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The Kitchen Recessionista

So, here we are, in a recession. Let's eat!

Resolution Recipe 3: Banana Oat Bran Waffles, “The Make-Ahead Vegan Cookbook.”

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So far, my Resolution Recipes have been focused on dinnertime, but this week I decided to put a twist on things and service up a new-to-us breakfast recipe instead! Well, brunch, honestly, served on Sunday when we typically have a bit more time and life feels just slightly more luxurious. And what could possibly be more luxurious than waffles? Banana oat bran waffles, to be precise.

True story: I will look for any reason to use my waffle maker, which I’ve had for several years now. But another true story: My waffle success rate is pockmarked at best. Sometimes, my waffles turn out beautifully; other times, they stick and rip apart, leading me to blow a gasket. And reader, on this particular weekend, my gasket was ready to blow. We shan’t get into the reasons, other than to say many items both personally and nationally were all coming to a head at once, but there I was on Sunday morning, cookbook in one hand, waffle iron in the other, marching into the kitchen and announcing to LeeLee en route, “We’re about to have waffles. I hope I don’t blow a gasket.”

Well, reader, no gaskets were blown. Including when I couldn’t find the base to my immersion blender for a few minutes (it had fallen behind where it’s normally stored), which I felt was frankly a feat.

I attribute most of the reason for my intact gasket to this recipe, found in Ginny Kay McMeans’ The Make-Ahead Vegan Cookbook. I’ve made quite a few other recipes from the book, but never this one, so I knew Ginny Kay was the real deal. And blessedly for us all, this recipe didn’t fail me either, even despite my checkered past with the waffle maker.

Indeed, it came together in a snap, despite my failure to separate the dry ingredients from the wet and instead just lobbing them all in together before mixing with my immersion blender. And then, finally, came the test: Would the waffle maker propel me to glory, or would I blow the aforementioned gasket and storm off?

Friends! After eight minutes of cooking, each waffle came out perfectly sturdy and, well, waffle-like. LeeLee and I were both positively delighted with the outcome. The flavor definitely had notes of banana (though honestly, I’d probably add a second banana next time), and the mix of flours definitely gave the waffle a heartiness that warmed the soul. Served alongside some veggie sausage, it was a glorious brunch indeed!

So again I asked LeeLee: “Is this a recipe you’d like me to make again?”

Again he replied: “Yes!”

So we’re three for three so far. I’m so very glad our winning streak held for another week!

:)

Resolution Recipe 2: Beef and Spinach Soup With Rice, “Crockery Cookbook”

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I can’t believe I’ve never made this recipe before! The Better Homes and Gardens Crockery Cookbook has been a decades-long staple on my cookbook shelf, the very first slow-cooker cookbook I ever purchased upon receiving my very first Crock-Pot when I wasn’t much more than 20 years old. Its cover and pages definitely belie their age, all tattered and splattered, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is one well-loved cookbook, friends.

So it really is a surprise to me that I’ve never made this recipe for Beef and Spinach Soup With Rice. I’ve been vegetarian pretty much since I bought this cookbook home, so naturally I would have used a beef alternative even back in the day, but no … there’s no indication that I’ve ever whipped this one up! A shame, really, as the instant I flipped to it I knew I wanted to make it as my second Resolution Recipe of 2025.

And make it I did on Sunday, putting everything in the Crock-Pot as soon as I got home from my morning run and setting it to Low to cook all day. It couldn’t have been simpler: Simply dump in some Gardein beef tips, baby carrots, a diced onion, a sliced yellow squash, some minced garlic, some spices, a dollop of white wine (I had some left over for cooking), and some veggie broth and let ’er rip. Eight hour so later, the house was smelling great, and just before serving I dumped in several cups of spinach and a half-cup (more like three-quarters of a cup if we’re being honest) of Minute Rice, let it all cook for 10 minutes more and took it up. 

To be perfectly honest, the final product did require some additional salt and pepper, but once that was rectified this turned out to be a fantastic soup! It was hearty enough for a meal, but light enough to not make you feel overstuffed. And the prep couldn’t possibly have been easier, making it feel like a catered dish rather than something whipped up by my own hands! The Gardein tips held up beautifully after an eight-hour cook – they always do – and the rice added some lovely texture. To be honest, I think next time I’ll add a full cup of rice and see what happens.

And there will be a next time. Like last week, I asked LeeLee the Judgment Day Question: “Is this a recipe you’d like me to make again?” Once again the answer was yes.

Two weeks into the year and we’re off to a fine start recipe-wise! I wonder where this week’s cookbook will take us?

:)

Five Frugal Things.

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From free hotel nights to a cheap lunch to, sigh, even a frugal fail, it’s been a busy week!

1. We used some free night certificates for surprise work travel.
This past week threw us some curveballs in the ol’ work-travel department. LeeLee’s workweek got thrown into flux when we got word that a snowstorm was coming to town, and thus his time away had to be extended at the last minute when he decided to leave a couple of days earlier than planned so he didn’t get stuck here. (No big deal: He had plenty to do!) But since these extra nights away were likely to be an expense on our own dime, I wanted to make sure we did this as cheaply as possible. Enter: Some Marriott free night certificates! I’ve found them to be fairly difficult to use for a regular vacation, as the maximum point spend is often too low for vacation destinations, but they worked perfectly for a work trip at a lower-cost Marriott brand (the Moxy, in this case). So: LeeLee made it out of town safe and sound, and without breaking the bank. I love it! (Also, he made it back home safe and sound after the fact, and to a shoveled-out parking space, for which he owes me deeply.)

2. Lunch with a friend cost only $16!
While LeeLee was out of town, a friend and I went to try a new restaurant in town (walkable, given the aforementioned snowstorm!), and imagine my surprise to find that two (2) slices of pizza-by-the-slice came to a grand total of $16, including tip. I can’t think of the last time I went to a sit-down restaurant and came away with so much money still in my pocket! And the food was great, to boot. 

3. The leftovers remain plentiful.
I’ve intentionally gone heavy-duty into our leftover creation lately, making first-run meals that leave a lot for later. This week already we’ve enjoyed multiple servings of “steak” and ale pie with mashed potatoes, as well as Moroccan chik’n soup (pictured above), and I’m eyeing plenty of leftover-producing meals for the weekend too! Viva la (Leftover) Revolucion!

4. LeeLee found a bargain over at our local Goodwill.
Speaking of that upcoming work travel, LeeLee realized over the winter that he is deeply depleted on any and all businesswear. What better place to find some bargains than at our local Goodwill? He came home with 14 (!) various and sundry items, from collared shirts to ties to slacks to sport coats – some of which still had the store tags on! – for a grand total of $86. That nets out to $6 per garment, which is better than you’ll find on any first-run store rack. (And he looks ding-dang good, if you ask me!)

5. And … a frugal fail.
A couple of months ago, LeeLee’s beloved iPhone, his trusty friend for the better part of at least seven years, gave up the ghost suddenly and without warning one morning. He trucked over to Best Buy to get a new one – well, actually he started at AT&T (which is our carrier) and was directed to Best Buy by them, which feels weird, but whatever – and as a thank-you they sent him home with a $100 Best Buy gift card, which I immediately put in a safe place. And, dear friends, here is where the frugal fail comes in: I have forgotten where the safe place is. I know it is in our home. I know it has not walked off. But WHERE? I cannot say. Ideally this will turn back into a frugal win sometime soon, but right now, I am feeling like a pretty silly goose.

What are your frugal wins (or fails!) this week? Let’s hear about ’em in the comments!

:)

Resolution Recipe No. 1: Veggie Singapore Noodles, “Simply Chinese.”

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As I mentioned last week, one of my culinary New Year’s resolutions is that once a week, I’ll cook a new-to-me recipe from one of the multitude of cookbooks I own. So with trembling hands, I launched this challenge on its maiden voyage late last week with a batch of Veggie Singapore Noodles from Simply Chinese, a cookbook written by Suzie Lee. This is a cookbook I picked up a year or so ago during one of my pilgrimages to The Strand bookshop in New York City but had, sadly, not done much with since. I made a couple of recipes right away, but then life took over; you know how that goes.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Singapore noodles, so I knew this was a recipe that I just had to try. I’d never made Singapore noodles before in any incarnation, so with trembling hands I got to work. 

The trick with this recipe is to have everything prepped before you get started, as once things start cooking, it all comes together fast. In one pot I boiled my vermicelli noodles; in a pan, I scrambled some Just Egg, then took it out, then started stir-frying vegetables and quickly adding the spices, perfuming the entire home with a beautiful curry-chili blend. Meanwhile, I did add one thing to the dish – some gazed tofu, which I was cooking up in another pan. 

I won’t include the recipe here – Suzie Lee has a book to sell, after all – but I will just say that it came together in no time, despite some timing errors from yours truly. Also, before the dish came together I was confident that I had boiled too many noodles, but not so! The finished product had plenty of room for as many noodles as I could mix into the pan.

And about that finished product: It was a beautiful symphony of interesting flavors, from the curry powder to the chili powder to the garlic and soy sauce and even the scallions I garnished the dish with. And the flavors! They sang in concert with one another in such an unexpected way. I rarely cook with curry powder, for instance, outside of Indian cuisine, but it’s right at home in this dish. Paired with the mildness of the noodles and the sturdiness of the vegetables – and, yes, the slightly sweet glaze I’d made for my accompanying tofu – it was a lesson in culinary coordination. 

LeeLee and I each ate two helpings and were delighted to find we had plenty for lunch the next day.

“Is this a recipe you’d like me to make again?” I asked.

“Yes!” was his resounding reply.

And with that, our first resolution recipe is in the books – literally. Seriously, go pick up Simply Chinese at once!

:)

Five Frugal Things.

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Happy new year, friends! I hope your holiday season was terrific and that 2025 is off to a wonderful start. While things have been busy around here, we’ve still found ways to stay frugal. Here’s what’s been cooking!

1. I got 80 cents off per gallon of gas at my local Exxon!
Our neighborhood Exxon gas station has a deal with Safeway where if you enter your Safeway card number at the gas pump, it will lower your gas price to a certain amount based on how much you’ve spent. Well, in these rather inflationary times I must be racking up the bills, because the next thing I knew the pump was asking, “Price lowered $0.80 per gallon – Y/N?” Reader, I said Y! DO please lower my price, if you don’t mind. As I was virtually on fumes, I got my money’s worth.

2. We’ve got leftovers all over the place. All. Over the place.
Last week, we dutifully worked our way through our Chinese Christmas feast, and this week we’ve had a bounty of New Year’s-adjacent meals to enjoy day after day. First up: Chik’n gumbo on Dec. 30 (which LeeLee just finished for lunch today). Then mushroom tetrazzini on New Year’s Eve (which I finished for lunch today while LeeLee worked on the gumbo!). Then Hoppin’ John and cornbread for New Year’s Day (which we’ll finish for dinner tomorrow night). And then just tonight I made my first New Year’s Resolution recipe, which I’ll tell you all about nxt week! It, too, has yielded copious leftovers, which we’ll attack this weekend. And I haven’t even mentioned the leftover veggie-sausage-egg casserole, which I made for New Year’s Day brunch. Plenty of that, too!

3. I used already-purchased ingredients for my New Year’s Eve feast.
Now, sadly I didn’t have everything I needed for our NYE mushroom tetrazzini, but I did have quite a few ingredients already on hand (veggie broth, chik’n strips and spaghetti noodles, just to name a few), and that definitely helped me defray some costs. I also had bread crumbs on hand but completely forgot to use them on the final dish! I blame the pre-dinner martini. ;)

4. I paused my Huel subscription, saving about $70 a month.
For a long time I’ve been a proponent of Huel, a vegan meal plan that’s packed with protein and great for easy lunches. It was a staple of my weekday lunch program for months. For the past couple of months I’ve rescheduled my subscription since we’ve been so busy over the holidays, but I was getting tired of having to keep up with it and remembering to move the delivery date back another month at a time. So this month I went in and paused it so I won’t lose track. Until I “un-pause” it, I won’t have to deal with rescheduling it or paying a dime. I’m sure I’ll to back to it, but it’s nice to have one more thing off my plate (so to speak)!

5. I spent time this week mapping out my 2025 financial goals – and what it will take to get there.
Granted, this isn’t bearing frugal fruit today, but if I stick to my plan I know it will this year. Like any house, our financial house has some rooms that are company-ready and some that are out of order! My goal this year is to shore up those less-company-ready rooms and keep the better-looking areas humming along. This will require an increased savings rate as well as more aggressive debt paydown of our auto loans, but plans are taking shape for us to make it a reality. I’m strangely looking forward to it!

What do you have on your frugal docket this week – and for the new year? Let’s hear it in the comments!

:)

In Preparation for the New Year.

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We took a little pre-Christmas and post-LeeLee’s-birthday jaunt to New York City a week or so ago, and it was there amid the cookbooks in one of our favorite bookstores (Kinokuniya on Sixth Avenue) that I had a Revelation.

There I stood, trying to convince myself that I did not in fact need a new cookbook, reminding myself that I have dozens of cookbooks at home, many of which have barely been used. And then it hit me: What if I made one new-to-me cookbook recipe per week for all of 2025?

Friends, the thought hit me like a lightning bolt. YES! YES! I knew immediately I had to do it.

The thought is still with me several days later, which means now it’s a real thing. And so on the train home I began to come up with some rules of engagement. See how this suits you.

Hope’s One-New-Recipe-Per-Week Resolution for 2025:

1. Select one suitable recipe per week, from a cookbook I already own.

2. This recipe must not have been made by me in the past, no matter how long ago or how poorly the initial attempt.

3. Any unused recipe will do. Sometimes that may be a full entree, other times a side or beverage or salad, etc.

4. If I miss a week, I’m not going to stress out.

In typical Type A fashion, I am already trying to plot the first few weeks! How will I choose the cookbook? The recipe? Will it be calculated, or luck of the draw? Time will tell. But I’ll be sure to keep you posted throughout the process – with the good, the bad AND the ugly!

Do you have any food-related resolutions you’re cooking up (so to speak)? Let us know in the comments!

:)

Five Frugal Things.

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From travel savings to apparel discounts to leftovers (of course!), it was a surprisingly frugal week!

1. We used some Uber gift cards for our trip to the train station last week.
LeeLee and I took a little pre-Christmas trip to New York City – just a three-hour train ride away from us – and while NYC is never a cheap trip, we always manage to cut expenses where we can. In this case, we were able to take a free-to-us Uber ride to the train station on our way out of town thanks to some leftovers from Uber gift cards wonderful friends had sent us after LeeLee’s surgery a couple of months ago. We’d used the initial portion for meals, but the overage gave us a free trip! I’m sure our friends won’t mind. :) 

2. Speaking of New York: LeeLee got a winter jacket on deep discount.
As part of LeeLee’s birthday present, I offered to buy him a new jacket, which he’d been wanting for a while. What better place to spend a few hours shopping than Macy’s on 34th Street? This ended up being cheap entertainment, honestly, as we enjoyed playing on the wooden escalators and wandering the floors. But finally LeeLee found a new jacket to replace his 20-year-old (!) go-to. I must admit I bit my lip a bit when I saw it was a $250 Tommy Hilfiger model, but my sadness turned to joy when we realized it was hanging on a sale rack for $74.99! If he can get another 20 years of use out of it, we’ll all be winners.

3. Our gas bill was lower this month compared with a year ago!
Just when I thought I’d been overusing the furnace this month, a happy surprise: Our gas bill is indeed lower this December than last. I don’t intend to take a victory lap about this – we need to cut where we can! But I am thrilled nevertheless.

4. We canceled our Apple TV subscription (again).
I could have been more frugal in the first place on this, I’ll admit: We only had Apple TV so we could watch the Peanuts episodes over the holidays. Apparently there is a free weekend to view each of the three big Charlie Brown shows, but I managed to miss the first two, so we’ve been paying for Apple TV since just before Halloween. But that ends today – or, more accurately, on Dec. 31, when our subscription lapses.

5. We are deep in the heart of the Leftover Revolution this week!
From veggie enchiladas on Christmas Eve to a Christmas Day feast of Chinese food, we’ve got more leftovers than we know what to do with! Actually, we know just what to do with them: Eat them! For the rest of this week and well into the weekend, we’ll be feasting on leftovers and feeling so happy about our lot in life.

What frugal finds have you had this week? Let us know in the comments!

:)

Five Frugal Things.

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Free food turned out to be a bit of a theme for this week’s frugal living! Here’s what we’ve been up to …

1. We proudly used a gift card to help celebrate LeeLee’s birthday.
LeeLee turned the big 5-0 (!) last weekend, and we enjoyed several days of festivities to commemorate this blessed event. We kicked off the weekend having dinner with a couple of friends at one of LeeLee’s favorite restaurants, Landini Brothers, before going to see “A Christmas Carol” (which they had also purchased tickets to in a happy turn of events!). I was happy to treat everyone in order to toast my beloved spouse, of course, but we did have this $50 gift card to Landini that we’d received awhile back as a thank-you … so … I added it to the check folder along with my debit card. I’m tempted to add “and nobody was any the wiser” to the end of that sentence, but that would be a lie – I told everyone at the table, as we all do love a good deal!

2. We brought home some leftover gourmet cake from a holiday party.
In keeping with the birthday theme, we enjoyed a slice of Yule log AND a slice of red velvet cake on the big day itself thanks to our attendance at our neighbors’ holiday party the night before. They always buy soooo much food, and as the evening wound down our hostess insisted we take a couple of slices of cake home. We protested meekly but then acceded to her request – and I’m so glad we did! 

3. I scored a (nearly) free pizza with a gift card.
Our team at work had its virtual holiday pizza party this week, and as a result $25 gift cards were sent out to all of us. I converted mine to a Papa John’s card and ordered a large pizza with a passel of veggies, which fed LeeLee and me for two meals. If not for the delivery, the pizza would have been free, but alas delivery put me just over the card’s value. Between that and the tip, I paid a grand total of $9.52 – still a great savings!

4. A bag of coffee found its way to us via Rotation.
Our friend Denise – who, you might recall, is my partner in crime when it comes to Rotation – dropped off a bag of Colombian coffee that didn’t suit her, and LeeLee had it in the coffeemaker within literally 24 hours! It suits him just fine and will go to great use.

5. My library book habit has been plentiful.
I do sometimes wonder how much money I’ve saved in a year by using the library as faithfully as I do. As I type this now, I’m too lazy to do the calculation, but I know we’re in the hundreds of dollars at the very least. Right now I’ve got a new-to-me Jenny Colgan Christmas story (“Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop”) that I’m devouring to keep me in the holiday spirit! Got any new recommendations for me?

What sorts of frugal things have you been up to lately? Let us know in the comments!

:) 

5 Christmas Breakfast Ideas to Make the Morning Fun (and Festive!).

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Longtime readers of these pages will know what a sucker I am for breakfast and/or brunch. Whether we’re in the early morning hours or noon on a Sunday or even on a harried weeknight when breakfast for dinner beckons, I’m always game for the most important meal of the day! And when Christmas Day rolls around, I’ve got to admit, I love a hearty meal to get the day started.

That’s a family tradition for me: As a child, I have very distinct memories of my grandmother bustling around the kitchen, making sure her sausage-egg casserole was baking up to par and reminding my grandfather to put another pot of coffee on to perk. Casserole, grits, all the fixings – she did it up right, and I’ve never forgotten this.

All of my grandparents have departed now, celebrating the holidays in the Great Beyond instead. But I can – and do – keep their memories alive through our family traditions!

Some of these recipes would be right at home on the family table of my childhood. Some of them might give my grandparents – solid meat-eaters, all – a bit of pause, or at least a look of bemusement. But I like to think I’d win them over at first bite. After all, I learned from the best!

1. Sausage-Egg Breakfast Casserole.
Now, this is a recipe my grandparents would recognize! I’ve taken my grandmother’s traditional recipe and veggie-cized it, swapping vegetarian sausage, Violife cheddar and Just Egg for the original versions. The final result is so much like what I remember growing up, it would have been perfectly at home on our family’s Christmas breakfast buffet all those years ago! Each year, LeeLee and I look so forward to this casserole – we typically only have it around Christmas or New Year’s Day – and each year, its savory flavors sing. And the best part on a busy Christmas morn? We can make it ahead of time! Win-win!

2. Tofu Rancheros.
Move over, huevos rancheros – your tofu cousins are here to stay! My famous tofu scramble recipe is the star of the show in this dish, which comes together in a snap and is super-easy to make. Double the scramble recipe and feed a crowd – you’re limited only by your tortilla supply!

3. Sausage and Egg Breakfast Sandwiches.
Admittedly, you’ll get the best use out of this recipe if Santa brought you one of those little Hamilton-Beach breakfast sandwich makers, which is a true workhorse in our tiny kitchen! Just Egg and the veggie-sausage (or bacon!) of your choice fuse wonderfully in this sandwich, which takes less than 10 minutes to make and is the perfect way to kick off a Christmas morn. 

4. Perfect Plant-Based Protein Shake.
Maybe your holiday festivities start later in the day, complete with a Christmas lunch or dinner. You’ll still want a little something to fortify yourself before the day gets moving! My plant-based protein shake is guaranteed to hit the spot. It’s a go-to in our house for regular days and holidays alike, and will ensure you’re satiated enough to NOT mow down the entire bowl of Aunt Suzanne’s Chex Mix when you first come into the house for a holiday luncheon. 

5. Moscato Mimosas. 
Oh, come now, you didn’t really think I’d offer all food and no festive cocktail, did you? This moscato mimosa came about by a happy experiment, and it’s become a celebratory staple. Pull out your champagne or wine glasses and get to toasting!

What are some of your favorite holiday recipes or traditions? Let’s hear about it in the comments!

:)