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The Kitchen Recessionista

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

Pantry Cleanout: Vegan Five-Bean Soup.

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Pantry Cleanout week/month/year continued tonight with a taste of the holidays! We gave baskets of homemade preserves and soup mixes to relatives this year, and one of the soups I included was a five-bean rendition that was wonderfully easy to put together and required very little in the way of prep for the future would-be cook. I always save a couple of jars back for myself, and tonight was as good as any other to put the Christmas bounty to use!

As an aside, it may sound corny to you, but I really love giving handmade gifts to loved ones at the holidays. A jar of strawberry preserves, a container of soup mix, a bag of homemade candies, or even a set of hand-knit dishcloths show our family and friends just how much they mean to us. I’ve no idea whether these gifts are more or less appreciated than any others – maybe our loved ones just want cash and wish we wouldn’t go to all the trouble? – but I confess I love putting these gifts together and sending them off to new homes. I can only hope the recipients love them too.

Anyway, back to tonight’s soup. The recipe is wonderful in its simplicity: Pour everything from the jar into a large pot, add a can of diced tomatoes (I used Rotel tonight because that was what I happened to have on hand!), and then add six cups of water. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for an hour and a half or so. Done and done!

LeeLee got caught in traffic on his way home, and I myself spent the early evening convalescing after a dental appointment, so I was in no great hurry to get dinner on the table. But by the time LeeLee arrived home, I’d gotten my second wind, and we spooned out bowls full of piping-hot soup and sat down to eat. I topped mine with nutritional yeast (because I do that with everything); LeeLee added Sriracha to his. We both deemed these additions to be a success and will certainly use them again!

But additions or no, the soup itself was wonderful. The bouillon cube added a complex, herby flavor to the water-based broth, and the beans held their shape but yet softened up just perfectly. (I like a little bite to my beans, but I don’t want them to be bullets!) We liked it so much that I enjoyed a second scoop – and LeeLee polished off the rest of it! So no leftovers, but it was for a good cause.

This is definitely a gift that keeps on giving! Family and friends, hide your eyes: I’ll certainly make another set of jars for next Christmas, and I may even keep more than one for myself!

:)

Pantry Cleanout: Vegan Tuna Melts With Salad.

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It’s been awhile since we’ve enjoyed the goodness that is vegan tuna! Tonight, I pulled a can of Sophie’s Kitchen “Toona” out of the cabinet, took two English muffins out of the freezer, and opened a new bag of Daiya cheddar shreds that had found its way to the back of the fridge (but had not, I should add, expired yet). Easy as that: Vegan tuna melts were on the menu!

I first wrote about this recipe last spring, and my love for it has only deepened over time. Often, we enjoy this as a lunch, but tonight was an animal shelter night, so time was a bit short and hunger quite extensive by the time I came home. This was the perfect quick meal to whip up at the end of a long day!

It really couldn’t be simpler. I defrosted the muffins, pre-toasted them since they were still a bit chilly, and then carried forth with the recipe as outlined in the link above. As the tuna melts baked, I tossed a simple salad of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and black olives, topping it with some leftover Daiya mozzarella cheese shreds for good measure. Within 15 minutes or so, the melts were ready, and LeeLee and I gathered round to chow down!

Tonight I made only two muffins’ worth, which admittedly is better for our waistlines. (Sometimes I’ll make a full four muffins, which tends to tempt us to return for seconds instead of leaving them for leftovers!) But between the melts and the salad, we were both happily full after dinner. And since this was another pantry cleanout meal, our wallets were full as well. We can spend that meal money another day!

:)

Pantry Cleanout: Vegetarian Chik’n Parmesan.

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Friends, we still have a ton of food in the pantry and freezer that need clearing-out. Tonight, I took another crack at it with a rendition of vegetarian chik’n parmesan!

I’ve been on a pasta- and sauce-making kick of late, but tonight we used good old store-bought for each. I had a box of thin spaghetti taking up space on the dry-goods shelf, and a jar of pasta sauce left over from a recent meal of stuffed bell peppers (we made them Saturday evening for a dinner party!). Paired with two leftover Morningstar Farms chik’n patties that were hanging out in the freezer, and topped with some Daiya mozzarella shreds that I keep on hand for events just like this one, it was a perfectly complete meal that required no additional grocery shopping!

And the prep was so easy, as is desired/required on a Tuesday night in the middle of a workweek. I boiled the pasta and heated the sauce while the chik’n patties baked in the oven; I dusted each patty with some mozzarella for the last 10 minutes of their baking time. As soon as everything was ready, I drained the pasta, topped our plates with sauce and chik’n, and we were off to the races!

Speaking of races, this meal couldn’t come at a better time. I’m running a half-marathon this weekend, so I’m beginning to carb-load just a touch. Admittedly, I’m not planning on carb-loading as much as I would for a marathon or long-course triathlon, but I feel like any carb is a welcome carb before a longer-distance race! And 13.1 miles counts, for sure.

But back to the chik’n parmesan. We both love pasta, in all its forms, so it’s no wonder that LeeLee and I welcomed this dinner with open arms (and mouths!). We each went back for seconds and were thrilled that we’ve got plenty of pasta left to split for lunch tomorrow or the next day (we’ve still got burrito casserole from last night, as well!). So often I make something “beefy” to accompany our pasta; this chik’n dish was a welcome change, as far as I’m concerned! We’ll definitely go back to this well again and again.

:)

Crock-Pot Monday: Vegan Bean and Cheese Burrito Casserole.

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We’re back on the Crock-Pot Monday bandwagon this week with a new-to-me recipe: Stephanie O’Dea’s bean and cheese burrito casserole! I veganized it for the evening, but the sentiment remained the same.

You know, one thing I’m looking for in a Crock-Pot Monday recipe is ease of prep in the morning. This generally excludes any recipe that involves pre-cooking or a great deal of chopping, mixing, or general fussing about. Thankfully, this casserole recipe required very little of the above! A chopped onion and bell pepper, a mix of ingredients in a bowl, and voila, the prep work was done. Magical! Just the way I like it while fighting through the hubbub of the first of the week.

After assembling the casserole as Stephanie recommended (looking back, I probably should have put one more flour tortilla on top, but that’s on me), all that was left was for me to flip the slow cooker to Low and hit the road. By the time I got home from work some nine hours later, it was fully cooked, and the Daiya pepperjack shreds I’d used had melted just beautifully. This was one of the first times I’d used Daiya shreds in a slow-cooker recipe, and they behaved perfectly! Just as they ought to.

I assembled a little salad on each of our plates and then spooned up healthy helpings of the casserole. It was a bit soupy, but we didn’t mind; the flavors were just like enjoying a burrito! I managed, with some restraint, to stick to one serving, but LeeLee went back for seconds. And there’s PLENTY left over for lunch tomorrow, so we’ll each get another crack at this meal!

In short, this is definitely a dish I’ll make again. Consider it added to the Crock-Pot repertoire! Mexican flavors, the ease of the slow cooker, having dinner ready the moment you walk in the door … what could be better?

:)

Sunday Cook-in: Baked BBQ Tofu Sandwiches With Spaghetti Squash and Steamed Veggies.

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Our back yard is still snow-packed – though in some places I can now see the bricks peeking through again! – so for what I hope is the last week for a while, we cooked indoors instead of barbecuing on Sunday night. No matter; the show must go on! We can still chow down on grilling fare even if no grill is actually involved. To the oven!

Early this afternoon, I sliced a block of tofu into thin rectangles and placed them in a zip-top bag, dousing them in barbecue sauce and letting the slices marinate in the fridge for a few hours.

When we were ready to start cooking dinner, I pulled a spaghetti squash (courtesy of Bigg Riggs Farms) out of the veggie bowl, pierced it with a fork eight or 10 times, and then put it on a baking sheet to roast at 400 degrees for an hour. After the first 20 minutes of baking time, I pulled the barbecue tofu out of the fridge, placed the strips on a baking sheet, and added them to the oven as well, turning the slices over after another 20 minutes.

After an hour had elapsed, I pulled the squash out of the oven and let the tofu continue to bake for a few more minutes while I separated the spaghetti strands and heated up a pot of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots. Once the spaghetti squash was safely in a bowl, I added a dollop of vegan butter, plus some salt and pepper for good measure. Next, I put the mixed vegetables in a serving bowl and topped them with chipotle powder and some Daiya mozzarella shreds, just for fun.

Finally, it was time to take the tofu out of the oven! We placed several strips on our steak rolls, added some mayo, lettuce, onion, and tomato, and began to chow down!

Longtime readers of this blog will know that BBQ tofu is one of our favorite cookout standards, so it’s no surprise we both mightily enjoyed this meal. The spaghetti squash, for its part, was incredibly tender after an hourlong stint in the oven, and we left no strand un-eaten. And as usual, the mixed vegetables served as a wonderful way to bind the meal together with lots of green goodness.

Though the sides are history, we do have a little bit of tofu left over for tomorrow’s lunch. It’ll be a race to the fridge to see who gets to enjoy it first!

:)

Crock-Pot Thursday: Gherkin Soup.

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This, friends, is the long-awaited culinary experiment I teased to earlier this week, when our usual Crock-Pot Monday festivities were thwarted due to post-vacation re-entry! I came across a recipe for Dill Pickle Soup over at Tablespoon.com, and as soon as I saw it I knew our pickle-loving family just had to try it. (And, of course, I vegetarianized the ingredients.)

… Wait a minute, I can hear some of you say. I thought you called this recipe Gherkin Soup. Not Dill Pickle Soup. What gives?

Well, you see, while I was picking up the ingredients for this meal (and the rest of my grocery list) at the store on Sunday, I seemingly selected the wrong kind of baby pickle. I was supposed to purchase baby dills. Instead, I cheerfully added baby gherkins to the cart instead and went about my merry way. Not even when I snuck a taste of one this morning while dicing them did I consider my error! No, that happened mid-afternoon, when suddenly I saw the word “Gherkin” in my brain, as prominent as can be atop a green Mt. Olive label.

Gherkin. Not dill. Gherkin.

So. This is Gherkin Soup. Dill will have to wait for another day.

At any rate, the prep work was incredibly easy, from the creation of the roux to the dicing of the pickles and carrots. I cheated and used a can of sliced potatoes instead of dicing up fresh, because the last couple of times I’ve bought fresh at the grocery store, they’ve come home all green and somehow I’ve failed to notice pre-purchase. Then just add a few spices, some broth, and set it to Low for the day!

LeeLee and I both worked from home today given the region’s latest snow storm (and between you and me, this snow lover has had enough of the white stuff for a while), so I continued to peek in on it through the glass lid every time I walked through the kitchen. Finally, at around 6:30, I could take it no longer and we sat down for the moment of truth.

The synopsis: The flavors of this soup are … interesting. Having never had pickle soup before, either dill or gherkin, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’m not sure I anticipated the final result in our bowls. And I don’t mean “interesting” in a polite, non-committal way, either; I really mean that the flavors were ones I had never experienced before, and that fact did take my taste buds a few bites to work out for themselves. A blend of tart and mild, sweet and savory, spicy and neutral … pickle/gherkin soup is just flat-out interesting! But many of my closest friends are interesting. So I went with it, bite after bite.

In the final analysis, I enjoyed one full bowl, and LeeLee devoured two. Both of us appreciated Tablespoon’s suggestion of pita chips on the side; we both liked dipping them into the soup for yet another interesting flavor. At any rate, I really did like this meal and I think I will make it again (only with different pickles next time). And I’ll also take greater care to read labels more clearly.

Hooray for gherkins!

:)

Pantry Cleanout: Huevos Rancheros.

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We’re marching on with our most recent Pantry Cleanout initiative – the pantry has grown into disarray, I’m sorry to say! – and tonight’s meal was especially delicious. Huevos rancheros are a longtime brunch favorite for LeeLee and me, so I decided to bring them out tonight for a breakfast-for-dinner spectacular!

There are several components to this meal, but none of them are particularly difficult to tackle. First, I heated four corn tortillas in aluminum foil at 375 in the oven for about 10 minutes. As they baked, I put a can of pinto beans into a pot to cook. Next, I warmed up a can of enchilada sauce for topping. And finally, as the tortillas were finishing up and the beans were heated through, I fried four eggs – two at a time in my sweet little omelet pan – for topping.

As the eggs fried, I assembled the rest of the meal. Two corn tortillas went on each plate, and then I spooned the beans over each one evenly. Then, when the eggs were cooked, I placed one over the top of each tortilla. Then I topped the huevos with cheese, sliced black olives, diced green chilies, and enchilada sauce, and spooned a dollop of sour cream on the side.

LeeLee was tickled to find that this is what we were enjoying tonight! He was working upstairs as I cooked, and I didn’t broadcast the menu prior to serving, so it came as quite a surprise. And I myself was tickled that every component of this dish came from within our kitchen – no need to run to the store or add ingredients to last weekend’s shopping list! It’s amazing what you can accumulate in the cabinets, fridge, and freezer, isn’t it?

:)

Pantry Cleanout: Red Beans and Rice.

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After a wonderful vacation to glorious Key West last week – an annual wintertime tradition for LeeLee and me! – it was time to get back to reality tonight. Normally, I’d whip up something for Crock-Pot Monday, but the rigors of having to actually get up and attend work at a decent hour for the first time in about 10 days made preparation a little tough. So, instead, I decided to plunder the cabinets and freezer when I got home tonight and, behold: Red beans and rice!

As I had a tai chi class to attend in short order after work, I didn’t have time to get the rice cooker up and running. No matter; we had several bags of microwaveable brown rice in the freezer, so I heated one up for us to share! Next I warmed up a can of red kidney beans and, finally, a couple of vegetarian sausage patties to add a little extra protein. Topped off with some chipotle powder and nutritional yeast, this was a full and hearty meal that tasted just great! LeeLee and I are both big fans of red beans and rice in the first place, so I knew this dinner couldn’t go wrong on a Monday night.

As for the Crock-Pot offering? I’m terribly excited about it, so you’ll see it later this week instead! We’re just keeping things lively here at Chez Recessionista.

:)