Leftovers Beget Leftovers Which Beget . . .

The last few days have been atypical for me, and it'll be this way through the weekend, so I will apologize in advance for a little season of "Midlife Vegan Lite". In other words, I have been running from obligation to obligation (mostly Mom stuff so it's all good) So I've barely found time to throw together fabulous, nutritious vegan meals and certainly haven't had time to measure and taste and jot down an organized recipe. Nevertheless, I have been able to whip up a few miracles in no time at all, and the photos are helping me to remember just how I pulled them off, though you will have to guess for now about measurements. When my life is less jam-packed I will take the time to recreate these in an actual recipe format. I have been so busy, I've not been able to get to the store, so these meals also utilize leftovers from former meals. I love not wasting, and I love saving money!

The first of these three dishes -- last night's dinner -- was born of the need to use up this weekend's broiled tofu and last week's green tomato salsa.  So . . tacos! My tacos included corn tortillas, romaine lettuce, leftover wild rice, leftover broiled tofu, frozen corn, warmed with homegrown tomatoes, sauteed onion and bell pepper, and my leftover green tomato salsa with white beans. Three leftovers in one new meal! If I had tofutti sour cream, daiya cheese and avocado I would have added them, but I didn't. The tacos were still great! I served my husband leftover beef chili and cheese for his, and my daughter had vegetarian tacos, only cheese, lettuce, rice, corn and tomatoes. My son opted for pasta since he had just bought himself Chipotle for lunch. From fridge to table I spent 15 minutes on this.

Another meal inspired by leftovers was a veggie curry I threw together using this weekend's noochy cauliflower. I only had half an hour before I needed to drive Wynne's friend home, and then show up at Hans' lacrosse game. I made and ate this within that timeframe. It includes: sauteed zucchini and onion, a can of chickpeas, the leftover cauliflower, rice milk (about 3/4 cup I guess) lots of curry, cumin and turmeric, salt and pepper. Once this was cooked, I topped it with mixed nuts, golden raisins, coconut and spinach. Raw chopped celery, raw chopped tomato and crumbled lightlife bac'n would have also been great with this, along with a dollop of mango chutney, but it didn't happen. Next time! This was seriously very delicious though. I finished these leftovers of leftovers today for lunch, along with this salad:

I didn't even have time for breakfast this morning, so by the time I got back home I was starving! And for what? Dark leafy greens of course! So I grabbed a giant handful of arugula, threw the leftover peppers and onions from taco night on top, then added pine nuts, italian parsley and Annie's goddess dressing shaken up with balsamic vinegar. Very satisfying, and I believe I just may finally be out of leftovers -- oh, I still have the wild rice, but there's no harm in keeping a pot of that in the 'fridge at all times!

This leftover led to that leftover, which led to the next one, oh what a tangled web I weave -- but I'm eating good!