Sequestration Meal #657

 

Having concluded that I kind of like making myself rice and banchan-style platters, I made another one for myself. This is bang bang broccoli (recipe from Jessica in the Kitchen), some Trader Joe's orange chickenless pieces, mini sweet peppers and Persian cucumbers in ginger-sesame dressing, Korean carrot salad, and rice.

I've had bang bang broccoli on my list of things to make for ages, but it requires the oven to be on at a high temperature so it had to wait for cooler weather. At earlier phases of my vegan life, I would have easily made a whole meal out of bang bang broccoli, and you could very well do that, I imagine, if you don't need as much protein as I do. It was a bit tedious to make, especially on a day I was feeling lower energy than the spread you see suggests, but it was incredible. I rarely say that about food. But reader, I was hooked. I would likely make it again. It has that perfect combination of sweet, savory, spicy, and salty. And you don't even have to fry it!

Orange chickenless pieces used to be a virtual mainstay of my diet, but then came a pandemic and drastic inflation and I'd almost forgotten about them. They're as good as ever, though, and a perfect, easy protein-y side here.

I was supposed to put everything bagel seasoning in the cucumber-pepper salad and I forgot. Oh, well; it was still pretty good! I kept thinking it needed something, especially salt, which would have been in the seasoning I left out...

And finally, of course, those Korean carrots you see practically all the time now because I absolutely adore them, and maybe I'm in a rut in that way but I love a salad you can prep ahead of time and have it stay delicious for days.

I'm still struggling. In fact, on the day I cooked this, I did most of it sitting down--the first time I've had to do that in years--because I was so exhausted. You're seeing this on a Thursday, but it was a meal I had on a weekend, so I could take my time. I did find sitting down helped me, though it also alarmed me to need to sit down. But I'm not giving up, and I hope you don't, either. Keep on swimming, everyone. Here's hoping for a better tomorrow.