Now this was a meal I’d been looking forward to all week! There’s just nothing like a sloppy Joe. Paired up with peas and topped off with a twice-baked potato (which I’d never made before), it was a great dish.

But the potato. Oh, the potato! I’d never known how to really make a twice-baked variety until a couple of weeks ago, when I stumbled upon this recipe. Instantly, my mind shifted to our makeshift “root cellar” (really the cabinet under the counter), where three bags of potatoes sit waiting to be used (and used often). And I knew that I’d have to give this rendition a try!

Truth be told, it wasn’t hard work at all. Sure, it took time to bake seven potatoes (!) and then let them cool enough to where I could scoop out the insides and prepare the filling. But the actual work took upwards of 10 minutes, tops … and with that, I had restaurant-quality potatoes right here in Chez Recessionista. To add to my bliss, I was able to freeze five of the potatoes for use later (more on my latest freezing craze in another post, I promise).

So, in short, the meal turned out great. And now LeeLee has leftover sloppy Joes for tomorrow’s lunch, too. But I’m taking the leftover potato. Sometimes, generosity just doesn’t pay. J

The stats:

Buns: $0.99/eight ($0.12/person)
“Beef”: $4.29 ($2.15/person)
Pizza sauce: $1.85 ($0.93/person)
Mushrooms: $2.49 ($1.25/person)
Peas: $1.69 ($0.85/person)
Potatoes: Prepaid.
Sour cream: $2.29 ($0.57/person)
Cheese: $2.99 ($1.50/person)

GRAND TOTAL: $16.59 … or $7,37 per person.
BUT WAIT! This dinner made enough leftover for a couple of additional meals, AND the potatoes made enough to freeze for at least four more servings. So the per-person price goes down even more!

:)

Please forgive the delay in posting this week! I ran a marathon on Sunday and have been in recovery (read: sleep) mode for the last 48 hours or so. But I’m back now … and hungry! So let’s get to it.

Today’s dinner was a great one for a nice rainy day – quiche served alongside a lush green salad. It was so tasty, so fresh, and teeming with summer veggies cooked at the peak of perfection!

Wait. Summer?

Remember this dinner, where I made two quiches and froze the second one? Well, we’re reaping the rewards of that today! And honestly, this reheated quiche was even better than the original. It was firmer, tastier, and more cohesive since it had time to settle. And believe me, it was very difficult not to just split the pie plate in half and eat it all!

So this experimental frozen quiche worked out great. We’ll definitely try it again!

The stats:

Quiche: Free! (Already paid for, if you must know the truth, but free for today!)
Salad: $3.99 ($2.00/person)

GRAND TOTAL: $3.99 … or $2.00 per person.
BUT WAIT! This meal makes enough for LeeLee to have for lunch tomorrow. So the per-person price goes down even more!

:)

Clearly, it’s “Use Up the CSA Bounty Week” here at Chez Recessionista, and in keeping with the theme, tonight I threw together a new dish. Forget pasta primavera, that celebration of spring! Tonight, we welcomed in pasta otoño, a celebration of autumn goodness!

Instead of squash and other warm-weather goodies, I sliced two baby eggplants, cut some green beans into one-inch lengths, and washed some final yellow cherry tomatoes from today’s farmer’s market. I mixed the veggies with a sauce concocted with milk, flour, butter, and spices – and a touch of red-wine vinegar for taste – and added some diced Boca chik’n patties for some additional protein. I tossed the rotini pasta into the saucepan, and voila! Pasta otoño!

And it was so good. It was lacking a little tiny bit because of our sudden salt shortage (OK, it wasn’t quite “sudden” – I just forgot to pick up a new salt shaker at the grocery store!), but we hardly noticed. The creaminess really brought out the flavors in the eggplant, beans, and tomatoes! And though this dish has its roots in a standard primavera, it adapted beautifully to a more autumnal feel. Next time, I may add some nutmeg to the mix, just to augment the mood.

So, in short, this dish was a success. I can always tell the recipe has gone over well when LeeLee requests it again before the dishes have even been cleared from the table! Suffice it to say, we’ll be doing this one again. LeeLee has requested the addition of Tofurky sausage links next time. I think we can manage that!

The stats:

Rotini: $1.00 ($0.50/person)
Eggplant: Prepaid.
Green beans: Prepaid.
Chik’n patties: $3.50/four ($0.88/person)
Tomatoes: $3.00 ($1.50/person)
Silk: $2.39 ($0.80/person)

GRAND TOTAL: $9.89 … or $3.68 per person.

:)

Sadly, last week was our final CSA delivery of the season. We enjoyed each and every one of the 18 weeks that Great Country Farms made deliveries to our door and loved the fresh foods we ate every week as a result! But all fields must rest now and again, I suppose. Even if it means we’ll just have to forage at our local farmer’s markets for the winter.

(Oh, such a tough life, no?)

Anyway, included in Great Country Farms’ last shipment was a heaping helping of Swiss chard, which I knew just what to do with. Quesadillas! They’re always a winner.

And so tasty. We each mowed down a full quesadilla apiece, and the rice besides! I don’t know what I’ll do now that we won’t be getting fresh chard delivered each week! Will our quesadilla nights run aground?

But the more I think about it, the less I worry on the whole. Cabbage season is upon us, after all … and cabbage quesadillas are tastier than you think!

… but they’re still no Swiss chard.

The stats:

Tortillas: $2.29/ten ($0.46/person)
Cheese: $2.99 ($0.75/person)
Swiss chard: Prepaid.
Rice: $0.88 ($0.44/person)
Onion: $0.50 ($0.25/person)
Jalapeno: FREE from the garden!

GRAND TOTAL: $6.65 … or $1.90 per person.

:)

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s sweet potato time again!

The potatoes were supposed to serve as an accompaniment to the patties, with the salad providing an assist. But as is the way with sweet potatoes, they quickly took center stage and gave our dinner a big boost!

That’s not to say that the black-bean patties played a distant second fiddle. Instead, they made a perfect complement to the veggies gracing our plates, and topped with some homemade canned salsa, they couldn’t be beat. Mashed with a jalapeno pepper, some bread crumbs, and some spices, they made a great and hearty entrée for a hungry Chez Recessionista!

But the sweet potatoes. Oh, the sweet potatoes. I think I cannot go a single week this fall and winter without them. They’ll be a mainstay of the kitchen from here on, in all their sweet and savory glory.

Welcome back, yams. It’s been too long.

The stats:

Black beans: $2.00 ($1.00/person)
Bread crumbs: $1.99 ($0.14/person)
Jalapeno: Prepaid.
Sweet potatoes: Prepaid.
Salad: $3.99 ($2.00/person)

GRAND TOTAL: $7.98 … or $3.14 per person.
BUT WAIT! This meal makes enough patties for another meal’s worth of leftovers. So the per-person price goes down even more!

:)

By the time I got home from work tonight, after spending half an hour walking in the rain, umbrella barely keeping the misty water off of my jacket, the meal I’d already planned to make seemed the only course of action. Of COURSE tonight would be an excellent night for chik’n posole! A hot, steamy broth, teeming with onions, tomatoes, peppers, and chik’n strips? Paired with a salad and some asiago bread? What could be better?

I hadn’t tried this recipe before, having just stumbled upon it recently over at $5 Dinners. But as we have decidedly entered the soup season, I knew it would be a hit at Chez Recessionista. But what I hadn’t banked on was its ease of cooking – what a great thing! Within about 15 minutes, dinner was served, and the preparation steps themselves took little to no time.

But the proof is, as usual, in the tasting. And this dish hit the spot! We both loved the mixture of flavors, how the tomatoes were prominent without being overpowering, how the chik’n was more of an accompaniment to the larger meal than the main event. And I’d never really given hominy a try before – what a pleasant surprise to the palate!

So, in short, I’m very thankful there’s enough left over for my lunch tomorrow. (LeeLee will be polishing off the rest of the tater tot hotdish, if you must know!) We’ll definitely be using this recipe again!

The stats:

Chik’n strips: $4.69 ($2.35/person)
Diced tomatoes: $1.00 ($0.50/person)
Veggie broth: $2.58 ($1.29/person)
Onion: $0.72 ($0.36/person)
Hominy: $1.00 ($0.50/person)
Jalapeno: Prepaid.
Salad: FREE (buy one, get one free)!

GRAND TOTAL: $9.99 … or $5.00 per person.
BUT WAIT! This recipe makes enough for leftovers. So the per-person price goes down even more!

:)

Today marked the first day this season that the high temperature remained below 50 degrees, and as a result, I felt some special cold-weather comfort food was in order. Add the temperature to the rainy day, and I knew I had to get in the kitchen and get to work!

The end result? A new recipe I stumbled upon over at Cooks.com, while I was looking for an apple pie recipe, of all things! It’s called a “Tater-Tot Hotdish,” and it is pure comfort-food heaven. While I was initially concerned that the fat content would be much too high and the nutrition content much too low, that fear was assuaged when I put everything together in the baking dish. The dish teemed with mixed vegetables – a whole bag full! Add that to the protein in the ground “beef” (we used Quorn grounds today) and the creaminess of the soups, and you’ve got a good, hearty meal that just so happens to be topped with tater tots.

And so easy! This recipe took five minutes, max, to prepare, and about an hour to cook. And the results were great. We’ll definitely give this one another try – I can already tell it’s going to become a cold-weather favorite!

The stats:

Tater tots: $2.50 ($0.83/person)
Mixed vegetables: $1.67 ($0.84/person)
Ground “beef”: $4.99 ($2.50/person)
Cream of celery soup: $0.99 ($0.50/person)
Cream of mushroom soup: $1.49 ($0.75/person)
Onion: $0.72 ($0.36/person)

GRAND TOTAL: $12.36 … or $5.78 per person.
BUT WAIT! This recipe makes two additional servings. So the per-person price goes down even more!

:)

Mondays will sneak up on you sometimes. You’re just riding along, enjoying your Sunday afternoon, and the next thing you know you’re swept up in Monday madness, catching up on things left over from Friday and trying to tackle Tuesday’s problems early.

Yeah … I had a stealthy Monday today.

So when I got home from work, I was in No Mood to whip up a big dinner. Add to that the fact that we’re at the end of our grocery week (I usually go to the store on Tuesday), and the answer was clear.

Ramen with Rotel it is! We added a salad to put some extra greenery into our diet and came away from the table feeling full and happy.

Tomorrow I’ll get back to “normal” meals. But what a great thing, to have a go-to meal or two that will do in a pinch!

A postscript: I did have time, however, to whip up an apple pie, teeming with handpicked apples. Not a bad night in the kitchen!

The stats:

Ramen: $1.75/six ($0.15/person)
Rotel: $1.00 ($0.50/person)
Boca chik’n patties: $3.99 ($1.00/person)
Salad: FREE! (Buy one, get one free!)

GRAND TOTAL: $6.74 … or $1.65 per person.

:)

This has been a good week – and weekend – of cooking and canning! Let’s back up a bit and move forward day by day.

On Friday, LeeLee and I played hooky and went apple-picking down at Hartland Orchard in Markham, Virginia. We picked nearly a bushel of apples and settled up for a bill of $16 — $10 for the apples and $6 for the cider! Not too shabby, seeing as how all those apples would come in handy in days to come (more on that later).

On Saturday, we watched some college football with friends and served my mother’s best recipe of sausage-corn chowder, accompanied beautifully by our friends’ fruit empanadas and crescent rolls (and a few apples for our hosts). No photos – I blame the depression that followed Florida State’s loss – but rest assured there was barely a drop of chowder or a crumb of empanadas left.

Sunday brought with it a canning expedition! I gave apple butter a try for the first (and second) time – I whipped up two batches in just about three hours. And let me tell you … it is so easy to do, and so tasty! And now I’ve got enough apple butter to give to friends and family and, oh, yes, eat myself.

Sunday also brought with it one of my favorite salads – the Spinach, Egg, and Mushroom Salad I’ve made several times now, inspired by the good folks over at $5 Dinners. We enjoyed it Sunday as much as we ever have, and I confess I’m going to miss it in the winter months, when dinner salads don’t have quite the same appeal. Perhaps we can make an exception for this particular salad – it’s got some warmth with the cooked eggs and onions, anyway!

On Monday, I gave the orange-chicken recipe I found over at A Year of Slow-Cooking a try, and it turned out pretty well. It did have one hiccup, which was completely my fault and not the recipe’s – I noticed later that the recipe called for six hours in the Crock-Pot, and my chik’n were in there for more than eight!! And it showed a bit around the edges – some areas were pretty much charcoal by the time I got home! But the rest of the meal was great, and I’ll definitely give this one another try (and follow the directions next time!).

We had a bye day on Tuesday, when I went to see a concert. May not have been frugal, but it was surely fun.

Which brings us to yesterday, when Mama’s famous potato soup made its second appearance of the season in as many weeks. A blustery afternoon led us to believe that soup was really the only remedy, and the potato soup fit the bill, as usual! And we’ve certainly got the potatoes to spare. :)

And with that, we’re back up to date. Look for a new breakdown tomorrow!

:)