Making do with an emptying fridge

Last night, after finishing my last baking order for the week, I peered into the fridge for dinner ideas. A lone cucumber, bag of carrots, and emptying jar of salsa stared back at me, daring me to make my move. As I uttered comments of discontent, Justin yelled in and said, "Let's just order out." I thought about it, but then I thought, No way! We need to save money because we may be moving in a month or two and we've eaten out too much lately (our original goal of one eat out pass per month has fallen by the wayside recently). I mustered up courage, flung the fridge back open, and rolled up my sleeves.

Our pantry is always well stocked with grains, so I pulled out the rice cooker and started a batch of brown rice. Then I heated a skillet with some olive oil and added the rest of an onion - less than a 1/4 cup, but hey, at least it didn't get wasted. After the onion was cooked, chopped up 3 carrots and threw those in. I followed with beans and some spices, and ended up with a really nice Mexican rice and beans dish. Ta-da! My man even went back for seconds. Here's my recipe:

Odds & Ends Mexican Rice & Beans
2 cups brown rice
olive oil
onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 tomato, diced
1/2ish veggie stock
1 can garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
1/3-1/2 cup TVP
Mild - hot salsa
salt & pepper
chili flakes
chili powder
cayenne pepper

Heat the onion in olive oil over medium heat. Once onions are translucent, add carrots and cook until they are tender. Add veggie stock, beans, and TVP and cover. Let the mixture simmer covered for a while, allowing the beans to soften, stirring occasionally. You may need to add more veggie stock or water as it gets soaked up pretty fast by the TVP and beans. After 10 mins or so, add in the tomato (I did it here because I didn't want them soggy, but you could add them earlier) and salsa and mix. Add spices - I didn't measure, so just be mindful of how spicy you want it to be.

Serve the mixture hot over the brown rice, or mix it all together and then serve.
Makes 4-5 servings.

And of course after dinner, there were cookies left over from the 3 orders I had this week, so dessert was a cinch :)

Vegan Linzer Tarts

Photo by Justin Lewis, filmaperture Photography

So I took some leftovers for lunch, and also brought some cucumber salad. Cucumber salad is SO easy to make and so refreshing when it's hot outside. Pick up some fresh dill and cukes at your local farmers market and just chop them up, throw them in a container with some white wine vinegar, salt and pepper, and let it sit in the fridge for a day or so. Yum!

Lunch: Mexican beans without the rice, cucumber salad, grapes, and a small salad with radish and hummus.

Today's lesson: Even when you think there's nothing in your kitchen, try to make it work and you might surprise yourself with a new recipe. You just need to think outside the box and let the ingredients you have on-hand inspire you!

Valentine's Day Delight!

We stayed in for Valentine's Day because, let's face it, most resturants are jam-packed and many serve a "special," highly limited menu, which makes vegan options scarce. Besides, nothing says "I love you" like a homecooked meal!

I've been getting into stews, soups, and chowders lately. With the cold weather upon us, these hearty dishes warm us up in a jiffy. So last night we decided on Vegan Black Bean and Corn Chowder. One word: YUM. I packed some of the left over chowder for lunch today and had it cold - and even cold, it tastes delish!

Lunch: Left-over Chowder, Fresh cut veggies and a banana with peanut butter



Recipe? Here we go...this one's coming from my head so pardon any mistakes!

Vegan Black Bean & Corn Chowder
1 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
2 cans black beans, drained & rinsed
1 can fire-roasted tomatoes
1.5 cups frozen corn, defrosted
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
salt & pepper to taste
3 cups of veggie stock (make you're own! it's EASY!)
1.5 cups textured vegetable protein

In a large pot over medium heat, cook onions & garlic in some olive oil. Cover and let them get soft, about 5 mins. Add beans, tomatoes, corn & spices. Add veggie stock and simmer. Taste and add salt & pepper to your liking. Add the TVP and let the chowder simmer, uncovered, for about 30-45 minutes. The TVP will soak up a lot of the juice, so it will look brothy at first but then get nice and thick. Add more stock if you need to thin it out. Serve hot!



I prepared the chowder, my boyfriend prepared the drinks: champagne with a hibiscus flower floating on the bottom and some hibiscus syrup mixed in - gloriously romantic. It was certainly a wonderful Valentine's Day meal :)

We'll call it....Neat Joseph!

Last night, after an exhausting day, my boyfriend and I were relaxing and realized we still hadn't eaten dinner around 9pm. I was starving and had NO desire to cook. So, my ingenious boyfriend gets an idea-- he takes a can of Manwich (which, surprisingly, is vegan- no joke!) and cooks it with some left over rice, TVP (he cooked the rice and TVP with a little veggie stock and soy sauce in the microwave first), fresh spinach, and some cayenne pepper. We toasted some bread and made amazing sandwiches!

I was standing there in the kitchen and I said, "Well we just can't call these Vegan Sloppy Joes." I'm tired of naming vegan food after other food that already exists---I don't want it to taste like a real Sloppy Joe...I don't like meat and don't expect or want it to taste like meat. So my boyfriend exclaims, "I've got it! We'll call it Neat Joseph!" Love it.

So we took our Neat Joseph's into the bedroom where the plugin electric heater was warming up the room, shut the doors, dove under the covers, and had dinner in bed while continuing our LOST re-marathon. The sandwiches were wonderfully filling and nice and warm on a bitterly cold night. This was an easy dinner and I totally recommend it for those nights when you're in a rush or just want something fast. And...the awesome part, it was wicked cheap. I mean, think about it- the can of Manwich is less than a dollar and we buy TVP in bulk. Good job, boyfriend :)