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The Kitchen Recessionista

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

On the Road Again: Peanut-Butter and Banana Sandwiches.

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As I mentioned on Tuesday, my dad and I are traveling around Alaska this week to enjoy some national parks (and some time together). And as soon as we pulled the car into Anchorage to start our adventure, we set our sights on the nearest Fred Meyer – our old friend every time we visit the West! – and picked up provisions for the week. At the top of our list: A loaf of bread, a container of peanut butter, and a bunch of bananas.

PB&B sandwiches are a mainstay of our travel diet each and every year we travel together, and I wouldn’t have it any other way! Think of it: Protein, fruit, carbs, and just a hit of sweetness in every bite. Everything’s shelf-stable, so there’s no need to carry around a cooler. A little bit goes an awfully long way. And it can be prepared in the car (the dashboard makes an excellent buffet), atop a picnic table, or on the trail (just look out for bears!), in little to no time. Also, as we discovered this week, the handle of a plastic fork makes an excellent knife when Fred Meyer is sold out of real plastic knives.

Served with some chips, it’s a lunch we can return to time and again. And believe me, we will! Time may pass, our trip locations may change from year to year, but PB&B sandwiches stay the course. I can’t think of a better traveling companion for us both.

:)

Recessionista on Holiday: Spaghetti With Mushroom Marinara.

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Greetings from the great state of Alaska – or the Upper 1, as my father and I have been calling it! We’re spending the week touring Anchorage and Denali as part of our third annual Daddy-Daughter Week(end) (it started as a weekend, and has grown over the years), and are enjoying our time together immensely.

Beginning today, we’ve launched a brief stint at a cabin in the shadow of Mount McKinley, and, friends, IT HAS A KITCHEN. And a grill. These two facts have made me wildly overexcited to roll up my sleeve and get to cooking!

Originally, we were going to grill out (because you know how I love to do that). But a couple of hurdles were placed in our way. First, this part of Alaska has been home to quite a few wildfires in recent weeks, and to be honest my dad and I were a bit nervous to add to the problem (who wants to be the subject of a headline like, “FATHER, DAUGHTER FROM LOWER 48 WREAK HAVOC ON VACATION”?). Second, to bring perishables to the cabin would mean we would have to 1) purchase a cooler, 2) purchase a bag of ice, 3) replace said ice at least once en route, and 4) then jettison said cooler when we were done with it after only one use. This does not seem very frugal or fun.

And thirdly, it began to rain as soon as we arrived at the cabin tonight. Which made our alternate grocery purchases of spaghetti and marinara sauce seem even more prescient!

And so it’s come to be that tonight we pulled out some pots and pans, heated some water on the stove, and cooked up a big batch of spaghetti with mushroom marinara! “Keep it simple,” my father warned, knowing my proclivity for outlandish shopping lists and menu plans. He was right. A jar of sauce later – doctored up with some sliced mushrooms for texture and fun – and a pot of cooked spaghetti at the ready, and we were ready to eat!

You know, hiking, driving, and moose-viewing takes a lot out of a family. So we chowed down with gusto tonight, each enjoying a couple of helpings before calling it quits. And we’ve got plenty left for breakfast, lunch, or dinner tomorrow! I love leftovers, even on the road.

:)

Vegan Fish Tacos With Rice.

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I didn’t mean for this to happen, but it’s become a Mexican-dinner week around here! First Swiss chard quesadillas, now vegan fish tacos … but we’re not complaining. “I could eat Mexican every day!” LeeLee assured me when I delivered the news to him about tonight’s menu option, and quite honestly I probably could too.

This evening, I put a pan of Gardein vegan fish filets in the oven and a batch of yellow rice in the rice cooker, then went about heating up a can of refried beans. While I waited for everything to cook, I diced a tomato and half an onion, opened a can of sliced black olives, and washed some butter lettuce leaves in preparation for taco toppings. A dollop of vegan sour cream and a spoonful of salsa rounded out the fixins! Then all that was left was for dinner to be ready.

About 5 minutes before the fish and rice were done, I put four taco shells in the oven to warm up, and when the timer dinged we got to stuffing. I made one taco with rice, beans, and fish, and a second with simply beans and fish (variety is the spice of life!), and then retired to the kitchen table to stuff my tacos full of veggies. Admittedly, many of these veggies then fell out onto the side of rice, but who cares? It was tasty nonetheless.

LeeLee is right – we could definitely eat Mexican food every night with no trouble! We mowed down every morsel of tonight’s meal, leaving not one leftover in sight, and we don’t feel a bit guilty for it.

:)

Vegetarian Swiss Chard Quesadillas.

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It’s Swiss chard time again, y’all!

Over the weekend, I picked up a beautiful bunch of chard at the farmers’ market from my friends at Bigg Riggs, and I immediately knew what I wanted to do with it. So I went over to one of the cheesemakers’ stands and picked up a block of peppercorn cheddar cheese to make quesadillas! They’re always a hit around our house, and the Swiss chard version just makes the meal sound downright virtuous. I knew it was time to break out the recipe for the first time this season!

Now, if you click on that recipe, you’ll get a great framework for how to put this meal together. But as usual, I made some alterations along the way. First, I didn’t have any fresh garlic, only garlic powder, so in that went with the onion instead. Next, I somehow misplaced my fresh jalapeno between the shopping cart and the checkout line on Sunday, so I used a can of diced green chilies instead. I also used cumin powder instead of cumin seeds, and basil instead of Mexican oregano. And then there was the little matter of the tequila.

Over the weekend, I swung by our local ABC store and picked up a small bottle of tequila for the express purpose of using some of it in tonight’s quesadillas, as per the recipe instructions! I put the little bag that held the bottle in the floorboard of the backseat (unopened, mind) with the full intent of bringing it into the house that evening when I arrived home. Well, I did not. But no matter, right?

Enter tonight’s traffic situation. What is normally a 10-minute drive home was going to take upwards of two hours (by friends’ accounts) on account of some difficulties on the roads in our area. Apparently one accident led to another and so forth, rendering most of the major streets in my city completely clogged. So I (wisely, I think) hopped onto a Capital Bikeshare bike and pedaled home in a fraction of the time! And it was only when I arrived home that I realized: The tequila is in the car.

Oh, well. No matter! A quarter-cup of dry red wine fit the bill just beautifully.

Once the chard had wilted, I spooned a goodly amount across four tortillas, topped each one with cheese, and put the other tortilla on top of the first. I sprayed the tops with cooking spray and cooked them on baking sheets in the oven at 450 for about 12 minutes, then cut them with a pizza cutter and we dug in!

I have a somewhat difficult relationship with Swiss chard. Sometimes it can come across a bit earthy for my taste (and in those times I give my remainders to LeeLee, who adores it regardless of its earthiness). But tonight’s batch was just right! It was earthy enough to be flavorful, but not so much that it was off-putting. And the peppercorn cheddar really gave the meal a nice firm pop.

And as is the way of this recipe, we’ve got two more quesadillas to enjoy for lunch tomorrow! I’m looking forward to it already.

:)

Sunday Cookout: Anchorage Veggie Dogs With Grilled Squash and Baked Beans.

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Tonight’s cookout was an exercise in patience and radar-reading skills. Right as I was about to walk out the door to fire up the grill, roundabout 5:45, a crack of lightning rang out and the skies opened up, giving us a good old-fashioned downpour! LeeLee arrived home from the gym a few minutes later and asked what we were going to do about dinner.

“Give it 15 minutes,” I replied. “Ma Nature will get this out of her system.”

Well, in all honesty, it took 20 minutes for Ma Nature to settle the score. But as soon as the rain dwindled to a sprinkle, I was out in the back yard, charcoal bag in hand, to get the grill prepared for the meal. Admittedly, it took a few extra minutes for the charcoal to light properly, but we got things going in the end.

I’ve made Anchorage dogs once before, years ago, and when I was working on this week’s menu they popped right up in my brain as the perfect Sunday-evening entrée! Far from a nutritionist’s delight, they are teeming with goodies – vegetarian bratwurst, to begin with, and horseradish on the bun; then top the whole thing with a dollop of potato salad and a sliced hard-boiled egg. Dieter’s special, no way! But tasty? Oh, my, yes.

In an effort to validate our entrée choice, I went light and easy for side items. I sliced up four fresh baby squash and placed them in a foil packet with a handful of cherry tomatoes, seasoning the veggies with garlic powder, salt, chipotle powder, and minced dried onion before topping them with a light coating of olive oil. Then I placed a can of baked beans in a foil grill pan and cooked both the beans and the squash for the better part of 25 minutes until the squash was crisp-tender and the beans were bubbling.

The veggie brats only took about 10 minutes from beginning to end, so I held them off when putting the rest of the meal on the grill. Then at the very end of their cook time, I heated up two buns, letting them turn a bit crispy on top before taking them back off the grill as well.

We slathered our veggie dogs with all the fixins and dug in right away! And the results were glorious. Again, this is a bit of a gluttonous meal, but it was also our Big Meal of the day, so who’s to judge? And we enjoyed every morsel.

We’ve got two more brats left over for later, to say nothing of the additional potato salad, squash, and baked beans. Big Dinner tonight may be Big Lunch tomorrow – and I’m OK with that!

:)

Vegan Taco Salad Supreme.

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It’s no secret that Mexican fare is a mainstay here at Chez Recessionista, in much the same way as we adore Cajun food. But sometimes, the usual tacos, burritos, and quesadillas get a bit worn-out, a bit heavy. That’s when we turn to taco salads to fill the void in the most delicious way possible!

Now, I suppose in full disclosure I should mention that we enjoyed a Pie Day at work today, where my colleagues and I brought in nearly a dozen pie offerings and sampled just as many. So I was hardly virtuous in my dietary plan as the hours ticked by this afternoon! And by the time I got home, I knew I had to have some greenery in order to at least try to offset the sweets.

I’m calling tonight’s taco salad creation the Taco Salad Supreme because it has a little bit of everything, and it has a lot of flair. First, I heated up two taco-shell bowls in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes, and as they warmed, I coated a pan with cooking spray and sautéed some Gardein beefless tips to add some steaky flavor to the salad! As they cooked, I also warmed a can of black beans in a small saucepan, seasoning the beans with some adobo spice for a little extra kick. Once the taco bowls were ready and the vegan steak was heated through, it was time to plate everything up!

First, I placed a taco bowl atop two plates (one for LeeLee and one for me, of course). Then in each bowl I layered a hearty dose of black beans (sauce and all), then plenty of lettuce, then the beefless tips, then black olives, cherry tomatoes, Follow Your Heart vegan provolone slices (I use them in my lunch wraps, and it was the only cheese I have in the house at the moment!), and Snapea Crisps. We topped our salads with a homemade creamy lemon dill dressing – with dill from our garden, because why not? – and then poured ourselves a glass of wine to go along with the main event. Cheers! Time to eat.

These taco salads are so much fun to eat – the edible bowl adds an air of festivity to dinner! And by the end of dinner, we had nothing left but two leftover tortilla bowls and a handful of black olives. No matter – I’ll be back to my wraps for lunch tomorrow, and the bowls will keep in the freezer for quite some time! I feel sure we’ll put them to good use in short order.

:)

Crock-Pot Tuesday: Vegan Sausage, White-Bean, and Kale Stew.

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Crock-Pot Monday may have come a day late this week, but it was anything but a dollar short! I ask you: When fresh kale (from our CSA, Great Country Farms) pairs with white cannellini beans and vegan sausage, what could possibly go wrong? Not a dang thing, friends.

This morning, before work, I pulled the Crock-Pot out from its weeklong R&R and put it into service for a vegetarian spin on this Real Simple recipe I’ve used for eons. I put four links of Tofurky Italian sausage, sliced into coins, into the crockery and then added a can of cannellini beans, a can of diced tomatoes, some garlic powder, and as much kale as I could possibly stuff into the pot before pouring a carton of broth over the whole shebang (the recipe calls for a can of broth, but I use a four-cup box) and mixing everything around nicely. Then all it took was about 10 hours on Low, and by the time LeeLee and I arrived home from work, dinner was ready!

Now, longtime readers of this blog may remember another time I made this stew only to find it contained an extra bit of (non-vegetarian) protein upon serving time. You’d better believe that I inspected every leaf of kale with extreme vigilance tonight to ensure I didn’t fall prey to the same scenario a second time! And – at least to our knowledge – tonight’s meal was caterpillar-free for a very welcome change.

And what’s more, our caterpillar-free meal made enough for one of us to enjoy for lunch tomorrow! I love a stew that keeps on stewing.

:)