Dinner Bowl #100

 

I'm getting pretty low on my "unusual" ingredients, but I had earmarked some recipes to make this year that didn't include anything "weird" or that would require me to use something up I wouldn't be able to use in a ton of versatile ways. One of those was this buffalo chickpea cauliflower casserole with nut-free vegan ranch (both recipes from From My Bowl), steamed green beans, braised yellow squash with onions (recipe from Vegan Blueberry), and butter-poached carrots (recipe veganized from the New York Times).

This was amazing. I have rarely enjoyed something I made more, and aside from cutting and blending things, it was also very low effort. I adored this ranch, based on non-dairy yogurt. Before I was vegan, as my grad school food journals attest, I ate tons of yogurt ranch. This one uses hemp seeds, too, and it has the most delightful, creamy, tanginess. It's the perfect foil for this spicy casserole.

I need to get back to eating more veggies. I don't know if there are clear parallels between the decline in my energy levels and the fact that I've been having fewer veggies because I've gone to the store less frequently, but if there is, I'm hoping that a boost from all that colorful freshness will help. Of course, it could be a fantasy--there's a lot weighing on all of us these days--but I'm grasping for any port in a storm right now.

Plus, I love vegetables. So. I just need to find a way to get more into me without giving in to the temptation to overbuy things.

We'll see if it works.