Quick + Clean Improv Dinner Ideas #2

Creation is a game of fluke. Sometimes things just happen. And thinking about how narrowly that thing came to never existing sends you reeling through one of those uncomfortable realisations of how much of our lives orbit around chance. This Earth and its every inhabitant being one example.

Now, I'm not putting my dinner on a pedestal beside the Big Bang. It was good, yes, but probably not the start of something massive. 

Carrying on the in the same vein as usual when I come up with ideas for meals, this was another case of adding whatever was lying around + something you can feel a craving bubble up inside you for.

The result was whatever the hell you yourself would call this.

Now, I've never really been a Taylor Swift fan. I wasn't that into her music and I just didn't really care about her in general. Now, all of a sudden, every fibre of my being is screaming for 1989. It's like Taylor just swooped down and took the whole world with her. 

You may be wondering what could this possibly have to do with food? Well, much like this newfound appetite for Taylor Swift, I've been thirsting for tomatoes when I was never that fond of them before.

Seriously. I've even been eating salsa.

So I added a tin of chopped tomatoes to whatever my brain would conjure up for dinner. Didn't know what it would be, what it would compliment, but it was going in.

It was shortly followed in the saucepan by quinoa, a scallion, a clove of garlic, kidney bean. Served it up with some falafels I left -and admittedly almost forgot about- in the oven, as well as a very generous serving of hummus because I'm only human.

It looks like bolognese and meatballs. Only vegan and, if I remember the last bolognese I ate over six years ago correct, not as unsatisfactorily filling.

And it sure did fill in that little pothole of a craving I was having, while tasting very good I thought it'd be only fair to share.

And I purposely left this abomination of a photo til the end (in the hope that no one will read this far and pay too much attention to it)

-

Sian

Quick + Clean Improv Dinner Ideas #1

Fair to say it's been a while? Sorry, life happened.

After a quick perusal of the "clean food ideas" tag on Pinterest proved fruitless in finding something I wanted to eat, while also being of minimal effort to prepare, I abandoned ship. Sights were subsequently set on improvisation.
(Improvisation: noun - the 10 minute+ process of opening, closing, reopening and staring into the contents of one's cupboards and fridge in the hope that culinary inspiration will hit them eventually).

In about 20-ish minutes, I had collated and cooked an armful of ingredients, giving life to this lil' beaut: a marriage of quinoa, green lentils, spinach, stir-fried carrot and scallion, and orange segments, with an obligatory side of hummus. It's a polyamorous marriage.

Recently I've really been digging* fruit with savoury meals: strawberries with crispy, garlic peppered-tofu and salad greens; raisins hidden in the folds of red cabbage drizzled with balsamic vinegar; pineapple chunks with stir-fried vegetables and cashews. And now this.

And while you might think it a criminal offence sticking mandarin wedges in something like quinoa, it offers a nice surprise for your tastebuds, which will be expecting the nuttiness of the quinoa and the bite of the vegetables. It's a little injection of excitement without any effort or obscure ingredients.

I would like to thank my brain for making this possible. Ya done good. However, it didn't fare so well when trying to come up with a name for this. 50 points for anyone who can come up with something better than the tentative, and frankly, not very appetising "Quinoa + Orange Thing"

(*Disclaimer: no I do not say things like "digging" in real life, as my South Dublin accent makes it sound too stiff and mom-ish. But I like to think I can get away with it on the Internet).