Sequestration Meal #13

This is actually a tale of one dish that became three meals. (And perhaps also a visual study in my experimentation with photo backdrops.)

I had my misgivings about it being a main dish, but I went with it anyway: This is the Cheesy Vegan Broccoli Cauliflower Rice Skillet from Spices in My DNA. I was intrigued, in part, by this line from her post: "I'm not vegan but I really just LOVE the taste of nut-based vegan sauces."

Wait, what? We have someone saying she is making vegan cheese sauce, not because she is vegan, but because she likes it so much? Given that people say they can't go vegan because of cheese, my brain couldn't compute the idea of someone moonlighting as a vegan for our cheese.

That is not to say that our cheese sauces aren't awesome. They are and this was a great cheese sauce. I loved the depth of flavor it got from the sweet potato. But I was a bit bewildered, and I figured if an omnivore had made a vegan cheese recipe, I had to try it. I don't regret this. But after having this once, I knew the leftovers needed help.

They got it in the form of a spicy Boca chick'n patty. And this was actually the perfect meal, I think.

But that was my last Boca patty. So I had to do something else. The original meal reminded me somewhat of the broccoli-rice soup my mother used to make, but I didn't actually want to put rice in it. I was having an intense craving for pasta, but I have very few options on hand to make that happen. In the end, I sauteed a bit of onion, bell pepper, and carrot, seasoned it mildly with salt and pepper, then added some water and chicken-style veggie bouillon paste and brought it to a boil. Once it was boiling vigorously, I added a few tablespoons of tubettini pasta. After it was done, I stirred in the remainder of my broccoli and cauliflower rice dish, plus a bit of Daiya cheddar shreds to make it a bit more cheesy, and some seasoning salt finish it off. I took the last bit of bread I had--the heels--and toasted it with some margarine and parsley. And there was the third meal.

Three similar-but-different meals to help me maintain my sanity.

P.S. This is tagged "gluten free" because the first meal you see is; the Boca chick'n patties and pasta in my soup are not gluten free.