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The Kitchen Recessionista

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

Lazybones Cooking for All Occasions!

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district-taco

It’s true. For the last two days, I’ve been a bit of a lazybones in the kitchen! Last night, LeeLee was away at a meeting (where he ate dinner) and so I decided to treat myself to a feast from my friends at District Taco, which has a branch within walking distance from my house. (Too close for comfort, I say!) That’s the taco you see above – a vegan black-bean and rice concoction that comes in a set of three. Glorious!

I include this here even though it’s not my own cooking to keep it real, you know? As much as I love to roll up my sleeves and get into the kitchen, sometimes life gets in the way and we decide to treat ourselves. These little sidetracks to get carryout or delivery during the workweek illustrate the living portion of the living below our means credo that we try to abide by most of the time. Because we take our lunch to work, brew our own coffee, make dinner nearly every night, and so forth, we can afford – literally! – to deviate from the menu plan once in awhile. And last night was definitely one of those nights. I sure embraced it, that’s for certain!

Tonight’s story is slightly different. I volunteered at our local animal shelter before attending a meeting at said shelter, and then said meeting ran over, and then my planned dinner drifted further and further out of my grasp. But no matter. A Kashi frozen pizza and a bag of Southwest salad mix soon set things right:

kashi-pizza

And while it was not the homemade meal I was planning on, it certainly hit the spot! Neither LeeLee nor I were at all dismayed to feast on pizza and salad (to say nothing of the Moscato we served alongside), and the meal I was planning on making tonight will keep until next week. No harm done!

Now, speaking of the animal shelter, my good friend Cheesecake is waiting for a home:

cheesecake

So if you’ve been looking for a sweetie-pie, be sure to march right down and visit her straightaway!

:)

Vegetable Sushi.

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vegan-fish-sushi

Friends, the cherry blossoms have made their way straight into town here in the greater Washington D.C. area, and not a moment too soon! We were beginning to think those beloved blossoms would simply never arrive. But over the weekend, arrive they did, and in the blink of an eye they’ve already started to fade a bit. The Japanese use this transitory time to illustrate the impermanence of life – an apt comparison, that.

And life, indeed, may well be impermanent. Which is all the more reason to make sushi while one can! Gather ye cherry blossoms while ye may, and all that!

LeeLee and I had a couple of friends over last weekend to celebrate the blossoms by enjoying our annual Sushi Night (as featured this time last year in the podcast), which was a great hit and enjoyed by all in attendance. The sake flowed freely, the dumplings were steamed to perfection, the wasabi peas kept our eyes watering, and the sushi – oh, the sushi! – was in such abundance that we were all completely stuffed after the fact. By today, LeeLee and I had emerged from our sushi-fueled hibernation and were more than ready for Round Two.

There are several things to note about sushi. The first is: Leftovers don’t keep all that well. The rice turns to a mushy concrete, the vegetables go soggy, the inari dries up. (The dumplings keep magnificently, but let’s not quibble.) Talk about the impermanence of life!

The second thing to note is that sushi supplies come in huge quantities. A five-pound bag of sushi rice was the smallest I could find, for instance, and I have enough leftover nori and soy wrappers to feed an army. Also, those little fried-tofu pockets that serve as the basis for inari? They come about 30 to a pack. To say nothing of the chopsticks, which we have by the hundreds.

So tonight we decided to make good use of our sushi supplies and dig in for another go! I prepared a cup of sushi rice in the rice cooker, whipped up a sugar-vinegar sauce to blend in when the rice was cooked, and sliced up an avocado, a cucumber, and several Gardein vegan fish filets (cooked, of course). We had a bag of shredded carrots hanging around in the fridge, so I added some of them to the mix as well. I whipped up some wasabi paste, microwaved a few frozen vegetable dumplings, stuffed the inari with cooked rice, and we were ready to go!

I made a couple of different wraps tonight. The first you’ll find above – a vegan-fish-and-avocado concoction. The second was an all-veggie affair featuring cucumber, carrot, and avocado:

veggie-sushi

And by the time I had cut both rolls into smaller pieces and added the dumplings, et. al., to my plate, it had become a lot less neat and tidy (but quite tasty):

vegan-sushi

I don’t mind telling you that between us we mowed down four rolls’ worth of sushi, plus more than our share of dumplings and inari, as well as the leftover rice and veggies. “Why don’t we do sushi night more often?” LeeLee mused, and I couldn’t agree more. It’s easy to make, it’s fun to compose on the plate, and it always feels like an Event. I can think of worse ways to spend a Tuesday night, impermanent or not!

:)

Crock-Pot Monday: Vegan World’s Fair Chili.

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worlds-fair-chili

Crock-Pot Mondays are back in full swing this week, with a hearty helping of World’s Fair Chili from Robin Robertson’s One-Dish Vegan to get the evening going on the right foot! The hearty chewiness of seasoned tempeh was the perfect complement to the smooth tang of crushed tomatoes in this wonderfully reviving chili.

As usual, Robin Robertson’s recipe did not disappoint. From the frugality of her ingredient list to the ease of prep time – simply mix all of said ingredients, from diced onion to kidney beans to tempeh to spices and more, in the slow cooker – this World’s Fair Chili couldn’t be easier or cheaper to make.

And the flavors! There’s a symphony going on in this Crock-Pot, y’all. Of course you’ve got the tempeh and tomatoes, but also the chili powder, oregano, tomato juice, kidney beans, and more. Each component plays its part beautifully, and in concert they’re all just wonderful.

I served my chili on a bed of Fritos, as nature intended. LeeLee insists on topping his chili with the Fritos instead, which I try very hard not to judge. But c’mon. We all know Fritos belong at the bottom of the bowl. Am I right?

At least we both came together on serving our chili with some Daiya pepperjack cheese and Tofutti sour cream! It’s the like-mindedness that marriage is founded on.

At any rate, we both adored this World’s Fair Chili – and it’ll definitely have a place in the menu plan from here on out!

:)

Sunday Cookout: Vegetarian BLT Burgers With Grilled Asparagus and Tater Tots.

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veggie-blts

Ladies and gentlemen, the Big Day has arrived!

Tonight, we fired up our sweet red charcoal grill for the first time this year, and there was much rejoicing. As per tradition, we welcomed the dawn of grilling season with much fanfare, bringing our A-game to the menu and beer list and breaking out a shiny new grill grate for the occasion.

On the beer front, we enjoyed a seasonal specialty from Sweetwater. On the grill, we pulled out all the stops and enjoyed BLT burgers with grilled thin asparagus, served with some oven-baked tater tots for appropriate carbing.

First, I got the grill heated up as high as I could (remember, I only know one temperature: wide-open hot). Then I tossed a bundle of asparagus (with the ends trimmed off) in some olive oil, chipotle powder, and curry powder, and laid them out atop the grill grate like so:

asparagus

They took about 20 minutes to roast in total, and I flipped them every four minutes or so to cook them evenly. If you like yours a little crispier, take them off the heat sooner; if you like them burned to a crisp, keep them on the heat a little longer.

Next it was time to cook the veggie burgers. We love the Morningstar Farms Vegan Grillers; they’re some of the meatiest burgers we’ve seen! They required about 15 minutes of cook time in total, with a side-flip every five minutes or so. (For the last five minutes of their grill time, I placed a square of Follow Your Heart vegan American cheese on two of the burgers to give them time to melt.)

Finally, what’s a BLT without the B? I grabbed some frozen veggie bacon and laid four strips atop the grill, letting them cook for about 10 minutes, flipping sides after five. It was quite the full house on the grates tonight!

full-grill

By the time the tater tots were done cooking inside, everything else was ready as well, so LeeLee and I sat down to feast. We even topped the tots with some freshly snipped chives from our herb garden! The chives came back strong after the harsh winter, and we couldn’t be more pleased. Soon we’ll add additional herbs to the mix and have a wonderful backyard culinary library once more.

We topped our BLTs with the requisite lettuce and tomato, as well as sliced onion, Just Mayo, and ketchup. And the end result couldn’t be beat! There’s nothing like crispy veggie bacon straight off the grill; it added a wonderful salty crunch to the burger. And the American cheese was a wonderful surprise, as well! The flavors and textures of each ingredient played very well together; I foresee a great many BLT burgers in our future this spring and summer!

A smoking, flaming-hot grill. Al fresco dining. Good beer, good food, good conversation. Happy days are here again!

:)

Pantry Cleanout: Stuffed Bell Peppers.

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stuffed-bell-peps

OK, OK, so this isn’t as much of a pantry cleanout as it is a freezer cleanout, but for the sake of simplicity, I labeled it as the former. It’s the same principle, just another type of pantry!

A month or so ago, I made up a big batch of stuffed bell peppers – about 24, to be exact – for a dinner party. I didn’t expect our guests to eat them all – there were only about 14 people in total – but I wanted to be prepared for big appetites. And, of course, I wanted to be prepared to bring some home to stick in the freezer for nights just like this one! I love it when a plan comes together!

I’ve used the same bell pepper recipe for years, having found it on VegWeb a thousand centuries ago. The only thing I do differently is boil the peppers before stuffing them; my mother taught me this. Boiling them for just a few minutes gives the peppers a softer skin and a better texture in the end! With 24 peppers to plow through, I tripled the recipe, but no matter; it’s incredibly easy to add or subtract portion sizes with this lineup of ingredients! You really can’t hurt it.

Anyway, at the end of the dinner party, I sealed up several zip-top bags’ worth of peppers and stuck them in the freezer for later use. Tonight, with LeeLee away at a meeting, I pulled out two to heat up for my own personal version of a TV dinner!

If you’re in a pinch, you can microwave these peppers from frozen, but I’d recommend heating them the old-fashioned way in the oven if you have the time to do so. The final product turns out much better, and the textures are spot-on. (The microwaved version can be a little rubbery, truth be told, after a stint in the freezer.) Heat your oven to a high temperature – I was hungry tonight, so I bumped mine up to 450 degrees! – and place the peppers in an oven-safe dish. I used a regular 8-by-8 glass Pyrex pan tonight. Then heat them for 30-40 minutes, checking on them after half an hour.

Next, it was time to dig in! And what a treat – all the flavors and ingredients of a perfect stuffed pepper without any of the hard work! I could get used to this sort of pantry cleanout. Wonder what else is lounging around at the back of the freezer? ;)

:)

Old Faithful.

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vegan-black-beans-rice

This week’s recipes have been quite the walk down memory lane! First ramen with Rotel last night and Old Faithful (aka black beans and rice) tonight – it’s been a wonderful week of catching up with old culinary friends!

Though this is a staple in our menu plan, it never gets old. Each time I make it, I try to put a little spin on the dish, adding a topping or substituting a mainstay for something more exciting. Tonight, I was out of sliced black olives, so I substituted a can of diced green chilies as a topping instead, and we both loved the result! With those chilies plus some leftover salsa, fresh Daiya pepperjack shreds, and half of a diced onion, we were living in high style, thank you very much.

The rice cooker did its job in the allotted 30 minutes, and the black beans heated up just perfectly (I added some adobo seasoning for good measure). The two leftover Morningstar Farms chik’n patties from last night were perfectly piping-hot by the time dinner was ready, and I’ve already discussed the toppings, which were plentiful and tasty. In short, we feasted! Even on a night when LeeLee was working late and I had some errands to run after my own workday was done, we were able to sit down to a healthy, hearty dinner without having to give in and visit the fast-food line. Another win in the book!

:)

Ramen With Rotel.

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ramen-rotel

Now here’s a recipe that used to be a mainstay in our repertoire, but that we haven’t enjoyed in ages and ages! Ramen with Rotel – plus a chik’n patty – is always a filling, easy, tasty meal to make when one is short on time and, perhaps, patience in the kitchen. That makes it perfect for tonight!

I dropped by the animal shelter on the way home from work for an hourlong volunteer stint in the cat room, where I spent a good amount of time cuddling with and baby-talking to about a dozen of my favorite felines. One of my current besties is this fellow, Chester, who started out so shy and timid but has now blossomed into a little social butterfly:

chester

Hey, Handsome!

It amazes me how downright relaxing my time at the shelter can be. I know, I know – “relaxing” isn’t necessarily the first adjective that comes to mind when you think of an animal shelter. But this one really is (at least for much of the time). There’s just something about sitting on the floor in a kennel with a cat on your lap that sort of puts the rest of the world into perspective, you know? And then to come back a week later and see that your buddy’s been adopted and that there’s now a new buddy in his place, well – it does a heart good.

Anyway, by the time I arrived home post-shelter (and fed my own Wonder-Cat), I was very hungry and also ready to relax for a few minutes. Enter: Ramen with Rotel!

All this dish requires in order to achieve perfection is a two-minute stint in the microwave to heat up the chik’n patties, and then about five and a half minutes to heat up a microwaveable bowl of two ramen packets (minus the seasoning), one can of Rotel (to be honest, we used Harris Teeter brand tonight), and about half a can’s worth of water. Once everything is heated through, I stirred the ingredients thoroughly, added a pat of butter and a dose of nutritional yeast, and divided the servings between LeeLee’s plate and my own!

I’m pleased to say that I haven’t lost my touch, either. We both mowed down our helpings and found ourselves pining for more. There was no more to be had, but no matter; a helping of dessert trifle settled the score just beautifully.

:)

Daiya Margherita Pizza With Salad.

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daiya-margherita-pizza

Well, friends, things are calming down again somewhat this week. Easter has been celebrated and the feast has been enjoyed. Our relatives have returned home after a joyful, bustling week in the D.C. area. Work is, well, maybe not settling down, but at least steadily plugging right along. And as of tonight, the curtain is closing on March Madness and all its excitement.

It’s enough to make a girl sleep in such that she’s forced to squeeze in an extra-speedy run before work, thereby missing the opportunity to cobble together something in the slow cooker for Crock-Pot Monday!

Thank goodness for frozen pizzas is all I have to say. We generally keep an emergency pizza in the freezer for just such an occasion, and tonight we called it into service. We hadn’t tried Daiya’s margherita pizza before, and I was super-excited to do so; their pizzas only seem to be getting better and better over time, and this one looked like one of their best yet. (Obligatory disclosure: I have not been compensated by Daiya in any way, nor do they know who I am.) So, in a rush as usual between work and tai chi class, I tossed the pizza into the oven and, while it baked, tossed a salad to go alongside.

Now, in fairness, I didn’t preheat the oven – who has the time? – so the bake time went about 20 minutes rather than the 10-15 minutes recommended on the box. But when it was ready, we sliced it into eight pieces, placed a couple each on our plates, and dug in!

Our judgment: Fantastic! We both loved the blend of cheese styles, from a mozzarella shred to some little provolone-like rounds that sat atop the crust. The sauce was flavorful, the crust was crunchy, and the diced tomatoes added a great texture. In the end, we both enjoyed three slices – and could’ve easily gone back for more. Paired with a simple salad of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and Daiya mozzarella, it was a filling meal that definitely left us wanting an encore.

And as for that Crock-Pot meal? We’ll enjoy that later on this week, when time is of the essence yet again!

:)