Meatless Monday–Freestyle

We have been eating a lot less meat lately. I have found that the Indian inspired jarred sauces from Aldi are a good jumping off point if you need a quick meatless dinner made from pantry/freezer ingredients. Trader Joe’s (also owned by Aldi) has similar sauces that are really good.

The Sauce:

We grew sweet potatoes last summer, and they are not as sweet as we prefer for sweet potato casserole, or other recipes, so I still have a bunch of them. This is the primary ingredient in the sauce. I peeled and cut up about 5 cups of them. I also added 1 cup sliced celery, a cup and a half of diced bell pepper, a can of chick peas, about 6 oz of cooked frozen edamame, half of a large onion chopped, and 2 jars of Aldi’s Tikka Masala sauce. I rinsed the jars with about a cup of water and poured it into the pot.

I put the pot uncovered into a 300 degree oven for 2 hours. I took it out, added the baby spinach I had left in the refrigerator, and stirred it and put in back in the oven with the cover on at 175 degrees until we were ready to eat. Here is the finished product:

The Cauliflower:

I had 2 small heads of cauliflower that I roasted with spices in place of rice.

I cut the cauliflower into 1″ pieces and tossed them with a little olive oil and these spices. I spread the cauliflower on 2 greased baking sheets and baked it at 450 for about 25 minutes until browned.

I served the sauce over the cauliflower. The sauce needed a little more salt because of the sweet potatoes, but it was a warm and satisfying meal on a cold night.