I have some startling news for some of you, and this is by any means easy to break such an anvil or brick of news on you.But, I know you are strong, and I am strong, we all are strong.Shall I go on? I think I should.

Alright, here is the deal: In high school, I was a bit of a nerd.A chubby, unpopular nerd.I know, right? Who was a nerd or unpopular in high school?! I have seen the shows, seen the movies,no one is unpopular, nerdy, or fat in high school.

Oddly, I go from chubby to toothpick fairly often, thanks to all the puking I do to keep myself looking pretty.I picked that up in high school, too.

Oh, wow, that was terrible, and not true.Well, yes my weight goes up and down, but no I do not do that other stuff.Maybe. No, I do not, honest.

Anyways, so in high school, you know already how I was, and I was one of those alternative- art class type nerd.I would often just eat some bland sandwich my mother would make me, or I would have to buy school lunch.Pizza, burger, you know , the typical horribly unhealthy, fast food-like food of the typical cafeteria.I don’t really judge that too much, as I eat junk now, and I am fucking old.

But, I digress, which by now is habitual for me.One of the school lunches I had, and they served, was probably just something someone made up when they realized they had some ground beef and a shit load of potatoes.It is not 5 star dining, but it is certainly comfort food, and you know I how I feel about comfort food.

School lunch could often be hell, for various reasons.I recall the horrible fear of the first few days of a new school year, hoping against hope I would have the same lunch time as my 2 or 3 friends I actually had , or liked.Like life itself, that often did not work out for me.Oh, well.

So, I made something along those lines;It is nostalgia in food form.What would you call this dish? Some fun name? I have no clue.

Ingredients.

- 1 and 1/4 cup of TVP.
- 2 cups of vegetable stock.
- Salt.
- Pepper.
- 1 tablespoon of steak sauce.
- 2 teaspoons of onion powder.
- 2 teaspoons of garlic powder.
- 3 teaspoons of poultry seasoning.
- 1 teaspoon of sage.
- 1 teaspoon of marjoram.
- 1 cup of frozen peas.
- 1 cup of frozen corn.
- 2 tablespoons of Earth Balance.
- 2 tablespoons of flour.
- 1/2 cup of vegetable stock.
- Mashed potatoes.

Okay, first of all, I refuse to write out another mashed potato recipe.If you have trouble making mashed potatoes, then perhaps you should seek out a class , or perhaps a shrink.You will need mashed potatoes for this dish , obviously.

Now that I have cleared that up, we can carry on under the premised that you know how to make fucking mashed potatoes!

Find a large sauce pan, and pour in the two cups of stock, and the TVP.Turn your oven top on, obviously.You want the burner on medium heat.You can now take the remaining ingredients, up to the Earth balance.Whisk, mix, whatever it all in, and let the pan simmer till most of the liquid is gone.

Meanwhile, make your gravy.Heat a small sauce pan on a burner, maybe half way between medium and lower heat. Put the Earth Balance and the flour in the pan, and whisk it together.It should thicken, and look like a gravy!Thin it out a bit with the vegetable stock, and if you wish to add some gravy browner, well you just go on ahead.

You may now stir the gravy into the TVP, and add your corn and peas.Juts let the veggies heat through, and you are done.Scoop some mashed potatoes on a plate, and top with your TVP.You just made yourself tasty comforting version of a school lunch.Oh, boy.

Sorry , I did not have some tray like plat to make it look even more authentic.Well, I am not sorry, but that would have been an ice touch.I guess.

I am gonna go and eat some now;Then I will run into my bedroom, slam the door, blast Pavement and Dinosaur Jr. albums and think about how no one “gets” me.