Sign Up for the Weekly Catch-Up!

The best of the blog, in your inbox.

The Kitchen Recessionista

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

Vegan Garden Skillet Supper.

by

garden-vegetable-skiller

Our CSA has bestowed an embarrassment of riches upon us this season! And we’re really only just getting cranked-up. Just today, I came home from work to find a box of squash, beets, potatoes, onions, apricots, peaches, and more on my doorstep – and I am absolutely thrilled!

I knew just what I was going to make with several of the above ingredients: A garden skillet supper, which I originally learned about over at Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate blog. This recipe is genius in its versatility: Add a little of this, subtract a little of that, and regardless of what you’ve got at home, you can contour this dish to fit!

In my version tonight, I heated up four veggie burger patties, broke them into crumbles, and then tossed them with two diced zucchini and two small white onions (both from today’s box from Great Country Farms), plus one diced red bell pepper from Mr. Lopez’s stand at the Saturday farmer’s market. Then I added some salt, pepper, chipotle powder, and garlic powder, and finally half a jar of salsa just to add a little extra zing to the occasion!

As the veggies cooked and softened on a low and slow heat, I put a cup of white rice into the rice cooker and got it moving as well. By the time the rice cooker had clicked off, the veggies were ready as well, and we got the show on the road!

Wow! This dish packs a wallop of flavor, in large part due to the blend of vegan “beef” and veggies, and enhanced by the spices and salsa. LeeLee and I both went back for seconds and only too sadly convinced ourselves not to go back for thirds, giving in to better judgment. But that’s OK. We’ve got plenty left for the weekend! There won’t be a morsel left by the time we’re done.

:)

New Recipe: Nacho Salad Supreme.

by

nacho-salad-supreme

Friends, I’m afraid I have something to confess to you all. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been doing quite a lot of celebrating here at Chez Recessionista: First our wedding anniversary, then my father’s and my trip to Alaska, then the Fourth of July, then my birthday, then good old Alexandria’s birthday. We’ve hosted friends, gone out to eat with loved ones at fancy restaurants, and toasted more than our share of cocktails if you’d really like to know the truth. All of this has made our presence on the scale a bit more weighty, if you catch my drift. And I think you do.

So enough of all that. We’re getting on the right path again. The party may not be over – who wants that? – but at least the party needs to ebb and flow a bit more than it has been of late.

Enter the joy that is the dinnertime salad. Tonight’s rendition: Nacho Salad Supreme!

Admittedly, the name of this meal doesn’t sound all that light. But it’s sort of a placebo attempt, honestly. If you call a salad “Nacho Salad Supreme,” it’s got to be sinfully delicious, right? Even if it’s heavy on the salad and light on the nacho supreme.

First off, I scrambled some tofu on the stovetop by using my favorite breakfast recipe. As the tofu and tomatoes cooked, I heated up a can of vegetarian refried beans and prepared some veggies.

Once the tofu had firmed up nicely and lost its liquid, it was time for plating! I started by placing a light handful or two of tortilla chips on each of our plates, and then topped the chips with some refried beans. Next, I added a generous helping of scrambled tofu, then topped the tofu with lettuce. I then dotted the dish with cherry tomatoes, and then piled on quite a few sliced black olives. Next, I cut up an avocado and split it evenly across our plates, and finally topped the whole shebang with nutritional yeast, vegan sour cream, and salsa.

Does one or more of those ingredients not do the trick for you? No worries. Sub any ingredients in and out at will! We used what we had on hand, and it worked just perfectly for us, but there are so many ways to customize this dish and make it your own.

The final results were A+! We cleared our plates and then went back for the rest of the refried beans and lettuce. And the tortilla chips at the bottom of the pile did make us feel like we weren’t toeing the straight-and-narrow line quite so much. Crunch without a ton of calories – not a bad combination! And a pile of veggies and scrambled tofu on top? Heaven!

Here’s to a better showing on the scale!
NACHO SALAD SUPREME
serves two (or more)

What you’ll need:

¼ bag tortilla chips
The ingredients for scrambled tofu
1 can refried beans
1 head or bag of lettuce
20 cherry tomatoes
1 small can sliced black olives
1 avocado, sliced
Nutritional yeast to taste
Vegan sour cream to taste
Salsa and hot sauce to taste
Vegan cheese, optional

Prepare the scrambled tofu according to the recipe and heat up the refried beans. When they’re ready, on two plates layer everything according to the ingredient list above (and feel free to sub ingredients in and out at will!).

:)

Crock-Pot Monday: Vegan Chik’n Posole.

by

crockpot-chikn-posole

Tonight was my last night of tai chi class for the summer, but don’t worry – Crock-Pot Mondays will definitely continue! For the class’s last hurrah, this evening I came home to a slow cooker full of vegan chik’n posole, one of our favorite go-to summer soups.

I don’t usually cook posole in the Crock-Pot, but this morning I dared to be different and got it all suited up! And what a wonderful hands-off slow-cooker meal it is: The ingredients were prepped and mixed in 5 minutes flat this morning and I didn’t have to do another thing to it until we got home tonight and put a ladle into it for serving! Now that’s a low-key, no-fuss meal I can get behind.

The prep work went as usual: Add a big can of hominy, a bag of vegan chik’n strips, a can of tomatoes with green chilies, some dried minced onion, some garlic powder, some ground pepper, and four cups of vegetable broth to a pot (in tonight’s case, the Crock-Pot) and cook until piping-hot. On the stove, obviously you’d bring it to boiling first, but with the slow cooker, all that’s needed is to flip it to Low and let time work its magic!

The final result was as wonderful as usual. The hominy kept its bite despite 10 hours of cooking, the chik’n strips were wonderfully tender, and the tomatoes with green chilies only intensified in their spiciness. There were only a few spoonfuls left at the end of dinner – a sign of a meal well-loved!

:)

Saturday Cookout: Vegan “Beef” Fajitas With Yellow Rice.

by

vegan-beef-fajitas

Happy birthday, Alexandria!

Last night, we had a couple of friends over for a birthday cookout – Alexandria turned 266 years old this week, and what better way to celebrate than to put some fajita fixins on the grill and whip up some Cuba libres? I feel sure George Washington and Co. would approve.

So it came to pass that I sliced one red and one green bell pepper, plus a poblano pepper, and nestled them into an aluminum grill pan along with several handfuls of sliced baby Portobello mushrooms in a healthy dose of olive oil. Then I seasoned the whole kit and caboodle with cumin, garlic powder, salt, dried minced onion, and chipotle powder, and tossed them all together again, then set them aside until Go Time.

That, truly, was the hardest part of yesterday’s dinner prep! The refried beans went from can to grill pan (covered with foil); the vegan beef tips went straight from plastic package to foil packet, as did the flour tortillas (but not the same packet as the beef tips. Ahem.).

All that was left to do was to flip the rice cooker on after adding a double dose of rice and Goya seasoning (we were having company, after all, and quite honestly I was excited about the prospect of leftovers!), and fire up the grill. Once the grate was heated nicely, I added the tray of fajita veggies to the mix and let it cook for about half an hour in all, stirring occasionally. The same went for the refried beans, which ended up silky smooth on account of the long cooking time.

I cooked the vegan beef tips for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally, and then heated up the tortillas for the last 10-or-so minutes of the grilling time. Then it was time to take everything off the grill and dig in!

We piled our tortillas high with beans, rice, beef, and veggies, and then topped them with shredded lettuce, vegan sour cream, salsa, and some leftover olives from the appetizer course. We added a little extra rice on the side for good measure and were off to the culinary races!

The fajitas turned out beautifully, I’m happy to say, and at the end of dinner there wasn’t a speck of food left on anyone’s plate. Together, we finished off the beans and beef and made a significant dent in the rice and tortillas, but we were admittedly being cautious; there was strawberry-rhubarb pie with soy ice cream waiting for dessert!

The city’s fireworks display over the Potomac was a triumphant cherry on top of a wonderful day. Here’s to 266 more years, Alexandria!

:)

Taco Salad With Vegan Fish.

by

taco-salad-with-fish

Hello, friends!

My apologies for the brevity this week! Between work and home events, it’s been a busy one, carrying right on through today, which happens to be my birthday! After a few days of eating out for various and sundry reasons, I was itching to get back into the kitchen tonight, so I whipped up a version of my best vegan taco salad and managed to add in some Gardein “fish” for a spot of protein! And it worked out just perfectly, if I do say so.

I’ll be back on the proper blogging wagon next week (and tomorrow, of course, for Friday Favorite), but I did want to just pop in and say hello and tell you how much I miss you. Drop me a note in the comments and let me know what YOU’VE been up to this week!

:)

Sunday Cookout: Fourth of July Reprise!

by

fourth-bbq

Hi, friends! Happy Independence Day weekend! For the Fourth, we had an All-American cookout feast: Veggie dogs, squash in foil packets, and chipotle-dusted corn. And beer – one of our seasonal favorites, Derecho Common, from our friends down the street at Port City Brewing!

In fact, it was a pretty locally sourced meal all the way around! We topped our veggie dogs with sauerkraut from No. 1 Sons, our squash came from our CSA at Great Country Farms, and our corn came from … well, frankly, our corn came from Harris Teeter, so it’s not quite as local as the rest. C’est la vie!

We didn’t venture very far from home for fireworks – just down to the Potomac to watch all of the displays from around the region, albeit in smaller stature than if we were up close and personal with them – and we had a delightful time! And the caramel-banana pie I made for dessert added the perfect grand finale to the evening. A wonderful day, all the way around!

:)