Dinner Bowl #49

 

Let's use what we have, shall we? This is a taco casserole I sort of winged after getting inspiration from an omnivore recipe, some Mexican rice, refried black beans, avocado, and non-dairy sour cream.

This was amazing.

No, really! I had no expectations of this being that good. The taco casserole consists of corn chips layered in with non-dairy cheese and a TVP-based taco meat and salsa mixture. What's most intriguing, which I took from the original recipe, was the addition of mayo (vegan in my case, of course). I raised my eyebrows at that but decided to try it and I'm so glad I did! This was delicious and used up some stale corn chips.

The refried beans, meanwhile...I have finally found good-enough-to-eat-straight-from-the-can refried beans again. These are the refried black beans with jalapeno from the Wegmans store brand, so they're also cheaper than most of the others I've tried on my quest to replace Goya. I did still give these beans the added onions and garlic sauteed in some vegan butter treatment I've come to rely on after the switch from Goya, but it didn't need them. I tasted the stuff when I opened the can and it was super exciting. It doesn't taste anything like the Goya beans did, but they're still delicious. I think I'm winning at life.

I haven't bought Tofutti sour cream in a long time. Mostly, I've been making my own sour cream from cashews, but that's really because I never plan to have sour cream when I end up wanting it. This time, I planned it. I have missed the stuff, but I got myself used to the homemade version, and honestly, I'm not sure which I like better now. I think they may have different applications, This sour cream will melt; the cashew kind won't. If you heat the cashew kind, it thickens, instead.

There are other plans I have for the Tofutti sour cream, but we'll see if I manage to follow through on my aspirations.

In other news, I do think I'm doing pretty well on this pantry utilization journey. This meal used part of a jar of salsa and the stale corn chips, neither of which are staple foods for me even if I do love them (well, I don't love corn chips when they're stale, but you get the concept). I'm starting to see the spaces in my cupboards opening more, and that's been satisfying, too.