Dinner Plate #31

 

From the land of not heating up the kitchen any more than one absolutely has to, while also making the most of what's on hand, we have this meal: A salad of spring mix, red onion, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, and broccoli sprouts with a homemade avocado-lime salad dressing, a broccoli-rice casserole made from leftover broccoli soup, and veggie nuggets with homemade "honey" mustard dipping sauce.

The salad needed more texture contrasts, I think, but was otherwise good; it would have improved with some crunchy Bac'n Bits or sunflower seeds or something. Oh, well. We live and we learn. I expected the broccoli sprouts to be crunchier; they were fine, but not majorly crunchy.

The casserole is one of my favorite things to make, and is the essential motivation I have for making broccoli soup in the first place. This time, I cooked long grain white rice in a rice cooker with a leftover ramen seasoning packet and some chopped vegetables (onion, carrot, and more broccoli). When it was done, I mixed the rice and veggies, the soup, and some seasoning salt and put that in a mini casserole dish, topped it with non-dairy cheese, and popped it in the toaster oven with the veggie nuggets. I adore this casserole every time I make it, even though I do vary it up quite a bit depending on the day. The basic concept of rice + veggies + broccoli soup + cheese never fails me.

This meal was fine. The most amazing part of it was that it required no standing over a stove or heating up my oven, so on that scale, I can't complain at all!