cheater cheater pumpkin eater

i cheated.

i don't mean the fact that i haven't written a blog in over 10 days and part of my new years resolution goal was to write at least once a week. that is not what i mean at all. however, i guess if you get right down to it i cheated TIMES TWO.

not only have i not written a blog in over 10 days, i also had this to eat for dinner the other night:

now i know what you must be thinking, because i too am thinking it. what the heck? seriously. what the heck?! i chose to slip up and i chose kraft boxed mac n cheese? of all the delicious dairy goodness in the world i chose rehydrated macaroni noodles and powdered cheese? the world is full of ice cream and cheesecake and pizza and extra sharp cheddar cheese and i picked this.

part of the reason being, when i "cheated" it was kind of a half cheat. yes, the processed cheese powder does have some trace amounts of the ingredients you'd find in actual cheese or milk, but i figure they're so small they don't even warrant mentioning.

Ingredients: ENRICHED MACARONI PRODUCT (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, FERROUS SULFATE [IRON], THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], FOLIC ACID), CHEESE SAUCE MIX (WHEY, MILKFAT, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, SALT, SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF CITRIC ACID, LACTIC ACID, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, MILK, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6, ENZYMES, CHEESE CULTURE).

so as you can see it's really just a conglomeration of delicious chemicals and coloring, and by no means a real dairy product. also i made my mac n cheese with almond milk, because i don't buy cow's milk for obvious reasons, and all in all it was exactly what i wanted. yellowy chemically goodness.

the other part of the reason being my financial situation. i haven't written a lot about my job in here, because i haven't written a lot about anything in here, but i serve as an americorps vista. one of the downfalls of service is poverty level wages, which i will get into later. the organization i work for is wonderful though and got me a super christmas present which was a giant land's end bag filled with all kinds of necessities like toilet paper, paper towels, peanut butter, and... kraft mac n cheese.

so needless to say there may be future cheating. i received 3 boxes in total, the other 2 i will keep hidden away for times when my grocery supplies are so low i can't help but whip this stuff together, or for special times of the month when only junk foods will hit the spot.

except for this, and a few instances where i have had butter on toast, i've been doing really well. i've managed to eat out at both mexican and italian restaurants, which were always the most difficult for me, and i've made it known to pretty much everyone in the world that dairy is now officially out and so i now have free reign to veto any and all restaurants making me the queen of picky eating. just kidding of course. not about the queen of picky eating though.

i've found that restaurants are pretty chill about leaving cheese off of things, however i do get strange looks. "what? you don't want any cheese? maybe you mean extra cheese? this is america, i don't get it!" etc.

maybe next time i blog i won't write about food and hopefully next time i blog won't be 10+ days from now.

happy eating to all of you, lactose challenged and not,
felicia