Snow Day!!!!!!

Today's Mofo prompt is to have a snow day and make a meal out of what yo already have on hand. After living through last winter in Erie PA. (which is in the snow belt) this prompt was not hard to imagine. And here in Seattle, we are about to be coming up on the rainy season, and I often do not have the desire to leave the house if I don't have to! I took a picture of everything I ate yesterday. I love these kinds of challenges because it shows that often times you have a lot more food than you realize. Plus it really forces you to get creative with your cooking. Some of my very best lentil soup recipes have come from these types of having to use what you have situations.
I decided to attempt  tostadas for the first time yesterday for breakfast. I over toasted the tortillas a little, but they were really delicious, and easy and I will be making again.

Topped with black beans, cabbage, nutritional yeast, a little daiya, and hot sauce!

I didn't mind if the tortillas were a little over toasted, this may sound strange, but when I was a little kid I loved burnt toast. I used to beg my grandma to make me black toast! Ha.

Love your kidneys!

I meant to say this in the beginning, but I forgot. I had nowhere I needed to be yesterday, and it was a grey dreary day here, so I really did have a "snowed in day". I drank lots of tea to stay warm.

So much better than gatorade!

I had two dates lingering on my counter, so I decided to make a strawberry dateorade.  I blended the two dates with about a cup or so of  frozen strawberries. Pretty tasty. Maybe a little cold for a snow day, but hey, use what yo have!

I also had this juice made with green leaf lettuce, cucumber, celery, ginger, orange, and apple. I used honeycrisp apples which I had fond at Trader Joe's for a great price, and I think these may be my favorite apples for juicing. The flavor really comes through. I haven't had honeycrisp apples often, because I do prefer organic apples which are already more expensive, and organic or not, this variety is always on the pricier side. I hope Trader Joe's continues to carry these through apple season!
I had decided in the morning what I wold be having for dinner. I used a little less than half a can of black beans on my tostadas, so I wanted to use those, and I had a jalapeno that got lost in the fridge, and needed to be used. I decided to soak some cashews, and make green chili mac and cheese with black beans! It turned out really creamy and delicious and I wrote down the recipe!
                                             Green Chili Macaroni and Cheese with Black Beans

• 3/4 C. Cashews soaked
• 2 heaping Tablespoons tahini
• 1 C. Water
• 1/4 C. nutritional yeast
• S&P to taste
• 1 tsp. Turmeric
• 1 tsp. Smoked Paprika
• 1 roasted jalapeno and 1 roasted shallot. ( I roasted these together with a tiny amount of olive oil for about thirty minutes at 350 fahrenheit)
• 12-14 oz. pasta of your choice, cooked 
• 1/4 to 1/2 C. daiya (totally optional, it's awesome without.)
• 1/2 C. Black Beans

 While your pasta is cooking, blend everything but the daiya and black beans until it is smooth, creamy, and cheesey. Drain the pasta, return to the pan and put on medium low heat, and add the cashew chili sauce stir until every noddle is totally coated, and add daiya if using. If you  are not using, turn off heat, let sit for a few minutes, and enjoy! If you are using daiya, stir it in, turn the heat off, and place the lid on the pot, and let sit for a few minutes. The cheese will melt and become ooey-gooey. This is spicy, but roasting the jalapeno really mellows a lot of the heat, and remember you can remove the seeds and veins before roasting to really reduce the heat! I almost forgot, when you add the daiya, also add your beans so they can warm up. Yo can of course use whatever beans you have, use more, leave them out, whatever you choose! This is a use what you have recipe for sure!

Topped with scallions of course!

I used Orecchiette pasta, which means small or little ears. It was fun because the black beans like to nestle into the center of the pasta. This was tasty, creamy, comforting, and easy to make and I am glad for myself that I wrote down what I did!
Well, this was another fun prompt! I am so excited to see what fun snow day food everyone comes up with today! Happy Saturday!