hit the spot on such a cold night!

very busy weekend in the kitchen

I'm not sure what got over me, but starting Friday and ending a few minutes ago, I spent more time in my kitchen than I have in a very long time. It was an awesome weekend of good eats!
First things first . . . As soon as I saw these Spicy' N Sweet Maple-y Nuts from Bazu's blog, I knew I HAD to make them. These are some of the best spiced nuts I have ever had.
Make these now. Right now.

Here is a beautiful loaf of French bread I made, which has been the BEST batch of bread I have made in my new bread machine. It had the least amount of ingredients and took the most amount of time (5 HOURS!) but it was so worth it.

I cut all the crust sides off and made garlic toast with them and used the non-crust white inside of the bread to make these croutons.

I used the crouton recipe in Veganomicon (pg. 81-82) and also made the Caesar dressing recipe. I was trilled with the croutons and thought the dressing was pretty good but not like Caesar salad dressing. I'd make it again though.
Friday night I made an Asian Noodle Soup. A few weeks back I had made an Asian inspired veggie broth out of onions, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger, black pepper and soy sauce and froze it. I thawed/reheated the broth and in my steamer, steamed cabbage, zucchini and baby bok choy. For the noodles, I used an eggless wonton wrapper, cut into strips, which I found in the frozen section of our local Asian market. I boiled the strips of wontons separately (which only took like a minute), added the cooked noodles to a bowl with the steamed veggies and broth ladled over everything. Topped with green onions, this was very filling and an awesome way to use up extra wonton wrappers.

Saturday, I made the Blueberry Streusel Muffins from the Damn Tasty Vegan Baking Guide. My new favorite thing is using soy yogurt in my baked goods because they lend such a nice sour note that really brings everything together. This time I used a blueberry flavored soy yogurt, which turned the batter purple. These are probably my favorite muffins and they taste great with any fresh or frozen berry.


Today I made one of our old stand by meals . . . the beloved tostadas (although, they look more like nachos). These had blue corn chips, some chipotle pinto beans I blended up, tomatoes, red and green onions, some of my Dad's famous Rex Sauce (sweet & vinegary), sweet Thai chili sauce and some of my homemade guacamole. Jared added some left over cut up romaine lettuce on his. I never get tired of these.

And last but not least . . . my new favorite dinner. Veganomicon's Chickpea Cutlets (pg. 133), garlic mashed potatoes, green beans and soy sausage saw mill gravy (same stuff I pure over my biscuits when we have biscuits and gravy).

testing, testing

Well, I have tried out some potential problem foods including onions, garlic, tomatoes and potatoes. All went pretty well but I think I am going to continue to limit my consumption of these foods . . . since I could eat onions, garlic, tomatoes and potatoes every day. Onions seemed to be the problem child out of the four which is a bit heart breaking. I'm not sure I will completely get rid of onions in my diet, but I think I can eat them in moderation and definitely try not to eat them every day. I have been eating loads of bok choy, rice as well as salads like this one that had romaine lettuce, alfalfa sprouts, grated carrots and cucumbers.

I don’t think Jared should suffer since he doesn’t have any aversions to foods so I somehow mustered up the will to make a few things for him this weekend.
Saturday morning, I made him breakfast in bed with banana pancakes (my basic pancake batter with a mashed up banana) topped with strawberry sauce made with frozen strawberries, agave nectar and maple syrup. Jared was very happy, but tried not to rub it in, too much anyway.

I also made Jared a Thanksgiving inspired meal to thank him for working so hard every week, working long hours every day, doing a difficult and thankless job (he's a stock broker) while I still look for work. He was my official taster for almost every one of these items since I couldn't eat most of the things I made him. I made some more cranberry jelly, green beans, mashed red potatoes with sea salt, soy creamer and whipped Earth Balance, along with stuffing that had celery, onions, apples, veggie stock, poultry seasoning (just the name, not actual poultry in the seasoning)and Earth Balance buttery sticks that was made on the stove top but baked in a casserole dish in the oven. Lastly I made a pan gravy with browned all purpose flour, whipped Earth Balance, sea salt, black pepper and veggie stock. The only thing I could safely eat were the green beans since they were only seasoned with sea salt and sunflower oil and I tasted a potato after it was boiled but before it was mashed with all the soy products. JARED WAS BLOWN AWAY BY EVERYTHING! The only thing I didn't make on the plate were the potato rolls Jared found at the grocery store bakery, which ended up being accidently vegan. Jared likes to make mashed potato, stuffing and cranberry jelly sandwiches with them. From start to finish, it took about two hours to make this meal, so that's good to know for holiday meal planning in the future.

When in Atlanta, go to SOUL VEGETARIAN!

We first went to Soul Vegetarian with our friends Katie and Russell back in August and absolutely fell in love. While it is called Soul Vegetarian, don't let the name full you, it is all vegan (although, I think a few items may have honey in them, which we don't eat). It is a traditional soul food restaurant and it rocks! They have a lot of homemade items like Kalebone (a wheat gluten item that kinda looks like a chicken fried steak), the most amazing garlicky salad dressing and last but not least, they make their own soy ice kream! Depending on the day, they may have vanilla pecan, chocolate, vanilla and our personal favorite, mint chocolate chip! They have a vegetable plate where you can choose from the traditional sides like collard greens, sweet potatoes and corn on the cob, just to name a few. Today though, we went exclusively for their tofu sandwich platter, which comes with a generous side salad (with that amazing dressing) and either french fries or onion rings. We opted for onion rings . . . I mean, when are you going to find vegan onion rings that you don't have to make yourself?! The tofu sandwich is a tofu steak battered and fried, served on a whole wheat bun with tomatoes, sprouts and a homemade tartar sauce.
The only down side is the serve is a bit slow, but if you bring your patience and your appetite, you won't be disappointed. Seriously, drop in for a great meal (and VERY reasonably priced) when you are in Atlanta. They have 2 locations, but we always go to Soul Vegetarian II at 652 Highland Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30306
Sorry the picture is so bad. We left the house so hungry, I forgot to grab the real camera and Jared had to take the picture with the cell phone camera.

you gotta try this mac and cheeze

I was scanning through LiveJournal's VEGAN FOOD PICS and came across this beautiful looking mac and cheeze. It almost looked too good to be true so I had to test it out. Oh my god. This seriously was the best vegan mac and cheeze I have yet to try. It had just the right amount of nutritional yeast (meaning, it wasn't over powering) and was super creamy. The recipe can be found here. I used original/plain hemp milk instead of soy milk, shell pasta and added both black pepper and cayenne pepper. I used crushed crackers on top, although I'm sure toasted bread crumbs would be great too.

fried green tomato sandwich

Pre-vegan days, I loved a good ol' BLT. One of my favorite BLTs was from The Flying Biscuit called the Fried Green Tomato BLT Sandwich that had turkey bacon, fried green tomatoes, lettuce, cashew-jalapeno relish & goat cheese. We do still go do The Flying Biscuit with out of town guests since they do have some vegan options but I have now been forced, happily, to make my own fried green tomato BLT at home.
To make my version I heated up three slices of fakin' bacon. Once the fakin bacon was very crisp, I thinly sliced green tomatoes and coated them in flour, corn meal and a seasoning blend I made from Sarah Kramer's La Dolce Vegan! (Veganica.com's Cajun Spice, pg 303). I shallow fried the tomatoes in canola oil. I also sliced up avocado and red onion and opted to skip the lettuce. Flying Biscuit's version has a jalapeno cashew relish that contains honey, ground cashews, cilantro and jalapeno. So, I made my own sweet spread that had Tofutti cream cheese, whipped Earth Balance and agave nectar (whipped together with my hand mixer). While my spread wasn't the same as their relish, it did give me a sweet contrast to the rest of the sandwich and a creamy texture that goat cheese or mayo would have given. The bread was just a toasted everything bagel from the farmers market. This was pretty awesome and filled me up after playing tennis (if you could call it playing) with Jared this morning.

Veggieland

Jared and I were going to try this all vegetarian but VERY vegan friendly place on my birthday but it was closed on Sundays, so yesterday we finally made it out to Veggieland. Like a lot of restaurants around here, Veggieland is in a strip mall. The menu was vast, ranging from veggie burgers with loads of toppings, salads and hot dishes. PLUS, at least 5 vegan desserts! Despite being in the richy rich part of Atlanta (Buckhead area) the prices were incredibly reasonable.
Jared decided upon the daily special of Potatoes and Veggie Curry with Brown Rice. It was very tasty and was only $5.95.

For me, there were too many choices and I panicked. I got the chili hot dog that came with sweet potato fries and coleslaw. It was good but not great. This is something I could have made at home. I will say the coleslaw was awesome and made with vegan mayo! The sweet potato fries were a bit under cooked. Luckily, this whole plate of food was only $4.95, so at least I didn't feel ripped off.

What we will go back for was the vegan desserts! Jared and I shared the strawberry cake. It was a two layer yellow cake with vanilla icing and strawberries in the middle and a strawberry glaze on top. It was so good that I talked two other customers into getting a slice. The cake was the priciest menu item coming in at $3.95 but I love that a restaurant has vegan desserts and well worth the price to encourage them to continue making lovely vegan treats.

All and all, we will go back to Veggieland. I will take my time with my menu choice and pick something I couldn't make at home way better. Jared was very pleased with his dish and we both are in love with the dessert!
Veggieland
211 Pharr Rd Ne # B
Atlanta, GA 30305
(404) 231-3111

dawgs in a blanket, sundae

I couldn't call these pigs in a blanket since they are pig free and using the correct spelling of dog just didn't seem right either, so I opted for the Georgia way of saying things and called these Dawgs in a Blanket. These were just a quick lunch of veggie dawgs wrapped in crescent roll dough (which are vegan!), one sprinkled with sesame seeds and sea salt and the other just with sea salt. I also made an Agave Dijon mustard sauce for dipping. They only took about 15 minutes in all to make/bake and boy were they good!

And to satisfy a sweet craving I made sundaes out of better pecan soy ice cream with homemade caramelized pecans on top. Yum!

Cheezy Gemelli Bake

Tonight I made a mac and cheeze dish with gemelli pasta, which are short rods twisted together in a spiral pattern. The cheezy sauce was made from a margarine and flour roux seasoned with sea salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, onion powder, ground mustard and a pinch of turmeric for color. Hemp milk and soy milk were added to the roux and nutritional yeast stirred in at the last minute. I added the cooked gemelli pasta and cheezy sauce together, added to a baking dish coated in margarine and topped with fresh bread crumbs I toasted with olive oil. Since the dish was already cooked, it was just baked off to get a brown top and sides.
So good!
As to not be totally out of control we had a salad with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, grated carrots, celery and green onions topped with a homemade miso dressing that had miso paste, fresh lemon juice, soy sauce, water, sesame oil, grated ginger as well as black and white toasted sesame seeds.

Athens, GA: The Grit, Clocked

So, Jared and I decided to check out Athens today, which is about an hour from where we live. We researched places to eat and decided upon The Grit for brunch and Clocked (couldn't find a website for them) for a late lunch. I was a bit disappointed with both meals over all, although they had good points to them.
My dish was very exciting on paper. It was Potatoes and Veggies with grits and biscuits . . . ALL VEGAN! The grits were creamy and delicious and the biscuits are some of the best I have ever had (except for my Grammie's). The main dish had way to many green peppers, which I am not super wild about anyway, the potatoes were not cooked enough and the whole dish was too heavily powdered with nutritional yeast.

Jared had better luck with his plate, which was Tofu and Veggies. He had potatoes on the side with his and they were seasoned nicely but again, not cooked enough.

All and all, The Grit has a lot of potential. We would try them again, but maybe for dinner instead.
On to Clocked. This was a diner style place. Just about everything on the menu could be made vegan, which is cool in theory.
Here is a picture of Jared (he didn't know he was being photographed) waiting for our food. Very cool decor. I mean, they had velvet wallpaper!

I got what was promised to be a Philly Cheeze "Steak" which when I think of a philly cheese it has thinly sliced "meat" and a cheesy sauce. I know a cheeze sauce would be kinda hard but the cheese on this wasn't very good. The "steak" was just a veggie burger. I felt cheated. There were peppers and onions too which were okay. The french fries were pretty good as they were actual hand cut potatoes. I got mine with this amazing Basil Jalapeno "cream" sauce to dip my fries in. Pickles were pretty good. Dills, sliced thick.

Jared got a Patty Melt which had a veggie burger, grilled red onions, Russian dressing and some kind of vegan cheese on a marble rye. He said it was good but something he could have made at home. He also got french fries.

I'm not sure I would repeat Clocked . . . Maybe for some fries and that creamy Basil Jalapeno "cream" if we were out late.

macaroni salad

I grew up eating macaroni salad. Feeling nostalgic today I made this macaroni salad for us to eat over the weekend. I boiled some elbow macaroni for about 7 minutes. While the pasta boiled I diced up a large carrot, a rib of celery, a couple green onions, 1/4 of a medium red onion and fresh parsley. I made a dressing with about a 1/2 cup of Vegenaise, a tsp of dill pickle juice and 1 tsp of olive juice (both to thin out the Vegenaise a bit and add a salty vinegar bite) along with a dash of the following: celery salt, natural sugar, cayenne pepper and black pepper. I cooled off the macaroni, added it to the diced up veggies and poured the dressing over the macaroni and veggie mixture. After this was all combined I had some for lunch! It isn't a heavy macaroni salad most people are use to, but it is delicious.