Pantry Clean Out Week 2

This week's dinners were fairly ho-hum. Both Alan and I have increased our workouts (me working out in the early morning, Alan during lunch and after work) and we have just been exhausted when we get home.
We had tomato and tofu sandwiches one night, leftover mac & cheese the next, caramelized onion pizza one night (using leftover tomato sauce from last week's spaghetti) and the big winner this week was:

Isa Chandra's Chickpea Cutlets

These were crazy good and pretty easy. I made garlic mashed potatoes and white gravy and sliced tomatoes to go along with the cutlets...and I ate way too much!
The recipe makes 8 cutlets, and knowing that now, I will definitely be making half, or even just a quarter batch next time. I ate some of the leftovers of this meal tonight for dinner and found that while so, so good the first night, the cutlets really aren't that fantastic re-heated. The wheat gluten in them gets fairly stringy and chewy, so I probably will let Alan have those leftovers from now on. He'll eat anything.

Pantry Clean Out Night 6

Tonight's dinner was one of my all time favorites, vegan Mac & Cheese. This is my own recipe that I worked on several times until I got it just where I wanted it. It's fairly cheap to make, and I always keep the ingredients on hand. Try it out sometime, you will not be dissappointed!

Caitlin's Vegan Mac & Cheese

1 lb elbow macaroni
1/2 cup vegan margarine
1/2 cup flour
3 cup boiling water
3 Tablespoons soy sauce or preferably Bragg's if ya got it. Get yo aminos!
1 1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
good shake of turmeric
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1 can Rotel, do not drain
1/4 to 1/2 cup bread crumbs, optional

1) If you're an oven pre-heater, this is when you would turn it to 350 degrees. I don't believe in preheating, though. Weird? Probably.
2) Cook macaroni according to package directions and add a bit of salt to the water used. Drain when done.
3) In a saucepan, melt margarine over medium heat. Whisk in flour. Continue whisking for 2 minutes.
4) Whisk in boiling water, soy sauce or Bragg's, garlic powder, and turmeric. Whisk until dissolved.
5) Once thick and bubbling, whisk in oil, nutritional yeast and Rotel.
6) Mix in the bread crumbs and onion, if using. I prefer the bread crumbs because they make the sauce thicker, and give the mac and cheese the consistency of mac and cheese that was made with a strong, cheddar cheese. I'm a texture eater.
7) Mix 3/4 of the sauce with the macaroni and place in 9x13 casserole dish. (I just mix it in the casserole dish so I don't dirty extra dishes)
8) Cover with remaining sauce.
9) Bake 15 minutes, then broil for a few minutes until brown and crispy.
10) After it cools, eat your heart out. No animals were hurt or even slightly upset in the making of this awesome dish.

Pantry Clean Out Nights 4 & 5

Last night I wasn't very hungry and was pretty tired, so we had sandwiches. We've had some tomatoes that needed to be eaten, so of course I had to have one of my favorite things ever...a tomato sandwich. Really, I could eat either a cucumber sandwich or tomato sandwich every day and be happy. My dad used to say that he had a cousin who ate nothing but tomato sandwiches for years. Anywho... I had found a recipe for "Comeback Sauce" online that looked super good. I whipped up a small amount, put it on my sandwich, and was super disappointed in it. I love me some condiments, but I did not like this one. Oh well. I'll stick with just vegan mayo, tomato & dill next time. Alan fixed his tomato sandwich up fancy with onions and other stuff...and his breath smelled for hours. Hours.

Friday nights are my nights alone in the house. I had to work super late (on a Friday! boo), so I came home not wanting to do a whole lot. Warmed up some leftover spaghetti from a few nights ago, and watched some quality television until Alan came home and made himself another stinky-breath tomato and onion sandwich. Oh well.

Tomorrow night, I'm thinking about making sushi. We'll see. Don't wanna get too crazy...

Pantry Clean Out Night 3

Tonight's dinner was sooo delicious. It was a rainy and cold day and evening here, so what better dinner to fix than chili? I fixed a red bean chili that I served up on top of cornbread waffles. It was so stinking good!

Cornbread Waffles with Chia Seed
2 cups cornmeal
1 cup white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 cups soymilk
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
Chia seeds for topping waffles

Directions:

1. Plug in you waffle iron and get it preheating.
2. In a medium bowl, wisk together the soymilk and the vinegar and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients (cornmeal, flour, baking powder and garlic salt).
4. Add the oil and maple syrup to the soymilk mixture. Wisk with a wire wisk or a fork until it is foamy and bubbly, about 2 minutes.
5. Pour the wet ingredient into the dry and mix together using a large wooden spoon or a firm spatula. 
6. Bake waffles according to waffle maker instructions. Before closing the lid, sprinkle with extra garlic salt and chia seeds.

Pantry Clean Out Night 2

Tonight's menu was fairly simple, we weren't too hungry after our workout. Also, when you read this and think "That is a lot of food!" please know that more than half of this recipe was made into freezer-ready meals for us to eat on-the-go. We aren't the biggest fatties in the world...

Quinoa, Tofu & Pepper Flautas
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 block Italian flavored tofu (it's what we had, don't judge)
3 jalapeno pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1/2 purple onion
10 flour tortillas, fajita size
2 bay leaves
1 Tbl Mexican oregano
1/2 Tbl paprika
1 tsp fajita seasoning
1 Tbl olive oil

Olive oil spray for casserole dish

Preheat oven to 425.

1. Mince peppers and onions, saute in the oil with the bay leaves and oregano for 3-4 minutes. 
2. Combine in a large bowl with cooked quinoa and tofu. 
3. Add paprika and fajita seasoning. 
4. Spray casserole dish with olive oil spray. Spoon about 1/8 cup of filling into flour tortilla. Roll up and place in casserole dish. 
5. You can top these with enchilada sauce if wanted, I chose to top them with salsa and green chile. Either or nothing at all would be perfectly fine.
6. Cook for 25 minutes, or until warm throughout.

Cleaning Out the Pantry!

Tonight started another one of my cleaning kicks. I'm tired of having a super full pantry, but still going to the grocery store every few weeks. I am going to see how many meals we can get out of our stocked pantry without having to bring home groceries.

Night One:
Spaghetti with fresh mushroom, onion and tomato sauce
Crusty bread
Leftover Vegan Andouille Sausage
Cooked lamb's quarters with green chille

We had a ton of spaghetti sauce leftover, so I pizza in our future! Mmmm

Vegan Andouille Sausage

This is a recipe I found in one of the numerous vegan cookbooks I have, Quick and Easy Vegan Celebrations. It is one of my new favorite books, and is packed with some of the greatest vegan conversions I have ever seen.
I tried out this sausage recipe, and I am certain that this will be a mainstay in our house for a long time to come.

Dry ingredients:
1 cup Vital Wheat Gluten
1/2 cup soy flour (I substituted with whole wheat)
2 Tbl nutritional yeast
1 1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 ground black pepper
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried thyme

Wet ingredients:
1/2 cup water
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbl Bragg's liquid aminos
1 Tbl tahini
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbl vegan Worcestershire sauce
3/4 tsp hickory liquid smoke

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl. Mix the wet ingredients in with the dry until it forms a dough. Break into four balls, and roll each ball into a 6 inch log. Wrap very tightly in aluminum foil and twist the ends. Put into a steamer pot and steam for 40 minutes, covered. Let cool, keep refrigerated until eating.

Green Chile Chickpea Gumbo (of sorts)

I was cleaning out our refrigerator/pantry tonight to come up with dinner...and put together an awesome dinner that Alan said "Write down that recipe!" because he enjoyed it so much.

I kind of followed my standard way I fix chilli and gumbo, so it ended up a bit like both.
I hope you try it. I hope you enjoy. Be warned that Alan and I eat things fairly spicy. You may want to tone down the spices for your own.

Green Chile Chickpea Gumbo
2 Tbl Earth Balance margarine
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 Tbl dried, crushed green chiles
1 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp garlic salt

1 yellow onion, diced
2 orange bell peppers, diced
1 cup brewed coffee
5 Roma tomatoes, diced
2 can chickpeas, drained
1 cup broccoli florets 
2 links Field Roast vegan Chipotle sausage, sliced into bite sized rounds
4 cups cooked rice of your choice (I used brown Basmati rice)

1. Melt butter in a large pot on medium high heat .
2. Add spices and saute for 2 minutes.
3. Add onion and bell pepper, saute 3-4 minutes.
4. Add chickpeas, broccoli and coffee. Let simmer 5 minutes.
5. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 5 minutes.

Yield: 7-8 servings

I ate mine spooned onto raw cabbage leaves, which I highly recommend!

Mmm soup...

I had some vegetables that needed to be eaten soon, and when I have that conundrum, I always end up doing the same thing with them: make soup. I love soup so, so much, and thankfully so does Alan. I had seen different variations of Kale & White Bean Soup recipes online, so last night I finally made my own version of it. It was so delicious.

Kale, Carrot & White Bean Soup
4 cups kale, chopped
4-5 large carrots, chopped
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5 oz.) can Great Northern (Cannelini) beans
1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 (32 oz.) box of low sodium vegetable stock
2 potatoes, diced
1/2 Tablespoon crushed green chiles
1/2 Tablespoon Italian blend seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil

1) Heat oil in soup pot on medium-high heat, add onions and saute for 3-4 minutes.
2) Add the garlic and seasonings, saute for 2 more minutes.
3) Add vegetable stock, carrots, and potatoes, bring to a boil.
4) Let simmer for 10-12 minutes until vegetables are cooked through.
5) Add beans and kale, continue to simmer until kale has wilted (about 5 minutes).

Yield: About 6 bowls (like how specific that is? haha)

So embarrassing...

I can't believe that it has been so stinkin' long since I lasted wrote. Embarrassing.
To catch everyone up:
Holidays were amazing. My fantastic job allowed me an 11 day holiday vacation that afforded me the much needed time off to refinish the floors in our spare room. We were essentially using the room as a store-all. It just had box after box stacked on one another. The contents of these boxes, you ask? They may or may not have contained stuff that was still packed from when we moved here. ...OVER A YEAR AND A HALF AGO! How disgusting is that? But, I figured that if we haven't needed/used it in such a long time we really don't need it anymore. I've slowly been culling through that junk and finding new homes for everything. Mostly the trash can.
My job has been super duper busy the last couple of months, but I have been offered a transfer to a different department that I start soon. I cannot wait.
The biggest news? My mom and I have started up a small business together! KindRed Artiques is our vintage goods resale venture. We started up in December selling vintage and retro goods. We've had a ton of fun doing it, and are doing fairly well at it. I will get some photos up soon of some of the stuff we sell.

What else is new? Hmm... Can't really think of anything. Instead, I'll post some photos of things that make me happy.