Today's MoFo Prompt: "Quick, easy and delicious"
I love cooking up a dinner from scratch as much as the next kitchen-loving vegan. But I also love NOT doing that from time to time. Sometimes I'm tired or hungry or worn out (or all of the above), and I just want something quick and easy. Y'know?? Often times, I have a special meal planned out, but I come home tired and I still haven't done my yoga practice, and I don't even get into the kitchen until 9 pm, and my hour-long dinner prep feels increasingly unrealistic. Not to mention that in such moments, I am on the verge of eating every single thing I look at.
Mmm. A Grocery Outlet Score! $3.99 for a giant packet
To account for these eventualities, I've always got a few goodies tucked away in my freezer or my pantry for a last-minute, low-effort, low-brainpower dinner. I found this product from Sukhi's at Grocery Outlet recently. You can't tell from the picture, but that's a pretty big packet of food (supposedly, it's "10 servings" ha ha ha ha ha ha). Plus, each package came with two baggies... I still have two more in the freezer.
Veggie Enhancements!
I suppose if I were really desperate I could just eat it the way it is, straight outta the bag... but even when I'm being quick and lazy, I still like a few veggies in my dinner. So, I chopped up my cauliflower and got it roasting in the oven. Meanwhile, I heated up the "goop," and added in some chopped tomatoes from the garden, a giant handful of cilantro (sorry, haters!), and a bunch of frozen peas. Once it was all cooked up, I added the roasted cauliflower florets. One or two quick stirs, and it was good to go!
The final product
Mmmm! This dinner is so good! Mr. Vegan Eats & Treats especially loves it. He has a very charming name for it: "Enhanced Indian Bag" ha ha. yum? The sauce in this stuff is really rich, so even with adding all those veggies, our dinner was still 100% delicious and satisfying. I'm glad I still have a couple packets left for future tired nights. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's quick and easy meals! It's always nice to go from kitchen to sofa* as quickly as possible!
*we eat on our sofa
it's a pretty good scene
Yes, those packaged India entrees are so handy an hour of need! I do the same thing -- embellish them a additional veggies and beans. I think I'll head on over to Grocery Outlet today and see what they have to offer. XXOO
ReplyDeleteVery clever to use the chickpeas as a base with some fresh veggies added in! We eat on the sofa too! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the work you've been doing for MoFo (banners, blogrolls, and I'm sure much much more) I know it's a lot of work. Thank you!!
Enhanced Indian Bag!!! I keep stuff like that on-hand too. I usually get my meals cooked the night before so I never have to do much when I get home from work. But I like to have quick stuff for when my leftovers run out, and I haven't had time to cook yet. Like today, when I had an Amy's noodle bowl for lunch!
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a great idea to add those extras in! I haven't found many packet meals that I'm really into here, but the ones that I like are definitely enhanced with some extras as you say.
ReplyDeleteDon't you love serving sizes? Who are they kidding?!
ReplyDeleteI have some vegan Don Lee Farms Veggie Patties in my freezer. I got a big box at Costco. I think we'll even have some burgers and corn on the cob tonight (in advance of my son having his wisdom teeth out tomorrow! He can use his chompers before it hurts too much!).
Looks great for a quick meal, especially with all the veggies added in! :)
ReplyDeleteVery much a hahahaha on the 'serves 10' cos I think we all know that it's more likely to serve 2 ;) Like when I get those packet thingies that say "serves 4" it's more a serves 1! I like to add in a bunch of cilantro too. Enhanced Indian Bag, hahaha!
ReplyDeleteWe eat on our sofa too! With our cats in our faces most of the time. Don't even care :)
ReplyDeleteLove having quick and easy things like this to help make a meal! Most of the time when I am home late from work I just go the microwaved leftovers route, so you are super fancy for that time of night. ;)
ReplyDeleteI love your hand-drawn illustrations! Especially the sofa scene eating your dinner - we ate on our sofa for about 4 years until we finally bought a dining table haha. This dinner looks awesome for a quick & easy meal!
ReplyDelete10 servings! Ooh I would love to find this in my grocery store. I'm always on the look out for these sort of things. We're currently into a Nasi Goreng kit that we add tofu to and serve with greens. I call them 'fake-aways'.
ReplyDeleteLooks and sounds great! 10 servings? I bet I would eat this in about 3 or 4 LOL
ReplyDeleteI read the first paragraph and nodded with grim recognition - work plus studying plus life equals not as much time in the kitchen as I would like! Enhanced Indian Bag - looks tasty, sounds terrifying!
ReplyDeleteI love to do this! Use an Indian premade curry dish and enhance it. Otherwise it just feels too naked, you know?
ReplyDeleteTen servings is just crazy though!