Random Meals #17

There are carefully constructed meals, and then there are random ones made from whatever is there. This post rounds up 15 "whatever was there" meals--five breakfasts, five lunches, and five dinners. (I think the term "girl dinner" now applies, though I've had this series longer than that term has existed.) This is one of the most popular series I have for whatever reason, so please enjoy!

Breakfast

I had some leftover potato filling from making potato tacos, and none of the rest of the taco goodness, so I made breakfast! Here we have the potatoes with some JUST Egg I've scrambled with homemade pico de gallo, some avocado, and a couple of slices of sprouted wheat toast.

I had some leftover sweet potato that needed using, so I made sweet potato chocolate chip pancakes and topped them with some non-dairy whipped cream. I sliced a banana on the side and mixed some non-dairy yogurt with chocolate tahini to round out the bowl. It was truly delightful, if all quite brown and beige!

This is less random and more just breakfast, probably: A small bowl of cereal with soy milk, whole grain toast, clementine segments, and JUST Egg scrambled with onions and spinach. (It was wonderful.) I just say it's random because it wasn't really planned.

More of a general theme here, I guess: a chickpea flour omelet with veggies and non-dairy cheese, served with tater tots. I ripped my omelet when I tried to fold it, but it was still delicious.

Breaking away from eggy things, here we have a cup of spice tea with soy milk, a frozen veggie sausage patty, a banana poppy seed muffin from my freezer, half a banana, and some raspberries. Freezer muffins have really been getting me through the summer, but I'm really looking forward to baking some fresh ones!

Lunch

This is a vegan classic: A sandwich with whole wheat bread, crunchy peanut butter, banana, and strawberry jam served alongside some veggies (cucumber and red bell pepper) and a little cup of salt and pepper, half a banana (the half that didn't go in the sandwich), and some grapes. It's a classic for a reason--go forth and enjoy it!

This was a raid-the-fridge lunch, in a sense. I have here sliced apple, a bit of Dubai chocolate granola butter, coleslaw, pita crackers, zucchini dip, and lemon hummus. It may be a bit of a hodgepodge, but it worked.

This is me making do with what I had and avoiding the store for a week longer than planned initially. I had some bread in my freezer, so I made sandwiches with some deli slices and the end of some sad romaine lettuce (with vegan mayo, of course). I also had some plant-based onion chips, so they went in, along with a cup of dill pickle chunks (there was no other logical way to have the pickle) and a blueberry white chocolate cookie from my freezer. As random lunches go, this one was one of my favorites.

Here, I had leftover veggies, leftover baked beans, pasta salad made from leftover vegan spirals and cheese, and a snacky cup with Yum Earth chocolates and some coconut-date bites. This was pretty great, actually, despite being random.

I had no bread, but I had rice and nori, and I was not in the mood to actually cook. So the rice went in the rice cooker and I made an onigirazu with Tofurky ham, Violife gouda, lettuce, onions, dill pickle, and Vegenaise. I really enjoyed this!

Dinner

Originally, you saw this as meatball soup made from leftovers, and I had orzo separately cooked for it. I had too much soup for my orzo, so for one of my bowls of soup, I simmered some pastina in the soup when I was warming it and had that, when it was cooked, with garlic toast. It was perfection--even better than with orzo!

I had a single taco-sized flour tortilla, some chorizo nacho toppings, and rice and beans on hand, so I had the rice and beans with a tiny nacho-burrito thing (chorizo and nacho cheese inside) and sides of non-dairy sour cream and some homemade pico de gallo. It wasn't as good as the nachos, but it was still pretty good!

You know what time it is: Peanut butter ramen! But since I started being more deliberate about keeping frozen veggies on hand, my easiest go-to meal is now a bit more nutritious. I boiled some chopped frozen broccoli and frozen sliced mushrooms with the noodles and then added my usual things to make the peanut butter broth, and I topped that off with scallions. This was amazing. I will do this again!

 
One of my favorite comfort dinners: Broccoli, Goodles with vegan cheese sauce, and beanie weenies. This always reminds me of childhood! Plus, it's so, so easy to make.

I was exhausted and overwhelmed, and this was based on what I had around: Some penne (the end of a box) with some butternut squash sauce I found in my freezer and gochujang tofu. This actually went together pretty well!