Sequestration Meal #659

 

Although I had something else planned, I had some ingredients that needed using up first, so I made this assortment of things: Steamed carrots, a vegan version of a recipe I'd found for beet greens and barley gratin, and my own recipe for Amish ham and pea salad. Although this was a slightly odd bowl of things, and I probably should have had the salad as a separate course, it went well.

Next time I get beet greens, I am going to try making this gratin again and giving you the recipe if it works out--this was pretty great, but I had to chop up a slice of Daiya Swiss because I didn't have a suitable shredded non-dairy cheese for it, and for you to get a recipe you'll want something less makeshift. But it was really delicious! I love using beet greens and other scraps to make a good meal, and I sometimes need to jolt myself out of the rice-pasta-potatoes rotation and make room for barley and whatnot. The barley is right up against its use-by date, too. We've got to do what we've got to do, right?

In any case, the rough outlines of this is that it contains cooked barley, onions, garlic, beet greens, JUST Egg, some soy milk, and non-dairy cheese all baked up until beautifully set. Really and truly, I have rarely managed to improvise something that good.

I only had vegan cheddar for the ham and pea salad, rather than the combo of cheddar and Monterey jack; it was fine this way, too, though, so it worked.  And I do really like this salad, even if I rarely have leftover ham roast lying around. This may be an excessively cheesy meal--but is there such a thing?

A carrot is a carrot, but this one was steamed and seasoned perfectly. Nothing more could be desired.