Friday Favorite: In which I highlight one of my favorite experiences from the previous week. No description, no commentary; just a simple photo. Enjoy!
:)
Archives for June 2015
Vegan Taco Salad Supreme.
It’s no secret that Mexican fare is a mainstay here at Chez Recessionista, in much the same way as we adore Cajun food. But sometimes, the usual tacos, burritos, and quesadillas get a bit worn-out, a bit heavy. That’s when we turn to taco salads to fill the void in the most delicious way possible!
Now, I suppose in full disclosure I should mention that we enjoyed a Pie Day at work today, where my colleagues and I brought in nearly a dozen pie offerings and sampled just as many. So I was hardly virtuous in my dietary plan as the hours ticked by this afternoon! And by the time I got home, I knew I had to have some greenery in order to at least try to offset the sweets.
I’m calling tonight’s taco salad creation the Taco Salad Supreme because it has a little bit of everything, and it has a lot of flair. First, I heated up two taco-shell bowls in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes, and as they warmed, I coated a pan with cooking spray and sautéed some Gardein beefless tips to add some steaky flavor to the salad! As they cooked, I also warmed a can of black beans in a small saucepan, seasoning the beans with some adobo spice for a little extra kick. Once the taco bowls were ready and the vegan steak was heated through, it was time to plate everything up!
First, I placed a taco bowl atop two plates (one for LeeLee and one for me, of course). Then in each bowl I layered a hearty dose of black beans (sauce and all), then plenty of lettuce, then the beefless tips, then black olives, cherry tomatoes, Follow Your Heart vegan provolone slices (I use them in my lunch wraps, and it was the only cheese I have in the house at the moment!), and Snapea Crisps. We topped our salads with a homemade creamy lemon dill dressing – with dill from our garden, because why not? – and then poured ourselves a glass of wine to go along with the main event. Cheers! Time to eat.
These taco salads are so much fun to eat – the edible bowl adds an air of festivity to dinner! And by the end of dinner, we had nothing left but two leftover tortilla bowls and a handful of black olives. No matter – I’ll be back to my wraps for lunch tomorrow, and the bowls will keep in the freezer for quite some time! I feel sure we’ll put them to good use in short order.
:)
Crock-Pot Tuesday: Vegan Sausage, White-Bean, and Kale Stew.
Crock-Pot Monday may have come a day late this week, but it was anything but a dollar short! I ask you: When fresh kale (from our CSA, Great Country Farms) pairs with white cannellini beans and vegan sausage, what could possibly go wrong? Not a dang thing, friends.
This morning, before work, I pulled the Crock-Pot out from its weeklong R&R and put it into service for a vegetarian spin on this Real Simple recipe I’ve used for eons. I put four links of Tofurky Italian sausage, sliced into coins, into the crockery and then added a can of cannellini beans, a can of diced tomatoes, some garlic powder, and as much kale as I could possibly stuff into the pot before pouring a carton of broth over the whole shebang (the recipe calls for a can of broth, but I use a four-cup box) and mixing everything around nicely. Then all it took was about 10 hours on Low, and by the time LeeLee and I arrived home from work, dinner was ready!
Now, longtime readers of this blog may remember another time I made this stew only to find it contained an extra bit of (non-vegetarian) protein upon serving time. You’d better believe that I inspected every leaf of kale with extreme vigilance tonight to ensure I didn’t fall prey to the same scenario a second time! And – at least to our knowledge – tonight’s meal was caterpillar-free for a very welcome change.
And what’s more, our caterpillar-free meal made enough for one of us to enjoy for lunch tomorrow! I love a stew that keeps on stewing.
:)
Vegan Chik’n Gumbo.
First of all, I recognize that Crock-Pot Monday usually takes place on this hallowed day, but this week we’re flipping the schedule around a bit due to the week’s outlook! Look for Crock-Pot Tuesday instead, filled with all the promise of Monday only with an extra day of experience.
Tonight, I arrived home completely spent. I had an incredibly productive day at work – one of those days that makes the hours just fly by – but I’ve also been battling a sore throat for the last 24 hours or so, brought about by an influx of pollen from who-knows-what. To be frank, I’d sort of thought we were done with the allergy season, but what do I know? This spring has been one for the record books.
All that to say, I decided to forgo my normal Monday tai chi class in order to get some R&R and prepare for another crazy workday tomorrow. And what better way to restore one’s health than a piping-hot pot of vegan chik’n gumbo?
Now, tonight’s road to gumbo glory wasn’t an easy path. No, first, I went on a fruitless search for frozen chopped okra – my second such search in three days’ time – and came up empty. Then I decided to just leave the okra out of the gumbo and carry on with dignity, even though my heart ached at the thought of a meal without its star ingredient. But what could I do? LeeLee was running late, I was getting hungry, and my throat remained on fire. I had to have some gumbo, and stat.
But then a miracle occurred. LeeLee called about 30 minutes ahead of schedule to say he was on his way!
“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Could you swing by the Harris Teeter and see if they have any chopped okra?”
It took some doing, admittedly. The shelf was teeming with whole okra, which simply won’t do in this dish, and nary a bag of the chopped variety to be found. But after several minutes of rooting around in the freezer case, LeeLee emerged triumphantly with a bag of chopped okra safely in hand! When he arrived home with it, both he and the okra were given a heroes’ welcome, and I put the bag of frozen goodies into the already-boiling broth.
As the gumbo cooked, so did a batch of white rice in my rice cooker, and by the time the gumbo was finished and the okra was heated through, so was the rice! So we spooned copious amounts of both rice and gumbo atop our plates and each enjoyed two-plus helpings.
As is the way with gumbo, we’ve got plenty left for lunch tomorrow! It’s the gift that keeps on giving, and it sure is a generous one at that.
:)
Sunday Cookout: BBQ Tofu With “Bacon”-Wrapped Asparagus and Tater Tots.
Rejoice! It’s CSA season again!
Tonight’s meal was a local-food feast! First, we enjoyed some great skinny asparagus spears from our friends at Great Country Farms, which I wrapped in (non-local, admittedly) vegetarian bacon and put on the grill. Next, we enjoyed some barbecue tofu (that I had been marinating since this morning), which caramelized just beautifully after 15 or so minutes on the grill! Now, the tofu’s not local, but the rest of the accouterments were: Sandwich rolls from Maribeth’s Bakery, Stinkin’ Rye kraut from No. 1 Sons, half a sliced onion from Mr. Lopez’s farm stand, and kale from this week’s Great Country Farms box. (The only other item we enjoyed tonight was a batch of tater tots – again, not local, but we did a good job otherwise!)
Bacon-wrapped asparagus is one of my new favorite ways to serve this wonderful springtime veggie. A take on my bacon-wrapped Brussels sprouts that we often enjoy over the wintertime, this recipe really adds an extra dose of zing to fresh asparagus! Each stalk is incredibly flavorful and cooks up like a dream nestled in a strip of veggie bacon. Ten to 15 minutes on the grill is all you need to have a wonderfully fresh side item!
But the BBQ tofu didn’t play second fiddle, either. Served on fresh sandwich rolls that were toasted just slightly on the grill prior to dinnertime, and topped with all of those great condiments above (I’m especially proud of the kale-for-lettuce substitution and the addition of the rye kraut!), it reminded me of some of my favorite tofu sandwiches down at Soul Vegetarian in Tallahassee, which I was first introduced to more than a decade ago! Now that’s good.
At any rate, we’re thrilled that the CSA season is back upon us and are already looking forward to Thursday’s new box! And I’ve got a trick up my sleeve to take care of the rest of this week’s kale – look for an update tomorrow!
:)
Friday Favorite.
Friday Favorite: In which I highlight one of my favorite experiences from the previous week. No description, no commentary; just a simple photo. Enjoy!
:)
A Word or Two About Pimiento Cheese.
I went home to visit family last weekend. It was a much-needed, long-awaited five days with two of the people I love most in the world, my dear mom and dad, and I can’t begin to express what a rejuvenating experience it was to be away from the hubbub of daily “normal” life but yet also awash in incredibly deep familiarity. The end result was a weekend of respite, followed shortly by the sense that I could conquer the world upon returning back to Chez Recessionista. A magical visit, indeed!
While I was home, my mother and I whipped up a batch of pimiento cheese – a luxury neither of us indulges in when we’re away from the other! Save for the extremely rare serving during a noon football-game party in the fall, visits home are the only times I enjoy this wonderfully comforting classic.
Let’s get one thing out of the way quickly: A diet food this isn’t. Two blocks of grated cheddar and a generous dollop or two of Duke’s mayonnaise later, the pimientos are about the only ingredient that remains nutritionally viable throughout the process! But there’s just something about the blend of cheese, mayo, grated eggs, and pimientos – mixed with a hearty helping of black pepper – that makes me feel so eminently welcome, makes me feel that I am finally home.
Our family has enjoyed pimiento cheese for decades – in moderation, of course! I remember having it on Ritz crackers at my grandparents’ house (sometimes they had a tub of store-bought in the fridge for emergencies), and stealing taste after taste during FSU football games growing up. Now, years later, it calls me home, and one bite instantly transports me back to all of those wonderful childhood memories. With a pimiento-cheese sandwich on my plate, all the ensuing years melt away, leaving only comfort in their place.
Let me be clear: Mama’s pimiento cheese isn’t the magnet that draws me home once a quarter or so. But it certainly doesn’t hurt, that’s for sure! And every time we make a batch, we have a chance to linger in the kitchen together, catching up and joking and laughing. I can’t think of a better homecoming celebration than that!
:)
Vegetarian Beef and Hash Brown Casserole.
Friends, I apologize for my radio silence these past few days! I was away visiting family in Florida over the weekend, and I confess it’s taken a day or two to get my pantry back in order upon my return. But I’m back in the saddle again now and thrilled to be back in the kitchen! Even after a long (and fun, mind you, but still long) day at work, I can almost always muster the energy to roll up my sleeves and get to cooking. Today was certainly no different!
Tonight I brought out one of my longer-term favorites: Vegetarian beef and hash brown casserole! I first made this recipe several years ago after finding it in Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate Classics magazine special, and it’s been a mainstay ever since. Obviously, we use vegetarian beef instead of the real deal – tonight I used four chopped-up veggie burger patties – and sometimes, like tonight, we make some substitutions based on what we have on hand. I was fresh out of my onion/celery/pepper vegetable blend, so I used dried minced onion and a can of pinto beans instead – and we loved the result!
This dish takes a little time to cook, but the prep work couldn’t be simpler: Just place a layer of frozen shredded hash browns in a lasagna pan, bake for 15 minutes, then top with the beef and veggie mixture, the other layer of hash browns, and a jar of spaghetti sauce, and bake again for 15-20 more minutes. Then top the casserole with some shredded cheese and bake for another 5-10, and you’re ready to eat!
The flavors in this recipe are always so grand; we love how the tang of the sauce plays nicely with the milder flavors of the beef and potatoes. Topped with a little salt and pepper (for LeeLee) and nutritional yeast (for me), it’s a grand marriage of flavors indeed!
And furthermore, this casserole makes enough to feed an army. I’m looking forward to digging in again tomorrow!
:)