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The Kitchen Recessionista

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

Pantry Cleanout: Huevos Rancheros.

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huevos-rancheros

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?

:)

Shrove Tuesday Pancakes With Vegetarian Sausage.

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shrove-tuesday-pancakes-sausage

Happy Mardi Gras, y’all!

As is customary on Fat Tuesday, we sat down tonight to a big plate of pancakes, paired with vegetarian sausage for a bit of protein (and because we like it!). Before we go any further, I must confess that we each ate more than our share of pancakes this evening. I make two excuses for this.

  1. These were small pancakes, not those whole-pan jobbers that you get at the diner.
  2. The whole point of Fat Tuesday is to eat sugary, carby, wonderful things. Why deprive ourselves of the thrill?

I know I’ve mentioned before my newfound love of cooking pancakes in a cast-iron skillet. I must double down on this opinion here and now. I simply adore it! Who knew there was this whole world of cast-iron uses out there, just waiting to be tapped into? With just one pat of butter, I can cook an entire batch of pancakes with nary a burn mark on any of them. It’s a whole new world! What can’t the cast iron do?

So with the pancakes cooked perfectly golden, topped with butter and maple syrup, and the sausage heated up to a sensible standard, there was only one thing left to do: Eat! And we surely did, making hay while the sun shone on the waning hours of Mardi Gras. There’s not a single morsel left anywhere, I am happy to report! (But not to worry – we still have plenty of chik’n noodle soup left over from yesterday for our lunches!)

Tomorrow begins the Lenten season. But for now, for tonight, let’s live it up and let the good times roll! Eat, drink, and be merry – and if you enjoy a pancake or veggie sausage link along the way, so much the better. Laissez le bon temps roulez!

:)

Vegetarian Tomato Quiche.

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vegetarian-quiche

Before we get started with the meal talk today, first I just have to point out a little coincidence. As I searched for quiche on my own blog, just to refresh my memory as to how to make it (it’s been awhile!), I noticed this post from December 2013. Dec. 3, 2013, actually! A whole year ago, to the day! And here I am making quiche again! Time may fly, but some meals hang around from season to season. I do have to wonder, though, how many times that happens, particularly with some of our go-to dishes like Old Faithful, and I don’t even notice.

So here we are, having quiche again, and as I mentioned in my last post on the topic, I always expect it to snow when we have quiche, because during one of the first times I ever made it, it snowed and snowed. Now, I expect snow every time I bring the eggs out – a tall order, admittedly, and one that is rarely fulfilled in the non-winter months, that’s for sure.

I made tonight’s quiches – as usual, this recipe makes two, so we freeze one for later – about the same way I did a year ago. First, I drained a can of diced tomatoes and added half to the bottom of two pie crusts. Then I seasoned the tomatoes with oregano, basil, salt, pepper, onion powder, and a touch of chipotle powder. Then I poured the egg mixture – six eggs whisked with about a cup of soymilk – atop each pie evenly, then put both quiches in the oven and baked them for 50 minutes at 350.

They were both perfectly done with I brought them back out of the oven; sometimes I have a tendency to let them brown a little too much, but these worked out just great. LeeLee and I mowed down half of the first quiche (along with a side salad), leaving the rest for our breakfast or lunch tomorrow, and after letting the second one cool I wrapped it in heavy-duty foil, placed it in a zip-top bag, and put it in the freezer for later. That’ll come in handy during the holiday season, I know!

And with that, another year of quiche is upon us. I can’t think of a better wintertime treat!

:)

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!

:)

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!

:)

Breakfast for Dinner.

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This is another one of those meals that LeeLee and I just adore, but that for some reason I haven’t added to the menu plan in ages!  Maybe it’s because we have a home-cooked brunch at least once a weekend, or maybe it’s because I’m always eager to try out a new dish instead.  But regardless, it’s been much too long in between times for our beloved breakfast for dinner!
Tonight’s breakfast – I mean, dinner – I mean, breakfast – was a longtime favorite: scrambled eggs with drop biscuits and sausage links.  And it took no time at all.  I tend to rely on my friends at Bisquick for the biscuit mix, so all I had to do was add water and drop the biscuits onto a cookie sheet to bake them for 15 minutes or so.  I scrambled four eggs in the last five minutes of the biscuits’ cooking time, and heated the veggie sausage up before serving.

By the way — we don’t buy too many eggs these days, for both health and ethical reasons.  So when I do, I try to make a good, conscious choice.  We tried out Vital Farms’ eggs tonight and liked them quite a lot!  Of course they’re pricier than your standard grocery-store egg, but per all my research, they’re a more humane option.  And isn’t that what being frugal is all about — allowing yourself options to make better choices for your family?  Anyway, I’m not a soapboxy person (at least I don’t think so!), and I feel like everyone has to make the choices that are right for them and their families, but I did want to point that out. :)

Though it took little time – and, if we’re being honest, little effort as well! – you’d have thought I’d been working at this meal all day with the reception it got at the dinner (breakfast?) table.  We had a couple of biscuits left by meal’s end, but all of the eggs and sausage were cleared, not even a molecule left.  And I’ve already got my eye on those biscuits for tomorrow’s post-exercise breakfast.  LeeLee, look out!

:)

Pancakes and Vegetarian Sausage.

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Happy Mardi Gras, y’all!
Shrove Tuesday (aka Fat Tuesday) (aka Mardi Gras) is upon us again, and as usual, I whipped up pancakes and vegetarian sausage for dinner.  LeeLee and I have been enjoying our pancake tradition for years, and I’ve had it on the menu plan for several weeks now in anticipation of today. 
A couple of years ago, I used my cast-iron skillet to make a batch of pancakes, and my world has never been the same!  The nonstick properties of a properly seasoned skillet can’t be beat – not even my Teflon omelet pan is as smooth!  One pat of butter is all it takes to help an entire batch of pancakes (about 15 small ones in all) cook with pitch-perfect precision, with not a lot of babysitting from an often-distracted cook such as myself. 
For my whole life, I’ve had trouble getting pancakes to cook evenly throughout the batch – the first few always turn out so very nicely, golden and light, but by the end, I’m struggling to keep each cake from burning, and/or cooking on the outside but remaining raw on the inside.  The cast-iron skillet has changed the whole game for me.  No longer do I worry about burning the final rounds of pancakes!  No longer do I fuss and fight with them to ensure they’re all cooking evenly.  The skillet handles the heat so well that I can rest assured that the whole batch will come out nicely, and it hasn’t let me down yet. 
And so it came to pass that dinner was on the table with nary a burn mark, the pancakes fluffy and golden, the sausage heated up and ready for action.  We topped the cakes with butter and syrup – this IS Fat Tuesday, after all – and down the hatch they went!  When we rose from the table, there wasn’t a crumb left on our plates, but we weren’t hungry, either; a winning combination indeed.
Let the good times roll!

:)

Pantry Cleanout, Day 2: Huevos Rancheros.

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This pantry-cleanout week is getting good!  On tonight’s docket: Huevos rancheros!
We love huevos rancheros, and we love breakfast for dinner.  So as I scanned the fridge, freezer, and cabinets and saw we had all the fixins right here at home, I knew we had to hop-to.
I had half a package of corn tortillas in the freezer, so I pulled four of them out (two for me, two for LeeLee) and heated each one in a nonstick skillet for a minute or two on each side.  Once they were heated, I arranged them on our plates and went on to the next step: Heating up the refried beans.
We had half a can of beans left over from Sunday night’s dinner, so I heated them up in the microwave in the bowl I was storing them in.  Once they were warmed through, I spooned half atop LeeLee’s tortillas and half atop mine, topped each plate with cheese and some jalapeno slices (from the same jar we used last night), and cracked two eggs into the pan to fry.
Four minutes later (I know, I should cook them for less, but I’m paranoid about undercooking them!), the eggs were fried, so I carefully transferred one egg apiece to our plates.  I arranged two sausage links on each plate, as well, and then rang the dinner bell (figuratively – but wouldn’t it be FUN to have one of those old-fashioned triangles they used to ring for dinner?).
LeeLee was happy to see one of his very favorite brunch dishes on the dinner table instead, and I was tickled that I had everything I needed on hand to concoct another pantry meal!  And dinner went down quite smoothly – within 10 minutes, we’d wolfed everything down, leaving only the faintest veneer of yolk on our plates.
I’m learning a lot from this week of cleaning out my pantry – can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!
:)