Staycation Meal #17

 

This was something I made to clear out the fridge the day before a grocery shopping trip. We have here steamed rice, more avocado cucumber salad from yesterday, my favorite gochujang mushrooms (recipe from Budget Bytes) made with my plain old ordinary white mushrooms,  and something that was meant to be Beyond Steak and tomato stir fry (recipe from the Beyond website) made from the end of a bag of roma tomatoes in the fridge and the end of a bag of Beyond Steak in the freezer. 

I think my stir fry tilted more toward a stew, partly because it had more tomatoes than "beef," but I loved it--it was truly delicious, no complaints. I think it would be just as delicious with soy curls, and I may try it that way sometime.

And maybe I have a somewhat ridiculous pantry, stocked with things like rice wine and white pepper, but knowing I can make something delicious out of the dregs of the fridge has always been profoundly comforting to me. I'm working on it, steadily, while enjoying my produce, so I can figure out what I need to keep on hand and what I just need to buy for recipes and then work to use up. I had reasons to buy the Beyond Steak when I did--it was meant to be an option for a quick protein on days I couldn't deal with life--and yet I hadn't used it, maybe because I have other options at such times I tend to gravitate toward more. I'm learning, and maybe, honestly, I will have to keep learning this lesson for my whole life. But learning over and over is better than not learning at all.

Fortunately, most of what I do in normal life doesn't cause me shoulder pain anymore, though I am working hard at stretching out the injured area to maintain flexibility. I'm not facing the same limits that led me to buy this particular convenience food, and as a long-term vegan at this point, I don't crave the "meaty" things so much as I used to. So will Beyond Steak be in my future? Maybe, if it's on sale? I don't know. But I do know I won't buy more of it at the store this time, even as I buy more cucumbers, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

Progress?