Apparently I moved from Earthquakeville to Hurricaneland.

I thought the Carolinas were supposed to be a calm little southern piece of the American pie filled with little suburbias and mini vans, but here I sit in the direct path of a ginormous storm with it’s eye (get it) set on trying to kill me!

Honestly, I was not concerned about this until like 24 hours ago. I was like, k, so we’ll get some rain, kewlie.

But errbody was wiggin’ out on the interwebs, so I ran to Walmart to get some bottled water. No joke, that place was an absolute zoo. Like, more so than your average Wally World. I park 83 miles away and roll my lil cart to the water aisle. I wish I could describe what I saw. Picture nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a bottle of water on the shelves. No water in the little mini fridges up by the registers. Nada! I would have bought that fancy artisanal water straight from the depths of the Alps, but it was ALL GONE. The sheer panic that consumed me in this moment was epic. I literally pushed the cart into a large display of cereals (I did not do this) and ran out of that Walmart to ransack every grocery store I could find. I did find some water and stocked up on junk food and cans of soup that the thought of eating cold only slightly churn my stomach.

Also, I literally just had a preview of what the next few days will be like because our power went out for an hour while in the middle of cooking dinner so I ate pasta in a raw garlic sauce, yum.

Time: 1 hour (prep + cooking) | Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, peeled + sliced about 1/2 inch thick
• 1 package of tempeh, cut in lil cubes
• 2 roma tomatoes, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
• 1 red pepper, sliced
• 1 green pepper, sliced
• 1 zucchini, sliced in coins
• 1 yellow squash, sliced in coins
• 1/4 cup of soy sauce
• 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp. of garlic, minced
• 5 tbsp. of olive oil
• S+P, to taste
• Basil, for serving
• Avocado, for serving

How to:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• In a bowl, combine soy sauce + 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar + garlic + 1 tbsp. of olive oil
• Arrange sweet potatoes on a lined baking sheet, drizzle with 1 tbsp. of olive oil + S+P, rub on both sides, arrange in an eve, layer
• Arrange peppers on a lined baking sheet, drizzle with 1 tbsp. of olive oil + S+P, arrange in an even layer
• Arrange squash on a lined baking sheet, drizzle with 1 tbsp. of olive oil + S+P, arrange in an even layer
• Bake all for 25 minutes, stirring all once in the middle of cook time
• Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in a skillet over medium heat
• Add tempeh, cook for 6-8 minutes until crisp to your desire
• Add remaining vinegar to a lil pot + reduce over low heat for about 4-5 minutes, until it thickens a bit
• To serve, place a sweet potato on a place + top with tempeh + peppers + squash + basil + drizzle with some balsamic reduction, repeat with remaining veggies
• Serve warm with avocado
• Play rock, paper, scissors with sweetie + only select rock, smashing each veggie stack in the process