Green vegetable soup

I purchased the ingredients for this soup anticipating that I would spend several days away from my other, and eat it each day as my evening meal in order to fulfill my dietary requirements adequately. I used Lightlife's ersatz beef tips (I can't find a link to the product on their site, though I purchased it through a local grocery store), and they performed satisfactorily in the task they were proscribed. I disliked using them, however, because they require separate pre-browning, as well as inclusion in the dish only in the last minute, which is a more intensive meat substitute than I prefer (contrast with Quorn's fake meat, which can be treated just like regular meat in most cases).

That said, the dish included extremely chosen-at-the-moment quantities of various vegetables:

1 bag Monterrey brown mushrooms
1 bag fresh brussels sprouts
1/2 bag frozen broccoli
4 cups chopped kale
1 large onion, sliced into moons
1 quart dashi (from Alton Brown's recipe)
4 cups water
1 tub Knorr vegetable stock concentrate
1 glug of rice vinegar
1 bag Lightlife "beef" tips
1 cup Barilla Veggie rotini
Thyme, black pepper, summer savory, long pepper, oregano, garlic powder, sel gris and fish sauce to taste

I started by sauteing the onion in grapeseed oil, adding the mushrooms and brussels sprouts once the onions were translucent. I let that all saute for a few minutes and then added the rest of the ingredients, excluding the "beef" tips, which I browned on the side in some grapeseed oil, and the noodles, which I added 7 minutes before turning off the heat.

The soup turned out great. I recommend adding some sort of wine vinegar to basically any savory soup like this one, because it adds a great tang to the finished product. When I reheated the soup for later, having eaten all of the "beef" tips out of it (assuming they wouldn't heat up well), I chopped up a block of tofu, which was arguably better than the fake meat.

Morningstar Grillers patties done up

I think it's safe to say that I like Morningstar Farms griller patties, as much as one can like purposefully generic microwave patties. Most of the reason I like them is that I dress them up sufficiently, giving them the chance to taste better than they do by default. The essence of my method is herbs and butter. I put some summer savory, thyme, basil, oregano, rosemary or marjoram on top with some black pepper and some sel gris, and cover the whole mess with some butter. Since I keep forgetting to pick up butter from the store, I've been using ghee instead; I prefer the butter. When it's done cooking, I usually serve the patties with some Heinz balsamic vinegar ketchup and a stack of 8 CM stone ground wheat crackers.

I only ever do this when I'm hanging out by myself and don't feel like going to any trouble, but it's a satisfying dinner.