Dinner Bowl #142

 

Here we have a quinoa casserole (recipe from Simply Quinoa with some additions), carrots, and a simple romaine salad (literally just romaine in an olive oil, lemon, and rice vinegar dressing with salt and pepper).

To the quinoa casserole, I added some homemade soy curls chick'n (more on that in my next journal entry) and a yellow squash that needed using. I made my own cashew cream for it from a recipe at Love & Lemons. It used up some broccoli starting to edge toward sadness and the end of a package of vegan mozzarella, but it was also delicious, plus very easy to put together. I would definitely consider a casserole like this a vital part of my doing-things-cheaper arsenal, since it can adopt so many things that need using and elevate them in a wonderful cheesy sauce.

I topped this casserole as suggested with a tahini dressing, one I made from the end of a jar of tahini in my fridge. I wouldn't say it needed the creamy drizzle, per se, but it did really elevate the meal!

The carrots were included because I love carrots and they're cheap; the romaine was something I had around and needed using.

I am finding it a little harder than I anticipated in some ways to keep expenses down, because I see my emptying fridge and pantry and my brain dials up an irrational response to such things. But I do love finding ways to muddle through anyway and make something wonderful.

I made the full recipe because I figured I could always freeze it if I didn't get through it as normal leftovers, and that has been a bigger part of my cooking lately, too. I'm going to need to base a lot of what I make in the coming weeks on clearing out my random frozen things, but I'm hoping that ends up a fun exercise, too.