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The Kitchen Recessionista

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

New Recipe: Vegetarian “Shrimp” Scampi Over Linguine.

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Vegetarian shrimp scampi, where have you been all my life?
As a Gulf Coast girl, I used to eat shrimp scampi all the time.  I loved the blend of tart lemon and sweet wine and my beloved shrimp, which was my favorite food before I went vegetarian (and the single meat product I ever missed afterward).  Now that there are several vegetarian “shrimp” products on the market, I can enjoy that scampi once more!  Or twice more.  Or thrice.  Or … well, dozens of times in the coming months, I’m sure!
Now, I’ve got to be honest: I’ve never made shrimp, or “shrimp,” scampi ever before in my life.  Someone else – a friend, a relative, a restaurant – has always done the cooking.  But I knew what I liked, and I knew what I wanted, and I also knew it was possible to enjoy thanks to a package of Sophie’s Kitchen breaded vegan shrimp in my freezer!  So I got right to work.
The full recipe is below, but the shortened version is: I heated some linguine, then got to work sautéing the onion (a Vidalia onion I picked up at a farmer’s market on our way home from the beach yesterday – do you know how difficult it is to find Vidalia onions this far north?  I nearly wept with joy when I saw a crate of them!) and minced garlic.  Once they were translucent, I added the juice of a lemon, a half-cup (or so) of white wine, some green peas, and some butter, then topped it with some salt and pepper and let the liquids reduce.  Once they reduced, I threw the shrimp in the pan – I baked them first, because they were breaded and I didn’t want all the breading to fall off in the pan during the cooking time! – and heated everything together once more.  After that, we were ready to eat!
The end result was fantastic, if I do say so myself. The scampi sauce was tart and sweet with a hint of peppery goodness, and the peas and vegetarian shrimp went together perfectly.  The shrimp was great, as well – it tasted, well, shrimpy, which I very much appreciated given all my hard work!  The dish made me remember those shrimp scampis of old, and then made me so happy that I could re-create such a dish with a vegetarian flair all these years later.  I’ll definitely make it again!
And now, the recipe …
VEGETARIAN “SHRIMP” SCAMPI OVER LINGUINE
Serves 2-4 (depending on how hungry you are)
What you’ll need:
1 box linguine
2 tbsp. olive oil
½ onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
½-¾ white wine
1 lemon, sliced in half
1 cup frozen green peas
2 tbsp. butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1 package vegetarian shrimp (we used Sophie’s Kitchen brand)
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
First, heat a pot of water to boil.  Once it’s rolling nicely, add the linguine and let it cook.
Around the time you add the linguine to the pot, place the vegetarian shrimp on a baking sheet and bake them in the oven at 425.  You’ll add these to the pan at the last minute, but you want them to be fully cooked first; we use breaded shrimp and don’t want them to lose their breading in the pan!  (If you’re not using breaded shrimp, you can probably get away with adding them straight to the pan when the time comes, without the pre-baking.)
Next, add your olive oil to the pan and heat the burner to Medium.  Once the oil has warmed up, put the onion and garlic in and allow them to cook until they’re translucent, about 5-7 minutes.  If a few bits of garlic brown, no problem – just keep on cooking. :)
Once the onion has cooked (because the garlic doesn’t take nearly as long), add the wine and the juice of a sliced lemon and mix everything around nicely.  Place the butter in the pan along with your salt and pepper to taste.  Then add the peas and allow the liquid to reduce until it’s nearly gone.  If your linguine is finished before the liquid has reduced properly, give it a little gas and flip the burner up to Medium-High.  (Just keep an eye on it!)
Finally, it’s time to drain the pasta and add the shrimp to the pan – no, not all at once.  Drain the pasta and let it sit, and then add the baked shrimp to your pan, stirring everything around to coat thoroughly.  Be careful of the breading!  You’ll surely lose a little of it, but try to be gentle when you toss everything regardless.
Just before serving, add the parsley and stir everything around once more.  Pile your plate high with linguine, add a hearty helping of scampi, and enjoy!

:)

Vegan “Fish” Fillets With Mixed Veggies and Couscous.

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Up until recently, it’s been awhile since we’ve tried any fish or “fish” – we’ve been vegetarian for the better part of 15 years, and over the last decade or so have found most vegetarian fish products largely unsatisfying.  In recent months, however, our taste buds have been piqued by some new products on the market, and we’ve welcomed them with open arms!  For this Gulf Coast girl, enjoying something “fishy” once in awhile is a taste of home.
So tonight we popped open a package of Sophie’s Kitchen vegan fish fillets, put them in the oven, and baked them right up.  Alongside the fish we served a package of steamed mixed vegetables and a saucepan of couscous (which was another menu item largely absent from our lives and our pantry until recently – it’s really making a comeback now, though!). 
We’ve really enjoyed Sophie’s Kitchen’s products over these past few months (and, just to be clear, I have no relationship with Sophie’s Kitchen; I’m just speaking my mind :)), but I confess I was a bit nervous about what tonight’s “fish” fillets were going to taste like.  Over the years, we haven’t had great experiences with many “seafood” products (other than the occasional veggie shrimp), and most fillets I’ve tried from time to time simply haven’t been up to par – or, in some cases, have been inedible.  But I should have known that Sophie would do right by me!  The fillets were great!  The breading crisped up nicely in the oven, the protein had a good mouth feel, and the flavors were seafoody enough to evoke memories of what used to be, but not soseafoody that they were off-putting.  A win-win!
The mixed vegetables and couscous were a hit as well – we don’t have a single bite of either side item left.  But we DO have two fillets for lunch tomorrow – I’m looking forward to mine already!

:)

Middle-Eastern Tacos With Couscous.

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Twice in one week, LeeLee has peeked into the kitchen before dinner and exclaimed, “We haven’t had THAT in awhile!”
Tonight’s subject?  Couscous!
I don’t know why I haven’t made couscous in months; it’s so easy, versatile, and tasty to boot.  Tonight, with my favorite Middle-Eastern Tacos from the Soul Vegetarian Cookbook as the entrée, I knew I wanted something non-standard to accompany the dish.  Couscous fit the bill!
These tacos couldn’t be easier to make, and they’re a great spin on the traditional taco setup.  I took two cans of kidney beans, drained them well, and mixed them with tahini, lemon juice, garlic powder, and cumin.  (The recipe calls for a puree at this point; I prefer my beans to be intact in the tacos, so I omit that bit.)  Then I let the mixture sit at room temperature for half an hour or so.  Sometimes I’ve done this step and sometimes I haven’t, but I’ve got to say, letting the bean mixture sit really does make a big difference!
When it came time for us to sit down for dinner, I set some water to boil and added the couscous, covering the pot and letting it sit for five minutes to firm up nicely.  At this same point, I filled four taco shells with the bean mixture and heated them up in the oven at 350 degrees.  While everything cooked, I set out a plate of lettuce, tomato, sliced black olives, and Daiya mozzarella cheese as add-ons, and by the time I was done with that prep work, it was time to eat!
The couscous was a great accompaniment to the tacos; not as heavy as yellow rice, but equally flavorful, it carried the Middle Eastern theme throughout the plate.  And the tacos themselves were as tasty as ever.  I love the blend of kidney beans and tahini, and the lemon juice added a great tang!
As for leftovers, we do have a bit more filling for LeeLee to have for lunch tomorrow with some fresh taco shells.  The couscous, however, was obliterated in one sitting.  What can you do?

:)

New Recipe: Vegan “Tuna” Melts With Peas.

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Ahhh, tuna, how I’ve missed you!
Not the real seafood version, of course – it’s been much too long for me to even remember it all that well.  But for years now, ever since Tuno left the grocery-store shelves, we’ve gone without a vegetarian version.  Until now.
While surfing around the Web last week, I stumbled upon an announcement that Sophie’s Kitchen had released a new “Vegan Toona,” and I made sure to stop by Whole Foods on my way home from work earlier this week to pick up several cans to try.  I immediately knew which recipe I would start with: Tuna Melts!
To be perfectly honest, to call this recipe a recipe is a bit of a stretch given how easy this is to put together.  Especially when you get your Toona seasoned, as I did (I selected the Black Pepper seasoning for this go-round).  But bear with me here.  You’ll enjoy it, I promise.
LeeLee and I sure did – by the end of dinner, not a single Toona melt remained, and the pot of peas was depleted as well.  I’ll trade a lack of leftovers for a tasty dinner any day!
VEGAN “TUNA” MELTS
Serves two
What you’ll need:
4 English muffins, sliced in half
1 can vegan tuna (I used Sophie’s Kitchen’s Vegan Toona)
4 slices of cheese, each cut in half (I used Daiya Swiss slices)
What to do:
Lay out each muffin slice on a baking sheet.  Atop each slice, place a spoonful or two of the tuna, spreading it out to cover the surface.  Next, place half a slice of cheese on each muffin half. 
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the muffins are crispy.  Enjoy!

:)

Sloppy Joes With Steamed Veggies and Mac & Chreese.

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“We haven’t had this in awhile!” LeeLee exclaimed upon coming home from work and peering into the kitchen, eyeing the sloppy Joes simmering on the stovetop.  And he’s right – though it’s one of our perennial favorites, we really haven’t given sloppy Joes their due as of late.  After mowing down nearly a full pan tonight, I wonder why it’s been placed on the proverbial back burner of late?  Who knows.  But after tonight’s successful, quick, and tasty dinner, I can already visualize its resurgence this summer!
I put the water on to boil for the mac and “chreese” – one of my favorite boxed vegan mac and cheese products.  (I’m all for making my own from scratch, but some nights simply aren’t conducive to it!)  As it heated up, I coated a pan with cooking spray and tossed a bag of vegetarian burger crumbles in, flipping the stovetop dial to Medium.  To the crumbles I added garlic powder, onion powder, sliced canned mushrooms, and a jar of pizza sauce, stirred everything together, and moved on with my life.
Finally, the water had heated up and I added my box of macaroni, bringing it back to a hearty boil.  As the pasta softened, I steamed a bag of mixed vegetables in the microwave (how easy is that?  But so tasty!), and by the time the noodles were fully cooked, the veggies were heated through and the sloppy Joe mix had become incredibly flavorful.  To the mac and chreese I added some almond milk and the flavor packet, stirred everything together over low heat, and just like that, dinner was ready.
Sadly, we don’t have any leftovers for tomorrow, but for two good reasons – we both came home from work hungry, and the dinner was just that tasty!  We loved our sloppy Joes, served atop hamburger onion rolls, and the macaroni and veggies both served as great complements to the main event.
So why DON’T we make this meal more often?  Who knows?  Rest assured I’ll make up for lost time this summer.

:)

Memorial Day Cookout: Vegetarian Beer Brats With Asparagus and Baked Beans.

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Happy Memorial Day to you, friends, and my thoughts are with those who have lost loved ones.

Though the Memorial Day holiday isn’t the official start of the summer season, it sort of is, in terms of summertime activities.  Though we’ve been cooking out for weeks already, the Memorial Day barbecue holds a certain gravitas that our typical Sunday cookouts can’t quite muster. It’s the start of something Big, the start of summertime treats and pool parties and beach trips and outdoor movies.  As a result, I’ve been planning for it for weeks!
Tonight was an all-grill feast – no indoor cooking required!  First, I poured a can of baked beans into a grill pan, covered it with foil, and placed it on the grill to heat up, allowing a cook time of about 35 minutes from end to end.  Next up came the asparagus: These spears were just big enough to fit on skewers, so I carefully threaded them through and sprayed each side with cooking spray.  When I knew we had about 15 minutes left in our grilling time, I placed them onto the grates and seasoned each side with some Cajun seasoning.
Finally, out came the beer brats and accompanying sauerkraut!  As the brats cooked, I put some sauerkraut in a foil packet and heated it up alongside for some extra zest.  When dinner was nearly ready, I tossed two buns on to toast.
As for the final result: It was wonderful.  The brats, sauerkraut, asparagus, and beans were all fantastic (if I do say so), and the accompanying beer wasn’t so bad either!  We have a couple of brats left over for lunch this week, which I know neither of us will turn down.  Hooray for summer fun!

:)

Vegan Lasagna Primavera.

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I’m not gonna lie – this recipe has more steps than I usually care to embark upon on a Thursday night.  But the final result was so incredibly wonderful that it makes all the work worth it!
This was yet another recipe from the amazing Robin Robertson’s Vegan Planet, and as is the norm with Ms. Robinson’s work, it didn’t disappoint.  The filling was teeming with zucchini, mushrooms, shallots, carrots, crumbled tofu, parsley, spices; the vegan béchamel sauce that accompanies the filling is perhaps one of the most amazing sauces I’ve ever had, vegan or no!
I went against the rules a bit by not boiling my lasagna noodles before placing them in the pan; that’s a time-saving trick my mother showed me long ago that continues to pay dividends today!  Otherwise, though, I followed Robertson’s recipe to the letter (almost), and I wasn’t disappointed with the results.
What a wonderfully light, yet filling, dish!  The lasagna had so many fresh vegetables inside that we didn’t even serve a side salad as accompaniment, and the béchamel sauce added a wonderfully hearty taste without being overly rich.  The tofu filling was almost ricotta-like in texture and had a very fresh taste, and the noodles cooked down just as Mom always says they will. :)  What else could you ask for!
How about leftovers?  We’ve got those, too – enough to carry us through the weekend.  Hooray!

:)

Pink Beans and Rice With Vegan “Fish.”

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Tonight, we traveled to Puerto Rico – in our little kitchen, that is – with a new take on Old Faithful!  Pink beans, yellow rice, and even some “fish cakes” on the side – what could be better?
We’d never tried pink beans before, but when we spied them in the international grocery store awhile back we knew we had to bring them home for later.  Turns out “later” was tonight!
I steamed the rice by cooking it in the rice cooker along with a packet of Goya seasoning, and as it cooked, I heated the beans on the stovetop as I would Old Faithful.  (Call it a lack of creativity if you must, but I wanted my first enjoyment of pink beans to be pure and unadulterated!)  As everything cooked, I heated some Sophie’s Kitchen “fishless sticks” in the oven to stand in for a traditional codfish cake.  This was our first time trying this particular Sophie’s product, and not to spoil the surprise, but we liked it very much!
Once everything was thoroughly cooked, it was time to serve the meal.  We spooned rice onto each of our plates and topped it with the pink beans, placing the fishless sticks on the side.  Then came the toppings – chopped onion, salsa, sour cream, Daiya cheddar, hot sauce, and black olives, in random order!
The result?  Fantastic!  We loved the mellowness of the pink beans and thought the fishless sticks were great – tasty, and reminiscent of fish without being too overly fishy.  I get the sense that the pink beans will gladly take on the flavors of whatever we season them with, and we’ll definitely experiment with seasoning blends in the future!
And, as usual, our hearts sang with joy at the realization that at least one of us will get to enjoy these leftovers tomorrow.  I love when lunch comes pre-cooked and pre-packed the night before!

:)

Vegan Tomato Pie With Salad.

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Oooh, Memorial Day is almost here! And with that, the start of the summer season!
I’m jumping the gun a tad today by launching in with the year’s first tomato pie, but that’s OK.  I think you can handle it. ;)
I was first introduced to this recipe by Christy over at Southern Plate, and it’s been a family favorite ever since!  Tonight’s recipe was slightly different from the ones I’ve made in the past, however, in that I used vegan substitutes for the cheese and mayo ingredients!  It’s just LeeLee and me dining tonight, so I figured what’s the harm in a little experimentation between friends and loved ones.  So instead of using cheddar, I used Daiya cheddar; instead of full-fledged mayo, I used Vegenaise.
Now, sometimes these substitutions work like a champ; sometimes they don’t.  Tonight, thankfully, was a champ!  The Daiya blended beautifully, and the Vegenaise added the same creaminess that regular mayo would’ve.  And though the tomatoes weren’t farmer’s-market-fresh, they were still juicy and tasty, their flavors enhanced by half an hour in the oven.
Like last night, we paired our entrée with a salad complete with fixins from the garden: Fresh lettuce and homemade creamy dill dressing with backyard limes.  (The cherry tomatoes came from Safeway, but let’s not quibble.)  It made for a cool side, dovetailing nicely with piping-hot pie!
And with that, the season’s first tomato pie is in the books.  There’s more where this comes from!

:)

New Recipe! English Muffin Pizzas.

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Why, pray tell, haven’t I made these earlier?
When you want all the taste and flavor of pizza without dealing with making your own dough, these English muffin pizzas hit the spot.  Dress them up however you would a regular pizza and feel your cares melt away.
OK, I may be overselling that last part – I still have a care or two, even after dinner.  But I can’t express enough my love for these mini-pizzas.  They’re quick, easy, and of course tasty!
Tonight, LeeLee got home a little later than planned, and before he arrived I had occupied myself in our great spring decluttering spree and lost all track of the time.  When he called to say he was on his way, I sprung into action – and dinner was ready almost as soon as he walked in the door!  This recipe is THAT easy.
We served the pizzas with a side salad – but a side salad with extra flair!  All of the lettuce came from our backyard garden, and we topped it with tomatoes, mushrooms, and Daiya cheddar.  The dressing was a homegrown affair, as well – Vegenaise, olive oil, salt, pepper, and backyard dill and lime juice (from a backyard lime tree!) blended together into a creamy, wonderful topping.
Give the English muffin pizzas a try and let me know how you like them!
ENGLISH MUFFIN PIZZAS
Serves two
What you’ll need:
4 English muffins, sliced in half
1 jar pizza sauce
1 package Daiya mozzarella (or the cheese of your choice)
1 package veggie pepperoni
1 container of sliced button mushrooms
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Arrange each muffin half on a large baking sheet.  Top each muffin with pizza sauce to taste (we like ours pretty saucy!).  Next, top each muffin with mozzarella (don’t skimp!).  Finally, add pepperoni onto half of the muffins and mushrooms onto the other half – or in any other combination you prefer.  Or with any other toppings you prefer.  The opportunities are limitless!
Next, place the baking sheet into the oven for 10 minutes, checking after 7 or 8 minutes just to be safe.  Once the cheese is melted and the muffins are crispy, they’re done!  Serve and enjoy.

:)