Sequestration Meal #551

 

I was in the mood for something colorful, and here it is: Whiskey garlic tofu (recipe from Spabettie), Greek-style lemon turmeric rice (recipe veganized from Creme de la Crumb), balsamic spinach and mushrooms (recipe from Served from Scratch), and steamed carrots tossed with some vegan butter, seasoned salt, and dried parsley. It's fun finding the colors in winter!

At Christmastime, a co-worker was given a sampler of tiny bottles of various kinds of liquor and wanted to give them away. I took some of them to potentially use in cooking later, and was excited when I ran across this tofu recipe. One tiny bottle of Crown Royale was all I needed to make it! (Well, I was about 1/2 tablespoon short, but I figured it wouldn't make much difference.) Next time I'd probably take the step of marinating the tofu, because although the sauce/glaze was delicious, it didn't flavor the tofu as much as I would like. (And it was delicious. I need to find more whiskey recipes; I have a few bottles of other brands left to use. I don't drink and the stuff is expensive so I don't typically buy it, but I'm excited to get to try it out this way.)

I was just compelled for some reason to add onions to this rice; I otherwise made it largely as written, substituting vegan butter and veggie broth. It turned out very lemony, but it was a nice flavor. It also may have too much turmeric because it was kind of shockingly yellow, but it tasted good so maybe not?Next time I'll add peas to it for a pop of color.

The spinach was a very basic recipe and I think I prefer my soy sauced spinach better, but it was fine and complemented the rest of the meal.

I didn't necessarily plan on the carrots but while everything else was cooking and needed no intervention from me, I took the time to cut a few carrots and toss them in my microwave steamer. I do not regret this. I basically never regret extra veggies. I will eat all the veggies, all the time.