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The Kitchen Recessionista

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

Baked Penne With Vegan “Beef” Sauce.

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baked-penne-with-vegan-beef

Now, before we get down to business, a disclosure. LeeLee and I enjoyed this meal last night, but I got so caught up in the evening’s events (namely, cleaning the house in advance of family coming this weekend!) that I neglected to blog. I’m sorry about that. But here I am, albeit a day late and a pasta short. Hee.

Every quarter or so – though, honestly, it feels like more frequently than that! – I whip up a batch of baked penne, ziti, or rotini. It’s such an easy dish to put together, and it lasts in the fridge for days and days after the fact; a true budget-stretcher and time-saver! And last night, I was in need of some time savings, that’s for sure. As I mentioned above, some of our relatives are coming to visit this weekend, and who has the time to toil away in the kitchen for hours on end when I’ve got to clean it right back up afterward to make it look like upstanding, presentable people live in our home? (Pro tip: They do not, in fact. But don’t tell my mother-in-law, OK?)

Anyway, as per usual, I boiled up a pot of penne and in a lasagna pan mixed the drained pasta with a can of sliced mushrooms, a package of Lightlife Smart Ground “beef,” and a large jar of prepared sauce. (You could also make your own tomato sauce, as I do for lasagna and other occasions, but again, time and patience were both short for us last night.) Then I topped the entire pan with a generous helping of Daiya mozzarella shreds and baked the whole kit and caboodle for 20 minutes at 375. Everything’s cooked by this point; you just want to heat the sauce and “beef” through and melt the cheese on top.

After that, we feasted like royalty! We both adore this meal and were only too happy to polish off more than we should have. LeeLee even snuck back into the kitchen later in the evening for a little penne snack! A true sign of a successful dinner, that.

And, of course, we’ve got plenty of pasta left for lunches (and perhaps the occasional dinner) this week! I can’t wait.

:)

Pantry Cleanout: Vegetarian Chik’n Parmesan.

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vegetarian-chikn-parmesan

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.

:)

New Recipe: Vegan Shrimp Bucatini With Tomato Cream Sauce.

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vegan-shrimp-bucatini

Well, here we are on another winter-weather Sunday, and yet again the backyard smoker is encased in ice and surrounded by snow. Fortunately, I anticipated just such a move on Mother Nature’s part before going to the grocery store, and as a result I was armed with a new plan when the freezing rain began to fall earlier today!

As far as I’m concerned, there’s no better way to spend a homebound afternoon than in the kitchen making pasta while playing jazz records on the hi-fi. Wes Montgomery and Ramsey Lewis were my cooking companions as I whipped up a batch of vegan bucatini pasta (using this basic recipe from Slow Club Cookery, which has never let me down!). The KitchenAid made the pasta extruding a breeze, and before I knew it I had a meal’s worth of noodles lounging atop a sheet of parchment paper on the kitchen table. I sprinkled some flour on top and nested the noodles in a zip-top bag, putting said bag in the crisper until it was time for dinner!

vegan-bucatini

Then, after LeeLee was back from the gym and I was finished playing several days’ worth of The Sims (it’s a guilty pleasure; what can I say?), it was time to get to work on the business of making dinner. The detailed recipe is below, but the gist of the story is that I started by baking the vegan shrimp – we used Sophie’s Kitchen brand – and then set a pot of water to boil for the noodles. Then I began making the tomato cream sauce (details, again, below!). By the time the noodles were finished and the shrimp had baked through, the sauce was bubbling and thickening nicely, so I mixed the pasta into the Le Creuset and tossed the noodles with the tomato mixture.

We served the shrimp atop our pasta so they didn’t become soggy with the sauce, and that was definitely a wise move in retrospect. Paired with a slice or two of bread and a glass or two of wine, the dish made for an incredibly wonderful Sunday evening meal! The almond milk added a wonderful creaminess to the already-flavorful tomato sauce, and the bucatini soaked up the spices and tang beautifully, the sauce folding itself within the pasta’s hollow tube. LeeLee and I both went back for seconds, and there’s plenty left over for lunch tomorrow. The only thing left to decide is who gets to feast like royalty on a Monday at noon?

This is a recipe I know I’ll turn back to again and again. Simple enough to make for a Sunday supper, yet festive enough to serve to company, it’s a versatile dish that’s always at the ready!

VEGAN SHRIMP BUCATINI WITH TOMATO CREAM SAUCE

Serves 2-4

What you’ll need:

1 package bucatini pasta (or your choice of other pasta)
1 package vegan shrimp
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cans diced tomatoes (or 1 can diced tomatoes and 1 can tomato sauce for a thicker result)
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. basil
1.5 cups almond milk
1 tbsp. vegan butter

Set a pot of water on the stove to boil. Once it’s boiling, cook pasta according to package directions (or, if homemade, to your recipe’s directions), drain, and set aside.

As the pasta cooks, bake the vegan shrimp according to the package directions and set aside (feel free to keep it warm in the oven).

For the sauce: In a large pot or pan, heat the olive oil on Medium and add the onion, sautéing until translucent. Next, add the tomatoes and spices, stir thoroughly, and cook on Medium for 5-7 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and thickening slightly.

Next, add the almond milk and vegan butter, stir, and continue cooking on Medium heat. The sauce should continue to thicken a bit – though don’t fret if it’s not super-creamy at this point. It’ll thicken even more after mixing with the pasta.

Add the pasta into the pot with the sauce and toss thoroughly to coat evenly with the tomato cream mixture. Heat for another minute or so on Medium to allow the flavors to blend.

Finally, plate your pasta and top with the shrimp. (We each enjoyed about 5 to 7 pieces of shrimp on our plates, for reference – but the sky’s the limit!) Serve with some parsley for garnish if you like, and enjoy!

:)

Crock-Pot Monday: Vegan Chik’n Noodle Soup.

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vegan-chikn-noodle-soup

The snow is here! For the first time, really, all winter long, we’ve gotten ourselves a good and proper snowfall. As I write this at about 10:30 at night, there are about four inches’ worth on the ground and another three-or-so left to fall. It’s a wonderfully beautiful scene out there! We could stand a winter wonderland from time to time.

So it made sense, then, that this evening’s Crock-Pot Monday offering was a steamy bowl of soup. Who doesn’t love a brothy, slightly salty, spice-filled concoction teeming with vegan chik’n strips, shredded carrots, diced celery, onion, and parsley/basil/garlic powder/pepper/turmeric?

As today was Presidents Day, I didn’t get my slow-cooker act together until later in the day – around 1 p.m., to be precise. So instead of letting the broth cook (sans noodles) all day on Low, I flipped the switch to High and let ’er rip for five hours or so. When I was about 20 minutes away from dinnertime, I added some linguine, broken into halves, and placed the lid back on, stirring occasionally, every five minutes or so.

Now, this is a good time to admit that I may have been just a little bit heavy-handed on the ol’ linguine tonight. A little voice inside my soul told me to quit at about half a package worth, but a louder voice inside my ear told me to FILL IT UP! So I did. And friends, by the time our second helpings rolled around, my chik’n noodle soup had become chik’n and noodles instead. Personally, I don’t find this to be a bad thing. But if you’re looking for a pure soup, lay off the linguine a bit, eh?

I mentioned second helpings above. We both enjoyed a hearty second bowl full, indeed! For being so simple to make, this soup is amazingly flavorful, filling, and hearty. A perfect way to celebrate a snowfall if you ask me!

And judging by the amount of leftovers we’ve got in the fridge, we certainly won’t stop at second helpings. There’s at least enough for three lunches, maybe more! I’m definitely not complaining.

:)

Pantry Cleanout, Day 1: Vegetarian Skillet Lasagna.

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vegetarian-skillet-lasagna

Well, friends, it’s time for another week of Pantry Cleanout!

The last time we launched one of these weeks was about a year ago, upon returning from a long weekend to New York. This time around, there’s no special occasion; just a pantry that’s in need of cleaning out and a budget that’s in need of recalibration. Not spending money on this week’s grocery bill always makes a big difference, and we’ve certainly got the items in our cabinet and fridge to make things interesting in the interim!

Tonight, I whipped up a batch of skillet lasagna to start things off. I love Christy Jordan’s recipe over at Southern Plate; it’s a perpetual crowd-pleaser, and it’s easily made to boot. With simple, easily stored ingredients like egg noodles, cottage cheese, and diced tomatoes, it’s a cinch to whip up on the fly! And that’s just what I did tonight. Because friends, while we are cleaning out our pantry this week, we’re also restocking our bar in preparation for an upcoming Mardi Gras party. So between work and home tonight, I stopped off at good old Total Wine – clear on the other side of town – to stock up on all the favorites: Abita, Dixie Blackened Voodoo, and the like. So by the time I got home, time was short and my patience was even shorter. But my hunger was so very, very long. As was LeeLee’s!

And so I got to cooking. First, I put a big pot of water on to boil for the egg noodles, and then I diced an onion and browned it with a bag of Gardein ground “beef.” Once the egg noodles entered the pot, I added basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and water to the beef-and-onion mixture, and let the whole thing simmer throughout the pasta’s boiling time.

Once the noodles were ready, I mixed them in with the beef, onion, and tomatoes, and then topped the whole thing with a blend of cottage and mozzarella cheeses. Once the cheese had melted, we dug right in! And, I don’t mind saying, each enjoyed two helpings. But even with four helpings gone, we still have plenty for lunch tomorrow! And I know we’ll each make good use of it. A quick meal that tastes great and has plenty of servings for lunch? It’s a win-win if you ask me!

:)

Vegan One-Pot Pasta.

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vegan-one-pot-pasta

As you may have discerned by now, I’m a carb-lover. It helps that I’m a runner and triathlete, so sometimes carb-loading is actually called for by my training regimen, but regardless, I adore carbs in all their forms – rice, bread, pasta. The subject of pasta comes up quite a lot within these pages, I recognize, and I was thrilled with tonight’s recipe revelation as a result.

You know, one of the few things I don’t care for in pasta recipes is that you always – always! – have to make two pots’ worth of food. One pot is devoted to the cooking of the pasta; one is devoted to the cooking of everything else. This means that at the end of the meal, there are at least two pots to clean up, on top of the plates, silverware, and all the accouterments. Surely there’s an easier way.

On Pinterest the other day – do any of y’all look at Pinterest, too? It’s great, right? – I came across a recipe for vegan one-pot pasta, and I knew I had to try it right away. Everything cooks in one pot? There are fresh veggies teeming out every which way? The sauce thickens as the pasta boils? Sign me UP.

And so tonight I cut a leek, submerged the slices in water twice to get rid of the sand, then diced a zucchini, and added them to my beloved Le Creuset. Then I added everything else the recipe calls for – save for the garlic scape, since it’s not that time of year here – and added a carton of cherry tomatoes, and simmered the pasta on medium-low for about 10 minutes. Truth be told, I simmered it all a little longer than that – about 12 minutes – because LeeLee has strep throat (get well soon, darlin’!) and I didn’t want to push his luck with al dente pasta.

The final result was a wonderfully flavorful pasta with an amazingly thick sauce (I confess I was not a total believer in the sauce until the cooking time had elapsed – I felt sure it would be too thin!). Topped with some nutritional yeast, vegan parm, and extra pepper, it was an incredibly filling, tasty meal! And we firmly believe it is restoring LeeLee to good health even as I type this. With so many great veggies, how can it not?

As an aside, there’s plenty for leftovers tomorrow, as well. Here’s to good health!

:)

Penne With Vegan Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce.

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penne-with-sundried-tomatoNow HERE is an oldie-but-goodie recipe I haven’t made in ages!

Way back in 2002 or so, when LeeLee and I were decidedly progressing toward full-on vegetarianism, I sent away to PETA for their Vegetarian Starter Guide (a very handy resource to this day, I must say!). It arrived in the mailbox as advertised, and instantly I was smitten by the plethora of recipes that were included on several pages in the middle of the booklet. So smitten, in fact, that I got straight to work, making vegetarian shepherd’s pie, an enchilada bake, and, in a decadent twist, ziti with sun-dried tomato cream sauce. It was that last recipe that I made again tonight – and have made many times in the years in between!

This meal is so easy to make, but it tastes so downright complicated that it’s a wonderful one to share with friends and other assorted guests. While the pasta boils, simply blend silken tofu, sun-dried tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil, garlic, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar in a food processor until smooth, and then toss with the drained pasta once it’s done cooking. Then add artichoke quarters and parsley and dig in!

We served the meal tonight in my bright blue Le Creuset, just to give it an air of additional class, and enjoyed a breadstick on the side and a glass of wine to boot. And the final result was just glorious! The sun-dried tomatoes bring a nicely sweet tang to the dish while the silken tofu turns the consistency into a creamy wonderful blend. The artichokes give the dish some bite, while the parsley freshens the meal right up! Add a little nutritional yeast on top in lieu of vegan parm, and you’ve got a complete dinner that just can’t be beat.

Hooray for the Vegetarian Starter Guide – even lo these many years later!

:)

Happy Birthday, LeeLee!

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spaghetti-meatballs

Because we are still celebrating, this will be a short check-in tonight to lift a glass to LeeLee, who may have aged another year but still refuses to act it.

We’ve been celebrating all weekend, in fact, from enjoying a dinner party with friends on Friday night (non-birthday-related, but still good fun) to splurging a bit on a dinner out on Saturday to tonight, when I made one of the birthday boy’s favorite meals, spaghetti and vegetarian meatballs with a side of foccacia. Paired with champagne, of course, because why not?

Happy birthday, LeeLee, from the Wonder-Cat and me!

:)

Spaghetti With Kale and Lemon.

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spaghetti-with-kale-and-lemon

I don’t know why, but there’s just something about a simple pasta recipe that always tastes so … classy. These minimal-ingredient dishes are so timeless, so warm and comforting, that I sometimes don’t know why we go to the trouble of concocting multicourse and multi-pan recipes!

Tonight I gave this recipe from over at Bev Cooks a try (I stumbled upon it on Pinterest, naturally), and LeeLee and I were both thrilled with the results. Two pots, a handful of ingredients, and minimal prep time? Yes, please!

As the spaghetti boiled, I prepared the kale just as Bev requested – by first sautéing some garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil, then wilting the kale with lemon zest and juice, adding sunflower seeds, salt, and pepper, and then I set the dish aside to wait on the spaghetti. Once the pasta was boiled properly, all I had to do was add the noodles to the pan (I used my beloved Le Creuset, because it looks pretty and why not), toss tem with some parmesan and leftover pasta water, and … voila! Arrivederchi! (No, that’s not right.)

We each added a little extra salt and pepper and parmesan to the top of our helpings after plating them, and then we dug right in. The lemon juice brought out the flavors of the kale, the garlic and red pepper fit right into the middle of the flavor profile, and the pasta soaked up the olive oil and the flavors just beautifully. I added a little nutritional yeast atop mine, because I always do, and the end result was certainly no worse for wear.

I don’t mind telling you we each enjoyed a second (smaller, to be fair) helping – and still have plenty for lunch tomorrow! I love a meal that can stretch into two or three. And even if this one couldn’t, I’d love it anyway, because its simple, classic flavor profile is one I’ll gravitate toward again and again.

:)

Baked Penne With Vegan Chorizo.

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I’m not sure that I’ve mentioned to y’all that I’ve got a race coming up this weekend.  It’s my big one of the year, a half-Ironman, which lends itself to all sorts of emotional highs and lows the week prior.  (Right now, I’m at a high, so don’t worry, this post will be upbeat and civil!)
So with the big race in mind, I’ve elected to fuel myself nicely with carbs in advance.  That’s where tonight’s meal – baked penne with vegan chorizo – comes in!
This is certainly not the first time I’ve discussed this dish on these pages.  Baked penne (and its cousin, baked rotini) is a wonderful way to enjoy a hearty one-dish meal that has enough leftovers to last for days!  Paired with a glass of wine (or what-have-you), it’s a perfectly complete meal that’s at home at both a candlelit dinner for two and a relaxed game night with friends.  What can I say?  It’s a social butterfly who’s comfortable in any situation.
As I referenced earlier, I’m a little short on patience this week (see: emotional highs and lows).  So I needed to make something tonight that offered me a quick win.  Yet again, baked penne fit the bill!  All I had to do was boil and drain the pasta, pour it into a lasagna pan, and mix the noodles with a jar of spaghetti sauce, sliced vegan chorizo, and mushroom slices.  Top everything with a bit of Daiya mozzarella, bake at 350 for 25 minutes or so, and voila!  It was time to carb-load.
And carb-load we did!  LeeLee joined me, even though he’s not racing this weekend – solidarity means a lot!  And we’ve still got half a pan (or more) left for lunch tomorrow.  A win-win!

:)