Butternut Squash with Bell Pepper and Onion, Ramen Noodles with Chickpea Salad, Neighborly Tomatoes

We were out this evening; my wife then dropped me off to make dinner and feed our daughter while she attended to an errand. Time was short so I had to innovate a bit more than usual.

We had gone to a vegan baby shower on Saturday and had leftover from that event a prepared chickpea salad that we had purchased from Whole Foods. I made a simple but surprisingly good dish by boiling basic Ramen noodles. I mixed in the salad and topped with a dollop of fresh tahini sauce.

I had some frozen butternut squash chunks. I steamed in a pan with a little bit of water for maybe 5 minutes till the squash softened. I drained the pan and drizzled on a little Meyer lemon-infused extra virgin olive oil. I returned to medium-high heat, uncovered and about a half minute later, added half of an onion cut into half moons that were halved lengthwise, and another two minutes or so later, a quarter bell pepper, diced to about twice the width of the onion. When the onion was clear, I added a dash of cumin seed and cooked another minute or so. I mixed in a little salt and jerk seasoning, about a dozen small lemon sage leaves from my garden, and a few drops of vinegar-based hot sauce. It came out well!

We found on our porch a bag of freshly picked tomatoes from our neighbors across the street. I included them (they were yummy!!) and avocado to round out dinner.