Little Dishes #7

 

Here we have a surprisingly good combination: A savory muffin with zucchini and sun-dried tomato (recipe from Lazy Cat Kitchen), made in the form of a mini loaf; a salad about which I will say more below; and chickpeas and white beans baked in tomato sauce (using the recipe from Orchids and Sweet Tea).

I feel like I've been practicing Advanced Shopping Avoidance or something, but so long as it keeps working I won't worry too much about it. I had some zucchini left, plus an open jar of sun-dried tomatoes, so I cut down the recipe for the savory muffins and made it as written with soy milk and without feta. I was surprised they turned out so light and moist rather than dense and stodgy, given they had no egg substitute whatsoever unless you count the lemon juice and baking soda. But they were delicious!

Because I had focaccia left over from the batch I made, I made croutons out of the stale leftovers. I accidentally cooked them at slightly higher heat than I should have, and they got kind of brown, but they were still delicious. I made a salad for them with romaine, yellow bell pepper, tomatoes from my neighbor's garden, red onion, cucumber, and kalamata olives, dressed in my shortcut dressing of vegan mayo mixed with light Italian salad dressing (the only bottled dressing I keep on hand). It was an amazing salad. I loved it!

Finally, having half a can of white beans, half a can of chickpeas, and an open jar of marinara sauce, I was glad to run across the recipe for the beans baked in tomato sauce. I also used fresh tomato from my neighbor's garden rather than canned tomatoes here, and made my own spice mix. I don't know how closely I followed the recipe, but it turned out well anyway. (I suspected it would--onions, garlic, beans, tomatoes, spices, and some non-dairy mozzarella wasn't going to end up bad.)

I may be overusing my oven these days, but I'm so relieved to be able to do it that right now I don't mind if it means having the air conditioning on for a few hours in the afternoon. I don't overheat, and I'm progressing well through my pantry utilization quest again. It's harder in general, given that I'm getting to the most challenging sectors of the things I need to use, but I'm holding steady with not buying anything I can't clearly use up quickly, and not going shopping if I don't need to shop. My groceries have come in pretty consistently--and kind of drastically, sometimes--underbudget. I'm winning! Maybe.

We'll see how it goes.