Dinner Bowl #52

 

More kamut: This is kamut with root vegetables and cranberries (recipe from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker (2004)), maple Dijon baked tofu (recipe from Create Mindfully), and some spinach sauteed with onions, garlic, and red bell peppers.

This is a definite winter meal. I wish it had been ready for its photograph before the sun was all the way down, but it is, after all, winter. But this is also a winter meal because of the ingredients. The kamut dish has carrots, parsnips, celery root, and cranberries. That seemed to be something that would go well with some maple Dijon tofu, a recipe I've often made. I originally planned to have this with braised cabbage, but the spinach needed using; I guess with the cabbage we'd have veered off into more very winter territory.

I'd never had celery root before, and it's not sold in very many places, but the store where I most often buy produce has it, and here we are! I'm not sure if I really tasted it here, because I'm not familiar enough with kamut or parsnips to say whether the flavors of those were more prominent or the celery root was, but I can say that having this mixture in the slow cooker all day made my kitchen smell absolutely amazing. I look forward to one day having more celery root, but we'll just have to see how the pantry utilization quest leads me.

I had a hard time motivating myself on this day, but I'm glad I pushed through. None of this is particularly challenging to make, and most of the work could be done right after breakfast. Besides, I was already committed, since I'd soaked the kamut overnight (I remembered to do that this time). I knew I would like the spinach and the tofu, so I had that in the wings if the kamut and celery root turned out horribly, but everything was great in the end.

Although I do still have to tell myself "no" on a regular basis when I want to have something that will require me to buy yet another box of something for the pantry, I'm having fun having these adventures with what I have. So I'm winning at something, anyway. And I'm saving on groceries to help pay for things like rogue dental bills. I have survived another day.