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The Kitchen Recessionista

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

Vegan Bacon Cheeseburger Hash.

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Well, I’ve found a new cookbook that I absolutely adore, and I must share it with you posthaste!
When I was at the library a week or so ago, I stumbled upon Betty Goes Vegan, by Annie and Dan Shannon, and after thumbing through it there in the aisle, I was instantly smitten.  I happen to love everything Betty Crocker has ever done – the only trouble is, since I’ve been vegetarian for the last one-and-a-half decades, I’ve not been able to enjoy everything Ms. Crocker has to offer for quite some time!  Betty Goes Vegan does a remarkable job of veganizing all of good old Betty’s recipes – and the results are astounding.
So with that in mind, tonight I pulled out my biggest cast-iron skillet and got to work on Vegan Bacon Cheeseburger Hash.  I won’t delve into the intracacies of the recipe here – the Shannons have a book to sell! – but let me just say that the blend of ground “beef,” diced onion, diced tomato, liquid smoke, and frozen breakfast potatoes did my heart good.  It’s a Monday, things are stressful at work, and I’ve just returned from a weekend visiting family and have as usual left a bit of my heart with them; combine all of these things together and I was in desperate need of comfort food tonight!  This cheeseburger hash came in mighty handy on that front; my hunger, both physical and emotional, was quelled.  I can’t think of anything more to ask of a weekday dinner!

And to make matters even better, it only took about 20 minutes from end to end to cook.  And did I mention I got to use my beloved cast-iron skillet?  (I know I’ve already mentioned that.  I just love it so!)  I’ll definitely return to Betty Goes Vegan in short order.  Look for another test run next week sometime!

:)

Variations on Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs With Breakfast Potatoes and Vegetarian Sausage.

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A few weeks ago, squash was the perennial guest at our family’s table.  Now, the tides have turned a bit, and potatoes have joined the party while squash has gone out for a smoke break! 
It’s not that I mind this turn of events – I happen to love potatoes, and they’re always welcome at our house.  (As it happens, we’ll be heading out for our annual potato-picking day in a couple of weeks, where we’ll likely bring home a few dozen pounds’ worth if we play our cards right!)  But it is worth noting, regardless, since you’ll likely see potatoes more than usual on these blog pages in the weeks and months to come.  Embrace the spud!  Love the spud.  Eat the spud.
Last weekend, I parboiled four or five peeled, diced potatoes for about 10 minutes until they were just barely soft, then added a tablespoon of vegetable oil to an iron skillet and threw the potatoes – plus a chopped onion, a diced pepper, and, near the end, a diced tomato – in to heat up.  As they heated, I prepared the sausage (a simple microwave job!) and, after I flipped the potatoes about 10 minutes into the cooking process, I scrambled four eggs that I’d bought from Mr. Cleckner at the Old Town Farmer’s Market.
Once the eggs were ready, I took them off the heat and checked in on the potatoes again.  Thankfully, they too were browning up nicely on all sides, so I began to plate our brunch!  Scrambled eggs went on first, then sausage on the side, and finally the true star of the show, the breakfast potatoes!  Topped with a little hot sauce – because why not? – and some ketchup on the side, they turned out just perfectly.  And the rest of the meal did too!
While I have you on the line, I’m searching for new potato recipes.  Drop me a comment and tell me your favorite(s)!

:)

Variations on Breakfast: Tofu Rancheros.

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Along with the dinners we enjoy on a day-to-day basis here at Chez Recessionista, we’re also big fans of a good old-fashioned weekend breakfast (or brunch if you’re feeling festive).  Several years ago, before we adopted our recessionista ways, we used to venture out nearly every Saturday and Sunday to eat a brunch/lunch/breakfast/etc., adding about $70 to our weekly dining-out budget!  That will not do, long-term, and so after seeing the light we elected to give brunch a try at home instead.
Over the years, we’ve developed some favorites that never cease to impress.  I thought I’d share a couple of them with you over the next couple of days, just to spice things up around here.  Up first: Tofu Rancheros!
Built on the foundation of our beloved huevos rancheros, this version simply substitutes my scrambled tofu recipe for the eggs and omits the refried beans.  As the scrambled tofu cooks, spray a small pan (we like to use a nonstick omelet pan) with cooking spray and set it on medium heat.  Once it’s heated up nicely, add one corn tortilla at a time, flipping after a couple of minutes.  (We often pull our tortillas straight out of the freezer, and they still take very little time to crisp up!)
Once the tortillas are all heated and a little brown, and after the scrambled tofu is, well, scrambled, it’s time to plate everything up!  Place two tortillas on each plate and then add a nice-sized portion of tofu to each tortilla.  Chances are, you’re going to eat this with a fork anyway (as opposed to rolling the tortillas up like a burrito), so feel free to really heap the tofu on.  I also added several dollops of leftover breakfast potatoes – more on how I make those tomorrow!  Top this with whatever you like – sliced black olives, sour cream, cheese (we like Daiya pepperjack!), nutritional yeast, etc.  Serve with a side of veggie sausage or bacon, and enjoy!

:)

The Basil Cometh.

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Friends, we have three — three! — fully functioning basil plants in the back yard at present.  Not that I’m complaining — we all love basil here at Chez Recessionista.  So although we enjoyed a round of lemon-basil pasta just recently, we trotted it back out again tonight for a curtain call, chopping down an entire half of one basil plant for the occasion.  No matter; you can hardly see the dent we made in our herb garden!  But that’s OK.  I can’t think of a better way to use up some locally sourced produce!

First, the Wonder-Cat supervised, comparing my movements with those in the cookbook she’s sitting on:

Then, as the pasta cooked, I prepared the veggies and lemon sauce:

Then, once I drained the pasta, I added it to the bowl:

And then, gloriously … we ate.

And all was right with the world!

:)

Sunday Cookout: Tucson Veggie Dogs With Grilled Green Beans and Corn.

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Now THIS is how summertime cookouts should be!
We haven’t had a Sunday cookout in awhile, due primarily to my absence the last two weekends and then Mother Nature’s Rainstorm That Wasn’t the weekend before that.  Since it’s been awhile, naturally I attacked the grill menu with renewed fervor – absence makes the heart grow fonder, and all that!  I was in the mood for veggie dogs tonight, but not just the regular fare; no, I was looking for something a bit more exciting, a bit more memorable.
I remembered a few recipes I saw over at Tablespoon.com a year or so ago that I felt sure would fit the bill, and sure enough, one of them really piqued my interest heading into the weekend.  Tucson dogs – teeming with chili beans, tomatoes, cheese, veggie bacon – would hit the spot indeed!
As for side items, our friends over at Great Country Farms took care of that with ease.   I cooked some of this week’s green beans in a foil packet with a dollop of butter and a hearty helping of chipotle seasoning – just half an hour or so on the grill was all it took!  Also in this week’s farm box were several ears of corn – the first corn of the summer for us! – so I laid each ear on a sheet of aluminum foil, nestled a pat of butter in alongside the kernels, sprinkled some garlic powder across the top, and wrapped each packet up tightly.  I grilled the corn for about 20-25 minutes, and the kernels were juicy and soft by the time dinner was ready.
For the Tucson dogs themselves, I used Lightlife’s Tofu Pups, cooked them until they had pretty grillmarks, and then dressed them up in all their finery!  We used regular hot-dog buns (the recipe above calls for a fancy French bread, but we like good old potato rolls), added a dab (or three) of Vegenaise to the bread, laid the dog in the bun, and dressed it with chili beans, Roma tomato slices, Manchego cheese crumbles, and veggie bacon crumbles – from slices we grilled to give them a nice char.  These veggie dogs were beasts, people.  They were souped-up versions of your garden-variety dogs, the Ferrari as compared to an El Camino (not that there’s anything wrong with an El Camino!).
To add to our enthusiasm, everything tasted just great!  The Tucson dogs were teeming with complementary flavors, from the spice of the chili beans to the smooth mellowness of the cheese; the green beans were crispy but well-cooked, and the chipotle powder gave them a fun little spicy kick; and the corn was very likely the sweetest we’ll enjoy all summer, juice dribbling from each kernel with every bite.  Put it all together, and this dinner was just how a Sunday cookout should be!  I’m looking forward to next weekend already.
:)

Vegan “Shrimp” With Chili Noodles.

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Over the past few days, I’ve found myself craving the vegan “shrimp” that I’ve come to know and love recently, and tonight I could stand it no longer!  I decided to use them in an Asian-inspired dish, served atop rice noodles that I’d sautéed in a chili sauce.
The shrimp, as usual, couldn’t be easier to make.  We used Sophie’s Kitchen breaded shrimp again, and they baked up just as well as they normally do!  This time around, I tossed some spring rolls onto the baking sheet as well – may as well do double duty! 
As the shrimp cooked, I boiled some water to heat my rice noodles in.  Once the water was rolling nicely, I added the noodles, gave them a hearty stir, and prepared the sauce.  Unfortunately, I don’t have decent measurements to give you – I used equal parts chili sauce (think Sriracha) and soy sauce, then blended in some honey and rice vinegar for sweetness and tang respectively.  I whisked all of the above in a bowl and set it aside until the noodles were fully cooked and drained.
Once they were indeed drained, I put the noodles back into the pan and added the sauce, stirring to coat every strand evenly.  As I stirred, I kept the heat at Low, allowing the sauce to warm up quickly.  Within a minute or two, the noodles had a lovely reddish hue, and it was time to eat!
Now, let me tell you – this sauce was spicy.  LeeLee and I happen to enjoy spicy, however, so that was OK with us.  Also, the sauce seemed to be lacking a complexity in flavor that I was expecting; I’ll have to play around with the seasonings next time and see whether that makes a difference (I know it will, but I’m hopeful it will make a positivedifference!).  That said, we loved this meal – the shrimp paired nicely with the spicy noodles, and the spring rolls of course served as a wonderful side item!  A few more tweaks of the chili noodles and we’ll be in business!

:)

Sloppy Joes With Peas and Parslied Potatoes.

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Today’s been a rainy, gray day for the most part, and I felt like we needed something hearty to both reflect and reject such an atmosphere!  Don’t get me wrong, I do love a dreary day from time to time – but by dinnertime, it was time to perk things up.  So as soon as I got home from work, I began dicing up some potatoes from Great Country Farms and put them in a large pot to boil, turning the heat down to Medium once the water started to roll.
As the potatoes cooked – I wanted them to be just barely softened all the way through, retaining a slight crunch – I started in on the sloppy Joes.  Over the years, my recipe has gotten simpler and simpler, not that there’s anything wrong with that.  I coated a pan with cooking spray, added a package of vegetarian ground “beef,” then tossed in a drained can of sliced mushrooms and sprinkled some onion powder on top.  Once the food began to heat up, I added in a small jar of pizza sauce, mixed everything together well, and let it simmer until the potatoes and peas were done.
Speaking of peas, they were as simple as ever to make – we used canned English peas and simply sprinkled some black pepper in the pan along with them as they heated through.
After 20-25 minutes, the potatoes were finished!  I drained them well and then put them in a serving dish, tossing them with several pats of butter and two generous handfuls of parsley from the herb garden out back.
Next it was time to serve up the sloppy Joes – we used hamburger onion rolls as the base and piled the buns high with the beef mixture.  Several spoonfuls of peas on the side, and we were ready to eat!
I confess that there weren’t many leftovers from this meal; we both came to the table hungry today!  And this dinner did indeed brighten up our day and our spirits.  In fact, by the time dinner was over, the sun had even come out for a bit before dark.  Was that caused by our sloppy Joes?  I highly doubt it.  But it was a happy coincidence, anyway.

:)

Breakfast for Dinner.

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Tonight was a weird one in several ways: It was my first night back in town in more than a week, and LeeLee had to run off to a meeting immediately after work, meaning he wouldn’t be home for dinner.  But although I wouldn’t have a dinner companion, I couldn’t stand the thought of eating out again – I’d been doing that for a week straight!  I knew I needed something easy to make and filling – and fast.
You can count on good old breakfast for dinner!  I mixed up a batch of biscuits (using Bisquick, because, um, it’s quick), heated two vegetarian sausage links, and, in the last few minutes of the biscuits’ cooking process, fried an egg to accompany the meal.  (As you might be able to see from the photo, I may have left it in one minute too long; the edges got a bit crispy!  But we’re all friends here, right?)
Though this dinner is incredibly easy to make, it’s also incredibly tasty.  I like to add a pat of butter to my biscuits, and sometimes I tuck a sausage link in between the slices as well for some extra flair, because why not?
If I’d been on top of my game, I’d have enjoyed a mimosa to drink along with the meal to complete the theme.  Instead, I just had water.  Oh, well – breakfast for dinner hit the spot regardless!

:)

We Interrupt This Food Blog …

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To bring you photos of last week’s vacation – to both explain the radio silence on these pages and show you just a tiny slice of the majesty that is Glacier National Park. :)  This, friends, is the “living” in “living below your means.”

Back to recipes tomorrow!

:)