This dinner should be called, "my-kitchen's-calling-me" casserole.
Here' how this awesome vegan (oh and did I mention it was gluten-free, too?) casserole came about.
I made a lovely pan of veggies and beans to use as my filler: onion, garlic, green pepper, mushrooms, black beans, corn and a can of tomatoes, plenty of cumin and oregano--spice it up to your heart's content. *I have a special Penzey's blend I use, too. Let this mixture simmer for a bit (let the juices reduce, too), and while it simmers, make the pickled onions: red onion slice thin, juice of one lime with a pinch of sugar and some salt and white vinegar--enough to cover the onions in a bowl. Set this aside. When you've finished the pickling stuff, begin layering the casserole by using a square dish, spread a bit of salsa over the bottom to begin with, then cover this with corn tortillas (you'll have to break a few in half just to fill in the corners well. In between the three or four layers you make, add a smattering of vegan cheeze in between for good measure, then top the casserole with a bit of the cheese and bake at 375 until bubbly, about 30 minutes. While this bakes, make your rice and guacamole you'll be serving with it on the side. This has been on our table at least once a week for the past few weeks now.
You can see here what I'm talking about with the whole "layering" thing. Just keep layering until you run out of filling. You'll want to keep room at the top so while it bakes, you don't have oven spillage.
This is delicious and makes for an even better left over.
The night I made this, I called home to say "I" would be cooking dinner.
(Dr. Thyme has been doing the honors of cooking as of late, and doing a fine job at it, I might add, however. . .)
Yes, I realized it was almost five-thirty, but I still wanted to cook.
You see, I missed my kitchen.
My afternoons planning for an evening.
My evenings planning for the next day.
This "work" stuff is beginning to wear thin on me.
Seems like life itself has been zipping by at warp speed.
I don't like it one bit.
I had to go somewhere for some "work stuff". Those critters you see here were what I saw when I was there. It was some awful work-related thing designed to torture you into becoming better at *stuff*.
Yes, three days, eight hours a day in a windowless conference room ALWAYS motivates.
When I got home, I craved normalcy. Like knitting, gardening and just chilling.
I'm knitting this Pebble Beach Shawl. I'm using some yarn that I had left over from my "subscription" yarn deal: Teresa Ruch Designs Fingering 5/2. It literally took me two hours to wind into a cake--it's a slippery kind of yarn. I'm not used to working with "slippery" yarns, but felt this would be a nice change rather than hold onto wool during the summer.
I thought it might go faster than it is going. It's still very lovely. There is "purling".
(I'm not a lover of the purl stitch.)
Yup. That's my spring garden shoved into the back of our car. Pretty, no?
Happy to be home.
So. Happy.
Our baby girl will be two years old this summer. Hard to believe.
Time is flying here, folks.
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