Vegetarian Goulash

Easy, tasty, loaded with starch and protein, and very little measuring required!

Preparation/cook time: 45 minutes; serves 6-ish

Ingredients:

• 4-ish servings of spiral pasta
• Half a package of vegetarian "ground beef" (Quorn, Morning Star, etc.)
• One large can of stewed tomatoes
• One can of corn (or half a package of frozen corn)
• Half a jar of tomato sauce
• Two fistfuls of grated cheese
• Sliced green olives (the more the better)

Preparation:

• Boil the pasta until it's slightly al dente; drain well
• Mix pasta, "ground beef," tomatoes, corn, olives and cheese in a large casserole dish
• Add pasta sauce until everything is sufficiently gooey, but not so much the casserole is floating in it
• Sprinkle with more grated cheese, if desired
• Bake 30 minutes on 350℉

Variations:

• Substituting Italian olive salad for the plain green olives is pretty fantastic.
• If you know something about cooking (or are just feeling adventurous) you can experiment with adding herbs and spices - it's tasty on its own, but it was particularly good when I added "Pasta Sprinkle" (sweet basil, Turkish oregano, thyme and garlic).
• Note: you can make this with gluten-free pasta, but it can't be simultaneously gluten-free and vegetarian - most meat substitutes use some form of gluten to hold it together, so you have to use real meat for the gluten-free variety.

Lizzie's scone recipe

The recipe you've all been waiting for (because I thought I'd lost it again and was embarassed to call my mom AGAIN and ask her to read it to me over the phone for like the fourth time in the last year... and against the likelihood of my losing the stupid little piece of paper YET AGAIN):

3 cups flour

1 pinch salt (if using unsalted butter)

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 cup butter, room temperature if you're smart

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup dried fruit bits*

1 egg

3/4 cup milk**

stir together flour, salt, and baking powder to combine (with a fork or whisk). cut in the butter and pinch it into the dry ingredients as you would into a pie crust: DO NOT OVER-MIX! pinch together until flaky/crumbly. stir in the sugar and fruit (or whatever else you'd like to add in). whisk the egg and milk together in a measuring cup, then add them to the dough. rest in the fridge, covered in saran wrap, 30-60 minutes. divide into little balls 1.5-2 inches in diameter, bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

*have successfully used dried cherries, cranberries, raisins, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, crystallized ginger, chopped or roasted nuts, candied orange peel... mix it up!

**to add a more subtle flavor to the scones, add an extract to the milk, or warm it in a saucepan just until bubbles form, add a flavoring (fresh or dried rosemary, crushed fresh ginger, loose or bag tea leaves, mint leaves, whatever), and let it sit until cool.