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The Kitchen Recessionista

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

Vegan Chik’n Gumbo.

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gumbo

Oh, gumbo. My dear beloved gumbo. It’s always a taste of home!

I’ve had chik’n gumbo on my menu plan all week long, but up till tonight there was one component missing: Okra! Now, you can’t have gumbo without okra, so I knew our meal was on hold until I could procure it. Tonight, Harris Teeter came through for me (after Whole Foods, Safeway, and Trader Joe’s let me down throughout the week), and dinner was ON.

I used the recipe I’ve had in my arsenal for ages – the one my mama taught me when I was very young – and as usual, it didn’t let me down tonight. As LeeLee was running a bit late tonight, the gumbo had longer to cook than it usually does, and that only enhanced the flavors. So I’m sorry he got caught in traffic, but the gumbo was all the better for it (even if LeeLee’s blood pressure was not).

We each enjoyed two helpings over white rice and still have plenty for leftovers tomorrow! Without rice, it becomes a bit of a soup, but we’re fine with that too. There’s just nothing to dislike about this dish, after all!

:)

Seitan Pot Pie With Vegan Mac and Cheese.

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seitan-pot-pie

I can’t remember the last time I had a pot pie! (In fact, the blog’s handy-dandy search feature shows it’s been more than a year since I last blogged about pot pie, and honestly, I’m not sure we’ve had it between then and now!) That’s a shame, I should add, because we both adore this meal so much. It’s such a comforting, comfortable meal that doesn’t take but a minute to whip up, and it always leaves a bevy of leftovers in its wake. What more could we ask for?

Now, in the past, I know I’ve mentioned some of my … unorthodox, shall we say, pie crust attempts. Back in college, I simply took two pie-plate pie crusts, removed one of them from the plate, and put it atop the pot pie. (This was before I knew there was a difference between pie-plate crusts and roll-out crusts.) Tonight, I pulled two roll-out doughs from the fridge and immediately gasped. I’d forgotten to defrost them before going to work!

Hmm.

After pondering my options (1. Wait two hours for the dough to defrost, or 2. Take action to help it along) I elected to choose Door No. 2 and placed both doughs into a plastic bag and ran the bag under the hot water for about 5 minutes. Then I pulled them both out of the dough and, well, let ’er rip. And the dough did in fact rip as advertised. Because it was not thawed properly. Because it had been 10 minutes since I took them from the freezer.

Hmm.

Undeterred, I simply arranged the strips in the bottom of the pie plate, added my fillings – tonight, those fillings consisted of a package of seitan, two cans of mixed vegetables, mushroom gravy, dried minced onion, garlic powder, basil, salt, and pepper – and arranged the strips of the second pie dough atop the fillings. No need to vent the pie tonight – it was plenty vented!

I put it in the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes, turning the pie plate 180 degrees halfway through. While it cooked, I whipped up a batch of Earth Balance vegan mac and cheese for an extra dose of comfort food! And by the time the pot pie was ready, so was the mac and cheese, and so were LeeLee and I.

So the pie looked a little rustic. It tasted wonderful! The vegetables and seitan were perfectly at home with the gravy and spices, and the pie crust was flaky and gloriously buttery. And the mac and cheese were a great addition to the meal.

Finally, as advertised, we have plenty left over for lunch tomorrow! I’ve already transitioned the pie to two separate containers in anticipation.

:)

Crock-Pot Monday: Vegan Chik’n Tikka Masala.

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vegan-tikka-masala

“Does the house smell like an Indian restaurant yet?” I asked LeeLee, who was working at home, when I called around 2 o’clock this afternoon.

“YES!” he exclaimed. And that was good enough for me.

He spoke the truth. I verified this when I got home from work-plus-animal-shelter tonight and was immediately hit with all the wonderful aromas that garam masala brings to the table (so to speak). Yes, friends, tonight our Crock-Pot went international with a recipe for chik’n tikka masala I found over at The Kitchn. (Now, granted, the original recipe is for real chicken, but y’all know I’m no stranger to vegifying things!)

Putting everything in the slow cooker this morning took no time at all – within 10 minutes or so, the Crock-Pot was humming nicely on Low and I was dashing off to work! At lunch, I picked up some naan bread and some basmati rice, because when you’re going to enjoy an Indian meal for dinner, there’s no point in phoning it in. So when I got home from the animal shelter (it was a cat-petting night), I put the rice in the rice cooker and preheated the oven, then added some coconut milk to the slow cooker. Within half an hour, both the rice and the naan had finished their cooking process, and we were ready to eat!

I’ve never been great at cooking Thai or Indian meals – the complexity of their spices always seems to be just out of my reach. But this one hit the spot! Both LeeLee and I marveled at how authentic it tasted. So I may have finally gotten the hang of how to properly spice up these dishes, but only time will tell!

In the meantime, we’ll continue to enjoy the fruits of today’s labor – we’ve got plenty for leftovers tomorrow! I’m looking forward to it already.

:)

Sunday Cookout: Smoked Barbecue Seitan With Acorn Squash and Steamed Cabbage.

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bbq-seitan

Iiiiiiit’s Smoker Season!

This afternoon, I fired up the smoker for the first time this autumn and, as I do each year, had to spend a good deal of time cajoling the charcoals to light up. I don’t know why this happens the first time I use the smoker each year, but it does: I arrange the coals just so, then douse them with lighter fluid, then light them up and the coals catch right away and I rejoice. And then in a moment, the coals die down to nothing and the smoker gets cold. I mutter some unkind words under my breath, add some more fluid, light again, and repeat about two more times. Then it lights and I don’t have another problem for the rest of the season. So, that’s done now.

In preparation for tonight’s BBQ extravaganza, I marinated some seitan this morning with a Good (as opposed to regular) barbecue sauce from Bigg Riggs Farm, coating the seitan in a zip-top bag and letting it marinate in the fridge for the better part of the day. Knowing what was to come later, I also soaked a hickory plank all afternoon in a shallow baking pan full of water.

Later in the afternoon, as the coals were heating up (for real this time, as opposed to the false starts prior), I pulled out an acorn squash and sliced it down the middle, scooped out the seeds, sprayed both cut sides with cooking spray and wrapped them both in foil, poking a few holes to allow the smoke to seep in.

Once the smoker was nice and hot, I placed the squash on the lower grill grate and then added the second grate on top. Then I placed the hickory plank – now with the BBQ seitan arranged on top – on the second grate, closed the lid, and let ’er rip for the better part of two hours, keeping an eye on the temperature at first because, again, the smoker and sometimes have little fights.

This time, however, we were harmonious, and before I knew it, it was time to cook the cabbage! I sliced a small cabbage (also from Bigg Riggs, now that I think of it) and placed the leaves in my trusty French oven along with two pats of Earth Balance butter and plenty of seasoning: Garlic powder, salt, pepper, and nutritional yeast all made an appearance. Then I set the heat to Low, put the lid on, and let the cabbage steam for half an hour or so, stirring every so often and adding a little more spice halfway through. By the time the smoker foods were ready, so was the cabbage!

I could smell the hickory before I’d even made my way out to the smoker, so I knew tonight’s barbecue was going to be good. And let me tell you, it most certainly was. The wooden planks are a revelation to me in terms of the smoker, and without giving too much away I can assure you that you’ll be seeing quite a lot of them in the months to come!

“I think this barbecue could fool meat-eaters,” LeeLee said over dinner, as we both chowed down on our seitan stuffed between two slices of wild-rice bread. And he’s precisely right. Never have I enjoyed such a meaty barbecue in all my years as a vegetarian! The long marination process coupled with two hours on a hickory plank in the smoker led to a wonderful, wonderful final product – and no leftovers. Always a great sign!

:)

Crock-Pot Thursday: Vegetarian White Chik’n Chili.

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I’ve missed my beloved Crock-Pot this week! I ask you, what better to come home to than a home-cooked meal that’s ready on the spot?

This morning, after I got up and got moving, I put together a white chik’n chili (adapted largely from this Kitchn recipe) in the slow cooker. It took all of 10 minutes to prepare – and that was before I had any coffee! – and oh, what a relief it was to come home to this evening. I know I’ve mentioned several times this week that we’ve had a hectic few days at the office, and today was no different. So by the time I got home tonight, I wanted nothing more than a hot meal with minimal muss and fuss.

This was the first time we’d tried this particular recipe, and LeeLee and I are both smitten! What started this morning as a brothy affair had morphed into an almost-creamy chili by nightfall. I didn’t hold any of the ingredients back to the last half-hour, as the recipe above recommends you do, and I had no ill effects from it. The cannellini beans had broken down a bit, but to me that just added to the tastiness of the dish! And the diced green chilies added a wonderful smoky spice that really brought the chili to the next level.

We served this chili with some shredded cheese (you could certainly use vegan versions) and some tortilla chips for dipping (and a little crunch). Neither addition hurt the main course at all, I can assure you.

We’ll certainly give this meal a spot in the wintertime rotation! It’s a meal that you can go back to again and again.

:)

Taco Salad.

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The first part of this week has been hectic – I dare say even more hectic than usual! Between a company retreat on my part to several late-night meetings on LeeLee’s, we’ve been running around like crazy. So tonight, while I knew I wanted to eat at home, I also knew I wanted something healthy and easy to make. Taco salad definitely fit the bill.

When I got home, I pulled a can of refried beans out of the pantry and opened it to heat atop the stove (in a pot, you know, not in the can!). As it warmed up, I put a bag of vegetarian ground “beef” into a nonstick skillet coated with spray and seasoned the crumbles with adobo seasoning and a bit of ground cumin for fun, then heated it on Medium. Finally, I’ve had a package of taco-shell bowls waiting in the cabinet for just such an occasion, so I got them down and heated two up in the oven for 5 minutes or so until they were golden.

And that, dear friends, was the hard part.

Once everything was heated and cooked, it was time to assemble the salads! I put each bowl atop a separate plate, then added refried beans, then crumbles, then lettuce, and cherry tomatoes, and pickled jalapeno slices, and just a smidge of cheddar cheese left over from the weekend. Next we added our favorite salad dressings – ranch for me tonight, a balsamic vinaigrette for LeeLee – and a bit of nutritional yeast for me, and we were ready to dive right in!

I must admit, there were no leftovers tonight, save for some extra lettuce leaves and two remaining taco bowls. We both came to dinner hungry and mowed down our helpings with gusto and aplomb. What wasn’t to love? The refried beans were almost creamy, they were so smooth; the taco “meat” had just enough of a kick to be interesting. And who doesn’t love tearing apart the sides of one’s taco bowl? It was a fitting meal for a busy day.

:)

Sunday Cookout: Veggie Dogs With Purple Beans and Butternut Squash.

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Well, friends, it’s official: The end of Charcoal Grill Season is nigh. It’s highly likely that tonight marked the end of the season for Ol’ Red, our trusty red grill, and next week will dawn the Wintertime Smoker Era. There’s always a chance of a last-minute reprieve, but as it stands now, the smoker is waiting in the wings for its turn in the spotlight. And so turns another revolution around the sun, I suppose!

So we went out tonight with a bang, bringing some of our favorite grillables – veggie dogs, and string beans – to the table, along with some roasted butternut squash that was cooked indoors. Since green beans are out of season presently, I snagged some beautiful purple beans from the Bigg Riggs farm stand at the market last weekend, and we were incredibly excited to give them a try!

Once I prepped the veggies – peeling and cubing the butternut squash and slicing the ends off the string beans – it was time to fire up the grill. We had to do this a bit early today since darkness began to fall at 5 p.m., but we got the job done with time to spare (even though LeeLee was unable to read his newspaper outside by the time the grill had heated up!).

When I put the grill pan full of string beans on the hottest part of the grill, I also flipped the oven on, intending for both the squash and beans to cook for half an hour. Then LeeLee and I retreated inside and waited for a bit of progress to be made on the vegetable front before putting the veggie dogs on! We waited 15 minutes before venturing back out, flashlight in hand, to add the veggie dogs to the grate, and then turned them every 2 minutes or so until they were toasty brown. Then we removed them, added the buns for a couple of minutes on each side, and took them up as well.

By that point, I could hear the beans bubbling in their foil pan, so I brought them inside as well and then, finally, pulled the squash out of the oven. Success! Everything was fully cooked and tender to the taste. I’d dusted the squash with cinnamon-and-cherry-pepper seasoning, plus a little chipotle powder for some smoke, and tossed the whole shebang by hand with some olive oil. The spice and sweet mingled perfectly!

The purple beans turned green again while cooking, but maintained a darker hue than the summertime variety. They were just as tasty, too, and LeeLee and I made light work of them! We also mowed down our share of veggie dogs, though LeeLee has a few left over for lunch (and perhaps breakfast) tomorrow and Tuesday. I’ll leave them for him, knowing how much he adores them! (And between us, I’ve got some quiche that could stand to be eaten. Hee!)

So I think it’s safe to say that we brought Grilling Season to a close with much success and fanfare. Here’s to the dawn of Smoker Season!

:)