Dinner Bowl #59

 

Some Chinese-inspired food: Brown rice, sweet and sour cauliflower (recipe from Get Set Vegan), Just Egg and tomato stir fry (recipe from Eat Just), and garlic "butter" cauliflower leaf stir fry (recipe from V for Veggy veganized using vegan butter).

I needed to use up my JUST Egg and had some tomatoes on hand, so that's where I started out making this meal. I also had impulse bought a head of cauliflower, and I wanted to use it all. Although they usually don't sell cauliflower here with many leaves still there, I can typically get a full cup of sliced cauliflower leaves off one head, and that's enough for me to use it if I'm not too overwhelmed. (I acknowledge that I am often overwhelmed these days and I struggle with balancing everything, so not all my cauliflower leaves end up eaten all the time--apologies if that disappoints anyone.) 

The sweet and sour cauliflower, true to the recipe's warnings, did not get as brown in the original photos. I used "beef" style veggie broth so it would get darker than it might, though, and I think next time I might add gravy browning; even so, I think this turned out pretty great. I also cut down the crushed red pepper to 1 teaspoon, which was plenty spicy. I think I would have enjoyed it a lot less with 2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper.

I don't know what is likely to happen in the coming months, vis-a-vis the undoubtable disruptions in availability of various things, and escalating costs of what may be left. I'm trying not to think about that too hard, and whether it's smart of me or not, I am generally avoiding shopping when I can, because it tends to induce panic. The pantry utilization quest is an ongoing thing for me, because things do need to get used up. But right now I'm facing a huge test of my resolve.

Let me know how you're doing out there, while the world is on fire.