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The Kitchen Recessionista

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

Noodles With Stir-Fried Tofu and Broccoli.

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Back!  Told you I wouldn’t be gone long. :)
What’s more, I’ve returned with glad tidings from the kitchen.  The meal we made tonight – noodles with stir-fried tofu and broccoli, from Nava Atlas’ The Vegetairan 5-Ingredient Gourmet, which is one of my favorite cookbooks ever – was filling, easy, and, most importantly, tasty.  Paired with some frozen spring rolls, it made for a perfect Thai-restaurant evening right here at home!
I began by boiling a pot of udon noodles, and as they neared their completion, I lightly fried a pan of diced firm tofu.  When the tofu cubes were nearly browned to my liking, I added a bag of (frozen, then steamed) cut broccoli and let the flavors mingle a bit.  I’d drained the udon by this point, so once the pan was heated through to my liking I tossed the noodles with a hearty helping of peanut sauce and just like that, we were ready to eat!
The result was fantastic.  Nava Atlas never lets me down, and tonight’s recipe was another winner!  LeeLee and I both went back for seconds, and one of us (I’m not naming names, but follow my eyes) even went back for thirds.  To say nothing of the spring rolls, which we also demolished.  Ahem.
So, in short, another winner!  And in Recessionista fashion, with five easy ingredients, it was another money-saver, too.

:)

Bean Quesadillas.

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This quesadilla recipe is one I’ve been using since at least 2001, and it’s my favorite by far.  I first made these bean quesadillas in my first solo apartment – no roommates, no hassle! – and though I haven’t made them quite as much over the last few years, they have a very soft place in my heart.  There’s just no better quesadilla recipe in my arsenal – period!
Tonight, I put some rice and seasoning in the rice cooker and then got to work on the quesadillas.  First, I chopped an onion and a jalapeno pepper and added them to a pan (coated with cooking spray) and let them cook until they were crisp-tender.  Then I added a can of pinto beans and a can of black beans, some garlic powder and cumin, and let the mixture cook for five minutes more.  Then I added some halved grape tomatoes and let them cook down a little bit – just until their skins were slightly wilted.
Then, I added several spoonfuls of the bean mixture to a flour tortilla, topped the mixture with Daiya pepperjack vegan cheese, and folded the tortilla over on top of itself.  I repeated this three more times – because my baking sheet can handle only four of these at a time! – and cooked the quesadillas at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.  By the time they were done, so was the rice, and we sat down to eat!
The final result was fantastic, as ever.  Just tasting the bean mixture reminds me of times past – a comforting feeling indeed.  And I look forward to being comforted again tomorrow – because we’ve got plenty of quesadillas left over!

:)

Three-Bean Chili.

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I’ve owned my current Crock-Pot for going on 15 years, and the novelty of coming home to an already-cooked dinner never gets old – never! 
Tonight I tried a new chili recipe for the first time, another from the venerable Robin Robertson’s Vegan Planet.  Robin never steers me wrong, and she didn’t in this recipe either!  The combination of black, pinto, and kidney beans with a huge can of crushed tomatoes, plus some tomato paste for sweetener and some jalapenos for spice, mingled beautifully with the diced onion, bell pepper, and chili powder.
LeeLee had to work late, so I was on my own come dinnertime.  As a result, I pulled out the ol’ TV tray, cracked open a beer, and poured a generous layer of Fritos in the bottom of my bowl, ladling several heaping spoonfuls of chili on the top.  I garnished the meal with some Daiya mozzarella shreds, and with that, I dug in! 
The results were fantastic.  I loved the sweet and spicy combination, with just a little saltiness brought in by the aforementioned Fritos.  At first, I was a bit concerned that I’d miss the meat analogue – many of my chili recipes call for vegetarian burger crumbles – but I didn’t miss it a bit.  In fact, I found the chili to taste lighter and fresher as a result!
Once I was finished with dinner, I pulled out two plastic containers and filled each one to the brim with leftover chili – one for LeeLee for later (and for leftovers), and one for the freezer for a later dinner.  I’m looking forward to defrosting it already!

:)

Pizza Bandiera With Salad.

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I got home from work tonight at a decent hour, perfectly energetic and ready to go.  But when I looked in the fridge and prepared to pull out the ingredients for tonight’s planned meal – a perfectly good choice – I just … didn’t want it.  Could not fathom the idea of eating a Chinese stir-fry with rice!

No, pizza was what I wanted, and fast.  Thank goodness we had this pizza bandiera on the menu for later in the week! 
The funny thing about this dinner substitution is that the new choice saved me no time.  I still had to prepare the vegetable mixture – a sautee of onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, wine, salt, and pepper – and prebake (and then bake-bake) the pizza dough.  And prepare the salad.  As well as wash two forks, because our silverware drawer was completely bare!  (The dishwasher is running as I type this.  It’s been a bit of A Week for being only Tuesday.)
I’d say I’ve never made this particular recipe – originally from Vegan Planet – before, but there’s a little red star by it in my copy of Robin Robertson’s wonderful cookbook, so clearly I have made it at some point or another.  It must have been years ago, though, and must not have made the impression this one did – because I think I’d remember a dinner as good as this one!  I was skeptical that the flavors would mingle well enough to make a good sauce-and-topping combination, but those fears were quickly put to rest when I tried the final product.  LeeLee and I both loved the mixture of sweet and savory, of mild and spicy, that this sauce provided.  And paired with a fresh lettuce-and-olive salad (I felt like another tomato on the dinner plate would be one tomato too many!), it was a great dinner indeed.
So, in short, we subbed one good but less-sought-after meal for another that we really, really wanted, and we didn’t have to call for takeout or spend any additional time on meal prep.  It’s a win-win!  (And not to worry.  That erstwhile dinner will show up soon enough. I’ll let you know when I make it!)
:)

Raw Stuffed Peppers With Avocado Fries.

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After last night’s Super Bowl extravaganza (we went to a friend’s house – I brought along a layered bean dip), LeeLee and I were feeling rather sorry for our nutritional state in the light of day today.  That was all the excuse we needed to put together one of my favorite raw meals – Ani Phyo’s stuffed peppers with a side of avocado “fries”!
I’ve written about these peppers before; they never disappoint.  (I see that last time I blogged about this meal, I neglected to take a photo.  Today, I’ve remedied that!)  I always forget how much time is saved when making a raw-food meal – there’s no cooking time to contend with, only hands-on prep!  And in this case, the food processor did most of the work for the cashew cheese that tonight’s Cubanelle peppers were stuffed with, so I can’t even take most of the credit for the preparation.
I did, however, make a few tweaks to my avocado-fries recipe, and LeeLee (never a huge avocado fan) was very pleased with the results.  This time, I sliced up an avocado into strips and then placed them in a bowl, adding salt, pepper, chili powder, and nutritional yeast to taste.  The chili powder made the difference for LeeLee this time around!  He’s even put in a request for another round of avocado fries ASAP.  I’ll take it!
Perhaps tonight’s raw meal will counteract the carby, potato chip-filled sins of last night.  Either way, we enjoyed dinnertime regardless!
:)

Pinto-Bean Tacos With Rice.

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Inspired by our recent Great Pantry Cleanout, I’m proud to say that tonight’s meal would have been right at home in our great experiment!  Indeed, the entire dinner only required some fresh vegetables from the store over the weekend to make it complete.
Lately, I’ve been experimenting with freezing unused items – for instance, last week I froze some leftover canned artichokes as well as half a block of tofu.  Along those same lines, after our most recent taco night I also decided to try freezing our leftover taco shells, which always seem to go stale in the cabinet and then find their way to the garbage can.  That’s an incredible waste of food over the long run, and I knew we could do better.
So tonight, as the rice (seasoned with a packet of Goya seasoning) finished cooking and the pinto beans (seasoned with some adobo powder) bubbled on the stove, I pulled four shells out of the freezer bag and heated them up at 325 for about seven minutes.  Once the time had elapsed, the moment of truth arrived: Would they taste stale?  Freezer-burned?  Otherwise “off”?
No!  They tasted just like taco shells should!  Fresh, crispy, and corny.  :)  So we stuffed them to the brim with pinto beans, lettuce, tomato, sliced black olives, diced onion, and some Daiya pepperjack shreds, spooned some rice on the side, and chowed down!
So, score one for the freezer, and score another for the ongoing installments of the Pantry Cleanout Project.  I can easily see the a Cleanout Meal making an appearance in our menu plan at least once a week – and now that I know of yet another item that’s easily freezable, I’ll be even more prepared going forward.  Saving money, avoiding waste, and eating well – it’s hard to go wrong!
:)

Broccoli-Cheese Noodle Soup.

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I ask you, can there be a better night to try a new soup than an evening where the mercury didn’t even crack 20 degrees, where the windchill hovered around 0 all day long?  (I recognize we have it much better than some of our friends and loved ones in the Midwest, who have spent the day in the negatives, both in temperature and likely in temperament.)
I came across this recipe over at The Frugal Girl last week and immediately added it to the menu plan.  Believe you-me, I wasn’t disappointed!  It was a cinch to make, and the end result was just fantastic.
When we got home, I chopped half an onion and heated it up on the bottom of my French oven (which always makes soup look extra pretty).  Once it was translucent, I poured in a carton of veggie broth and let it boil up nicely.  Then I added the macaroni, let it boil for 4-5 minutes, and then added a bag of frozen broccoli and some garlic powder.  Once the broccoli had begun to cook, I lowered the heat and stirred in the Velveeta (though, given the recent Velveeta Shortage of 2014, we had to use Safeway brand), and once it was smooth I added some almond milk.  A nice dash of pepper, and the soup was heated through before I knew it!
We hungrily ladled two heaping bowls’ worth of soup and lapped it right up.  Wow!  What a rich, hearty soup!  The cheese added a nice punch without being too cheesy, and the broth filled the meal out with nice flavorful undertones.  Also: I’ve enjoyed broccoli-cheese soup a million times, but how have I never thought to add noodles?  What a wonderful accompaniment to the dish!
In short, this will definitely have a place in the standard rotation.  And not just in the winter – it’s destined to be a year-round treat!
:)

Vegan Pizzadillas With Salad.

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Now, I’ve gotta be honest: I’ve been looking forward to dinner all the day long.  I knew I was making pizzadillas, you see, and they are just so good and so tasty that my mind kept going back to them throughout the workday – in meetings, at my desk, even when eating lunch.  I know, I have problems.  That’s OK.  Diff’rent strokes and all that.
So after my volunteer shift at the shelter, and after I’d gone by LeeLee’s office to pick him up, and after we’d gotten home, changed clothes (well, I did – my volunteer clothes always come back smelling like hot dogs and dog-dogs), and fed the cat, it was time to get to work.  This is when pizzadillas really shine – they take no time to put together and don’t even dirty up any pots and pans!
I brought out two baking sheets and laid two flour tortillas side by side on each one.  To each tortilla I added several spoonfuls of pizza sauce, spreading it around evenly; a generous portion of sliced white button mushrooms; seven or eight slices of Yves pepperoni; and a heaping handful of Trader Joe’s vegan mozzarella.  Once my pizzadillas were dressed, I laid another tortilla on top of them, sprayed the tops with cooking spray, and cooked them in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
As they baked, I tossed a simple salad of romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, black olives, and a little extra vegan cheese.  Then I sat and petted the cat for a few minutes as the pizzadillas continued their time in the oven!
Once they were done cooking, I let them sit for a couple of minutes to firm up and then ran my pizza cutter in the middle of each one crosswise and lengthwise, making four quarters out of each pizzadilla.  We each took four pieces, filled the rest of our plates with salad, and dined happily!
And now we’ve got three more pizzadillas waiting in the fridge for lunches.  LeeLee may have to arm-wrestle me for these!
:)

Hoppin’ John.

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The wintry weather hasn’t let up a bit, with windchills making my time at the bus stop bitterly cold this afternoon, so I knew we had to have something warm, hearty, and comforting for dinner tonight.  What better to fit the bill than Hoppin’ John?
To be truthful, I’d planned on putting this meal in the Crock-Pot this morning, but a 3:30 a.m. call to 911 left me feeling a little ragged.  (Our carbon monoxide detector began to go off unexpectedly at 3:30, and it wouldn’t stop even after a reset.  The nice firemen who came through the house to test the air said the problem was with the detector itself, which was a relief.  And yes, they came with their sirens blaring and lights flashing, waking up the neighborhood.  Mortifying! … but I’m glad they came.)
So suffice it to say, I was in No Mood to whip up dinner at breakfast time.  So tonight, once I got home from work, I poured a bag of black-eyed peas into a pot, added a can of Rotel, a four-pack of Lightlife chorizo links (sliced into coins), a heaping amount of collard greens, some salt and pepper, and four cups of broth.  I brought the pot to a boil and then left it simmering for the better part of an hour, adding a little extra water every so often when the peas started cooking down too much. 
With 10 minutes left in the cooking time, as the peas were almost perfectly tender, I added half a cup of instant rice to the pot and stirred the grains in well.  By the time the rest of the meal was cooked through, so was the rice!  I love it when that happens.
We chowed down with gusto, enjoying our piping-hot dinner out of warm yellow bowls.  And not to worry – there’s a ton left for our upcoming lunches!  Perhaps we’ll revisit this on Saturday?  The dinner, I mean.  Not the firefighters.
:)

Seitan Fried Rice.

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It’s been awhile since I made this meal, using a recipe from Christy over at Southern Plate (she recently added the recipe to her site, so we can all share in the glory!), and tonight was the perfect time.  LeeLee and I returned home from work cold and shivering from a day whose temperature didn’t emerge from the teens, and both of us, wonder of wonders, had no pressing engagements to attend to.  It was a perfect night for a fast-cooking (and easy-cleanup) meal!
Remember a few months ago, when I espoused the joy of finally learning to stir-fry?  Well, as I heated the pan for tonight’s dinner, I suddenly became afraid that I’d lost my touch after a couple of months away from Asian cuisine.  Thankfully, though, stir-frying must be like riding a bike; I hopped right back in where I’d left off!
As is my way, I made a few tweaks to the recipe – I subbed seitan for the chicken, obviously, and instead of using brown rice I used two bags of Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice, which worked just great in the fast-paced environment that was my kitchen experience tonight.  Finally, the Safeway was out of store-bought shredded carrots (a shortcut I employ quite often!), so instead I purchased a regular old carrot, peeled it, and shredded it myself.  In the process, I became a convert, and unless we’re using a multitude of shredded carrot for something, I’ll just buy a carrot and shred it myself going forward.  Don’t know why I didn’t think of that before. :)
While the meal finished its time in the pan, I heated several egg rolls up in the microwave, and just a couple of minutes later we were sitting down to eat dinner!  All told, the entire process probably took 15 minutes, including prep time – not a bad way to get a meal to the table!
And what a tasty meal it was!  Christy has never steered me wrong, and our affinity for Asian food helped this dinner over the top.  After the first time I used this recipe, I realized how easy fried rice was to make; after serving this again, I don’t know why I don’t make it more often!
:)