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The Kitchen Recessionista

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

Crock-Pot Thursday: Vegetarian Sausage-Corn Chowder.

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veg-sausage-corn-chowder

After a one-night break, we’re back on the Potato Train tonight – five more potatoes sliced and diced! Only about 43 pounds left. No problem!

And we enjoyed every last morsel of tonight’s potato extravaganza, munching on spuds as we worked through a slow cooker full of vegetarian sausage-corn chowder. I knew tonight was going to be an animal-shelter night, so this morning before work I put two cans of corn (one kernel, one creamed), a diced onion, five diced potatoes, a package of sliced veggie sausage, basil, salt, pepper, and two cups of water into my trusty Crock-Pot, flicked the switch to Low, and left for the day. By the time I got home from petting kittycats, dinner was ready! All I had to do was add a can of evaporated milk to the crockery, let everything warm up for 5 minutes or so, and ladle it up.

This chowder is a family favorite here at Chez Recessionista, and you know the autumn is well on its way when I start bringing it back out on a regular basis! Even though the temperatures still hit the 80s during the daytime, the morning and evening hours are so crisp and cool that you just know fall is right around the corner, right in time for the equinox.

I don’t mind telling you that we each enjoyed two hearty helpings of chowder tonight and rejoiced when we realized we had plenty left over for lunch tomorrow! Potatoes, veggie sausage, corn, a creamy broth – what’s not to love? I’m just thankful there’s enough for the both of us.

:)

Spaghetti and Vegan Meatballs.

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spaghetti-vegan-meatballs

We took a break from our potato adventures tonight and enjoyed an old favorite – spaghetti and vegan meatballs! Admittedly, I cheated and used a jar of pasta sauce to accompany the meal tonight, because I had no fresh canned tomato sauce available and, well, it’s Wednesday night and time was short. But I did dress the sauce up with some sliced mushrooms, and that’s half the battle!

When I got home from work, I put a pot of water on to boil and, once it was rolling along nicely, added a box of spaghetti. As the pasta cooked, I heated up the sauce (and mushrooms!) and then got to work on the meatballs themselves. I took a tube of Lightlife Gimme Lean sausage (usually we use the beef style, but sometimes I like to shake things up!), sliced it into rounds, and then formed each round into a meatball with my own two hands. Next, I added a couple of tablespoons of olive oil into a pan, flicked the heat to Medium, and began to brown the meatballs, flipping them every couple of minutes.

Everything came together in a snap, and before long we were spooning heaping helpings of pasta onto our plates and chowing down! Normally, we eat at the dining room table, but tonight we plunked down in front of the television to watch an evening of debates – good, cheap fun if you ask me, no matter what your party affiliation! (I’d say good clean fun, but they were sure going after each other this evening.)

Though the television viewing was fraught with on-screen drama, our meals were delicious and drama-free! Spaghetti and meatballs is one of LeeLee’s favorite dishes, and I’m a pretty big fan myself. So it’s no surprise when we both went back for a second (small!) helping! And it’s no surprise that we’ll be debating against one another tomorrow, when lunch plans roll around. Hello, leftovers!

:)

Vegan Potato Soup.

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vegan-potato-soup

As I may have mentioned yesterday, we are enjoying the fruits of our potato-picking excursion and currently have about 45 pounds of spuds lounging about the house. This week, I’ve decided to make a dent in the collection by selecting some potato-friendly recipes for our dinnertime meals. On tonight’s docket: Vegan potato soup!

Now, I’ve made this recipe time and again, and it never disappoints. Tonight, I washed and diced about six potatoes – and in the interest of time and/or laziness, I left the skins on, because why not – and placed them in my trusty Le Creuset along with a diced onion and plenty of salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I covered the potatoes with water and set the pot to a boil, then bringing the heat down to Medium once things got rolling.

After about 25 minutes or so, the potatoes were wonderfully soft and the onions were tender, and I knew it was time to drain some of the water off and get my masher out! So I did just that, leaving a smidge of water in the bottom of the pot, and then mashed the heck out of the potatoes, breaking them apart but also leaving some larger bits intact. Then I added several cups of almond milk, stirred everything around to blend, and heated the pot up again for about 3 minutes on Low, just so the almond milk would be nice and warm.

Get the ladle out – time to eat!

We topped our soup with vegan bacon bits (did you know Bacos are vegan? Get thee to the salad-topping aisle!) and I added some nutritional yeast, as one does. Then we dug straight in and mowed down two bowls apiece, also as one does. The comfort that emanates from this meal – always a favorite growing up and still a favorite today – is simply indescribable. No matter what the day throws at you (and, since we’re on the topic, today threw a parking ticket at me for “misuse of meter,” which I didn’t even know was a law on the books, but there you have it), potato soup takes the edge off. It certainly has tonight!

And perhaps it will take the edge off for one of us tomorrow, as well; there’s enough left for somebody’s lunch!

:)

Vegan Fish and Chips.

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vegan-fish-and-chips

I’m not sure if I’ve been super-overt about this as of late, but we’ve got a lot of potatoes at the moment. As in, 45 pounds of potatoes in our house at this very time. Potato-picking at Great Country Farms took place a couple-three weekends ago, and you all know what happens when LeeLee and I venture out into the potato patch with a couple of canvas bags! Now we’ve got spuds everywhere: On the kitchen table, atop the vegetable bowl, and in multiple paper bags in a quiet, cool cabinet in the kitchen. It’s Potato City right now, and we are the mayors.

So naturally, vegan fish and chips had to come to the surface at one time or another. (And you ain’t seen nothing yet.)

The cooking was wonderfully simple – a welcome reprieve on a busy Monday! And the results were great. First, I sliced two of our larger potatoes into wedges, first lengthwise, then crosswise. Then I placed them into a shallow-sided baking sheet and added a tablespoon or two of vegetable oil, then plenty of salt, pepper, onion powder, and chili powder. I tossed everything together with my hands (it reminds me of finger-painting!) and then ensured the potatoes were laid out in one single layer. Then I popped them into the oven at 450 degrees for 45 minutes, pulling them out after 25 minutes to flip them around.

At the 25-minute mark, I also added a baking sheet of Gardein vegan fish to the oven and cooked them for 20 minutes in total, flipping them over after 10. Once the potatoes and fish were both baking, I opened a can of peas and heated them up on the stovetop for 20 minutes or so, sprinkling the pot with some black pepper for fun.

Dingaling! The oven timer chimed, I pulled the peas off the stove, and we brought our plates into the kitchen, piling them high with potatoes and peas and of course the vegan fish. We even made our favorite cocktail sauce as a dipper on the side, blending ketchup and Just Mayo together for a perennial pairing.

And what a wonderful balance this turned out to be! Maybe it’s because we went without anything remotely fishy for so long, but we can’t get enough of these Gardein fish, and tonight was no different. They matched the chips so well, too – the potato wedges were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with plenty of spice but not showy. And the peas, those creamy English peas, go well for any occasion. They’re like a good set of pearls that way.

So with that, two more potatoes have been dispatched! Half a pound down, 44.5 to go! Getting there will definitely be half the fun.

OVEN-BAKED POTATO WEDGES
Serves 2-4

What you’ll need:

2 large potatoes, washed, with skins on if you like (we do)
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. chili powder

Preheat oven to 450.

Slice the potatoes into wedges, first lengthwise, then crosswise, and place the wedges on a baking sheet (preferably one with shallow sides). Next add the remaining ingredients and mix everything together by hand.

Bake at 450 for 45 minutes, turning the wedges with a spatula halfway through. Enjoy!

:)

Sunday Cookout: Vegan Steak and Potatoes With Veggie Medley.

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beef-potatoes-medley

Tonight’s cookout was an all-foil-packet affair, and we were the better for it! Who can resist a meal cooked fully on the grill, each component nestled safely within the confines of a packet of goodness? Not I.

An interesting note about this evening’s meal: Everything except for the veggie-meat items came from our CSA, Great Country Farms. The potatoes, in fact, were hand-picked by yours truly (and LeeLee!). You can’t get more locally sourced than that!

Anyway, once the coals were piping-hot, I got to work. First on the grill – three small packages of diced potatoes, about one potato in each. To help your potatoes cook in a more timely fashion, it’s best to grill them in smaller batches, rather than in one big uber-packet, which is my normal way. I’d known this – or at least suspected it – for some time, but tonight proved it to be the case. Split the potatoes up in multiple packets and they’ll cook in a snap!

Next, I diced a huge zucchini and placed the wedges in another foil packet, adding in a diced bell pepper, about a dozen yellow cherry tomatoes, some salt, pepper, vegan butter, and … veggie bacon. Because why not?

And finally, I poured the contents of a bag of Gardein beef tips into yet another foil packet, sealed it up, and placed it on the plate with the rest of the meal. Then I added everything onto the grill at once and cooked it all for about 35 minutes, turning each packet over every 10 minutes or so.

Great news! Each component to the dish turned out perfectly cooked. The potatoes were soft and tender, the veggie medley was bursting with flavor, and the beef tips were as good as ever. We polished off the beef and veggies with masterful aplomb, and there’s only a smidgen of the potatoes left – which will be just perfect for a lunch side tomorrow.

We lingered outside for quite some time tonight – the weather has mellowed to the mid-70s and is positively delightful. I’m looking forward to an autumn filled with lots of cookouts!

:)

Crock-Pot Thursday: Vegan Taco Soup.

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tacoooo-soup

All right, all right, today it’s been made perfectly clear: Autumn is coming, y’all. Today started out hot and humid here in the DC area and has ended up with just a touch of crisp and cool air blowing in. Autumn is COMING! It’s about time to bust out the pumpkin plates.

But first: A Crock-Pot full of our favorite taco soup will ease the way from season to season quite nicely. Topped with a few tortilla chips, it’s the perfectly complete and filling meal for any time of the year!

I’ve gone on and on about taco soup (I even filmed a Tiny Kitchen video about it!) for years, I recognize. My friend Jessica gave me this recipe eons ago, and I’ve tweaked it and customized and made it my own as the years have gone by. It’s easily become one of our favorite meals here at Chez Recessionista, and it makes leftovers that can last for days. What’s not to love?

So tonight, I breathed a sigh of relief when I arrived home to find the soup cooking merrily away in the slow cooker, the house fragrant with the smells of diced tomatoes and Mexican spices. The 10 minutes it took to put everything together was certainly worth the final result of not having to whip up a full meal after a long day at work and at the animal shelter afterward!

Over Labor Day weekend, I resisted the onslaught of autumn, I admit. But now I think I’m ready for the changing of the season. Summer’s been a blast. But fall has some wonderful characteristics, too. Apple-picking, college football, long-sleeved shirts – these are a few of my favorite things. And if taco soup can stay in the mix, I think we’ll be OK.

:)

Tomato-Basil Quiche.

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tomato-basil-quiche

Tonight was supposed to be a Crock-Pot night, but to be perfectly honest I just couldn’t get my act together this morning in time to put together the soup I’d planned to make! (Not to worry – it’ll keep for later this week.) So tonight, as I drove home from enjoying coffee with a friend, I rang up LeeLee, who was working at home.

“Would you reach into the freezer and pull out what looks like a foil-wrapped pie in a plastic bag?” I asked.

LeeLee’s always up for an adventure. “Sure. What is it?”

“Quiche!”

So as I made the half-hour trek home, LeeLee put the quiche in the oven (sans foil and plastic bag) at 375 and let it bake until I arrived. I put together a quick salad after entering the scene and just like that, dinner was ready!

I’ve made this quiche recipe dozens of times, and it never fails. The most beautiful thing about it is precisely what we experienced tonight – it makes enough for two quiches, which means we can eat one and freeze the other! As it happens, I made this particular quiche just a week or so ago (but neglected to blog about it – shame on me!) and froze it while we ate the other one. I knew it wouldn’t be long until we called it into service, and tonight was just the night!

We used fresh tomatoes in these quiches rather than canned, and lots of fresh basil from the backyard garden. Such are the benefits of the summertime bounty! And our side salad consisted of lettuce from yesterday’s fajita fixins, plus some cherry tomatoes from our friends at Great Country Farms, and an avocado from … the grocery store. Ah, well.

This quiche held up just beautifully after a stint in the freezer, and the salad was the perfect accompaniment. It’s nights like tonight that I am SO glad we’ve got these little dinnertime hacks hanging around – the meal was a snap and was ready in a jiffy! Now, all that’s left is to replace the quiche in the freezer with another of its ilk. All in due time!

:)

Weekend Cookouts: Fajitas and Veggie Dogs (on Two Different Nights).

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veggie-fajitas

Happy Labor Day, friends!

LeeLee and I have spent the weekend primarily relaxing (with a bit of labor here and there, but not much), whether said relaxation was fueled by a Florida State football win, or a shopping spree at our local Goodwill, or padding around the back yard cooking out.

We did the latter twice this weekend! Yesterday, I whipped up some veggie dogs accompanied by some panko-crusted zucchini and baked beans:

veggie-dog-panko-zucchini

And tonight we enjoyed some hearty vegetable fajitas (supplemented with some leftover vegetables, veggie patties, and chik’n strips from Saturday night’s pregame pizza party – photos of which are noticeably absent because I was so busy entertaining, I neglected to tae pictures!) and yellow rice.

We had so much in the way of fajita fillings that it took two – count ’em, two! – grill pans to cook everything.

fajita-fixins

I can think of worse problems. And to add to our victory lap, we’ve now got both veggie dogs and fajita fixins left over for lunch this week! Makes returning to labor tomorrow just a little bit easier.

:)