Dinner Bowl #71

 

I tried something new and it worked! Details below. Here we have penne with roasted red pepper sauce, steamed broccoli, steamed carrots, sauteed zucchini, and mushrooms with garlic, onions, tomatoes, and spinach.

This meal was borne of me having some wrinkly red peppers to use. I didn't want to turn the oven on, so I roasted them with some red onion and garlic in my slow cooker using a method by Cook the Story. It was perfect for this, and I didn't have to use so much oil! And true to the promises made, peeling the peppers afterward was a dream. I then made a sauce based on a recipe by Eat with Clarity. As a topping for the pasta, I melted some vegan butter in a little skillet and toasted bread crumbs from my pantry with Italian seasoning and a dash of salt. This was perfectly delightful and I didn't have to bake anything!

The vegetables are my usual defaults, all delicious. I didn't have much spinach, so it isn't a perfect meal, but it was pretty well almost perfection. 

If you're wondering how I got my protein in here, there are layers: The pasta is protein infused (with beans in it, i.e., Barilla Protein+), plus there are several protein sources in the sauce--cashews, soy milk, nutritional yeast. I originally planned to make tofu with this but I was very tired and I realized I didn't really need it, and I steamed broccoli and carrots instead (I'll pretty much never turn down an opportunity to have steamed broccoli and carrots, let's be real.)

I'm gradually reshaping my habits; using things up is still a priority, of course, but it's also getting easier for me to trust that I can pull things together without having to shop so frequently. Of course, I used to be a much more improvisational cook, so I'm not entirely sure how that changed.