What do your meals look like (show me pictures)....

I am a bit immobile and recovering from knee surgery at home. A girlfriend came over and cooked a Chinese dinner.

@acpgee A speedy recovery to you! 😊Take it easy~
Vegan Nachos for supper today

"Sometimes ya win, sometimes ya lose." Called to do some quickie impromptu goodies for a small get-together, I decided to do one another of those bread rings I did a while back, supplemented by a salad. Others went the deli route for more standard fare. Everyone liked my stuff, and I didn't get the Best Picture Oscar, but the Best Original Screenplay. That'll do.

I chose my path by things I had on hand for quick turnaround. I chose my traditional "turbo style" no-knead bread dough (90 min 1st rise, 3 hrs start to finish-up cool-down) in a rolled, stuffed ring using an on-hand dried Italian-style sausage (had been intended for charcuterie on Easter, but was redundant), somewhat like salami or sopressata, and a block of sharp cheese. I brushed some garlic-infused EVOO on the pressed-out dough before applying the diced meat and cheese. The dices were about small raisin size and were well-distributed over the dough. The rolling-up went well, but I had a failure in making a twisted ring out of it, and opted to salvage by shaping a Valentine's heart for the party. The bake made the house aromatic like a pizzeria. I really need to improve my shaping and presentation skills, but the loaf got eaten anyway.

The complementing salad was a classic tomato salad in a homemade dijon vinaigrette. I had a number of nice tomatoes, both red and yellow, that I had just gotten from a local farm market. I used a basil-infused EVOO for the dressing base. Minced garlic, red onions and herbs/seasoning completed the ingredients list. This was a quick assembly and had several hours to marinate.

My thought was an Italian-ish theme, fitting the guests, and my theory was that the solid, savory, "dry" loaf would be complemented by the moist, sweetish tomatoes. And maybe that theory worked.

Still immobile after knee surgery so coached the hubby through another very simple dinner starting with cheat’s Soupe au Pistou. Thats a handful of frozen veg, a tin of white beans, some oddments at the bottom of the produce drawer boiled with a stock cube and served with a good dollop of store bought pesto in each bowl. Main was spaghetti with Pesto Trapanese (blitz together toasted almonds, raw garlic and tomatoes with a sprig of basil and season with lemon, salt and pepper).

I’ve been adding photos of my meals to my blog (I don’t use social media so I’m still old school) as a recordkeeping way for the foods I make: https://kitchengardenplanet.com/category/kitchen/dishes/.

I’ve been on MFP for a couple years and have lost 75 lbs thus far, primarily from going about 90% vegetarian. We consider meat a delicacy/treat now (and only buy pastured meat to ensure sustainability as most of the ‘organic’ meat at the grocery store is still factory farmed) so most of my recipes are focused on the veg side (https://kitchengardenplanet.com/tag/vegetarian/), with more and more going full vegan as I become better at making my own non-dairy substitutes that taste better than the processed stuff at the store (and cheaper) like vegan ricotta and homemade cashew milk).

This photo is of my Rainbow Buddha Bowl we have on heavy rotation at home as it’s super healthy, super filling, and super easy to swap out ingredients - the base is always roasted sweet potatoes on a bed of greens, the toppings are just categories and substitute-able based on what I’ve got in the pantry - i.e., one bean or grain, one fruit, one crunchy (nut/seed), one cheese, one pickle-y, and unlimited veg :)