mashmallows

I've been a vegetarian for 13 years now, and one of the things I've missed the most was marshmallows.  No marshmallows in hot chocolate, no smores, no Rice Krispy Treats.  Those are some seriously comforting comfort foods.

I find it hardest not to eat things that have meat products, but don't resemble meat in any way - meat doesn't really look like food to me anymore, or trigger hunger pains.  But skittles and jello and marshmallows look so harmless and delicious.

Well, Whole Foods - at least the one by my work - has just started carrying vegan marshmallows.  There's been a gourmet marshmallow craze lately and I'd been hoping that someone would cook something up for the niche market of vegetarians, and it's finally happened.  

I can't compare them to proper marshmallows - it's been too long since I've had one - but they have that powdery outside that I remember, they are soft and sticky but not gooey and don't dissolve quickly in hot chocolate.  Exactly what I'd been missing.

I've been having hot chocolate with a marshmallow in it almost every day for the past couple of weeks.  It's just been such a treat.