I loved mac and cheese – from the blue box or nothin’ – with cut up hot dog and peas as a kid. Because my palate was garbage. Though I have revisited mac and cheese since going vegan – so many variations, so little time – I never bothered with veggie dogs because blech. Processed bland crap. Hard pass.

For today’s prompt, I thought, I’d get as close as possible to that thing I made on lazy days off, but homemade. Even the cheese powder, FFS. The Homemade Vegan Pantry has a serviceable cheese powder recipe with finely ground cashews that’s combined with nondairy milk and simmered quickly for a suitably runny, salty sauce; Super Fun Times Vegan Holiday Cookbook has a “smoky dogs” veggie dog recipe, which is rather like the steamed seitan and beany snausages I make all the time. 

I made a half recipe of veggie dogs, then sliced up and pan-fried one of them to put on top of my mac and cheese (with peas). It was just like childhood, only not.