This is How I Do Takeout Now

Around here ordering takeout is a bit of a family bonding event, and it usually happens on Sunday nights as we are lazily gearing up for the week. There's something about the anticipation of the ordered goods and the happy unwrapping frenzy that sparks excitable chatter and regenerates our familial bond. Since I'm usually the boss of which purveyor of food we choose (I'm the picky one) It is either Chipotle or Chinese. The choices thus narrowed, I am then met with my own issues -- I tend to order too much. Nothing gets wasted, but I just love all that veggie yumminess and have trouble remembering that some of the stuff I want to order is already in my fridge. So now I add more vegan leftovers to the top of my takeout instead of ordering more than one dish. I like to eat a lot!

Featured above is my burrito bol from Chipotle. It contains cilantro rice, black beans, peppers and onions, two salsas, guacamole and lettuce. But no, that wasn't enough. I needed more beany goodness from my own larder -- black eyed peas with snap beans which I had previously prepared for my poor migraine-ailing 17-year-old in my unending quest to find veggies to which he is not allergic. (He wasn't allergic, but wasn't wild about them either) The augmented bol was delish!

Here's what I had on another Sunday when we ordered Chinese delivery. Normally I order two entrees for myself because I cannot choose: Garlic Baby Bok Choy and Szechuan Tofu. When I do this my choices alone cost about $18. Nothing gets wasted -- I eat from it for days afterward, but the Sunday of the above meal, I realized how silly I was being since I did already have some darling baby bok choy in my fridge. So I ordered the tofu and quickly steamed my own greens. Very YUM, and I still got to eat from it all for days!

This takeout plus my own food makes sense mostly because my refrigerator is usually brimming with leftover goodness or raw veggies which take little to no time to prepare. The whole point of takeout is to indulge in laziness, but I still feel pretty lazy washing some greens and sticking them in the steamer for a couple of minutes or opening a bowl of leftovers. It works for me, I get more veggies, and it's cheaper too!