Even though I’m a vegetarian, I’ve always liked the idea of using the whole buffalo. So I’m always inordinately proud when I manage to use something in it’s entirety, or make something from scratch, using only the materials at hand. And both, well, both is the coup de gras.

So, last night, Brian and I had been working in his studio all day, which means that I’d had Brian’s special lunch for lunch: to wit, pasta and red sauce, served in a tupperware bucket. Seriously, he makes up a batch a week.

Anyway, so I wanted something veggie heavy to go with our regular Thursday night viewing schedule (Supernatural and Lost). My body was craving the vitamins, and besides, the use-it-or-lose-it drawer* in the fridge was close to overflowing.

In the freezer, I had a some frozen leftovers from a batch of cream of asparagus soup I made earlier in the week (substitute veggie broth for chicken and leave out the melon balls and you’ve got my recipe).

In need of some heartier veggie fare than just some more soup, I threw together some mushrooms, root veggies and greens in a pot, cooked them with a bit of flour and leftover creamy soup, then plopped an undifferentiated mass of biscuit dough on top and baked it in the oven, making a sort of vegetable pot pie. It was yum.

* Readers: Have you ever had this happen? Your CSA sends kale three weeks running, and now your refrigerator’s got more greens than the Ralph Nader fan club. Next thing you know, the veggie bin’s packed, and there’s three-week old kale rotting at the bottom. What to do?

One solution is to designate one crisper drawer for ‘this weeks delivery.’ Ours is the one on the left. Each week, new veggies go in the ‘this week’ bin, and leftovers from the previous week are moved over into the ‘lose it or lose it’ drawer. Make an effort to use the older veggies first, composting or freezing veggies that are at or close to expiring.