Tuna Time

Having spent a bunch of years being vegan, vegetarian, and the like, and having a mother who stopped cooking when I was in high school in favor of Thai take out (and my own lentil loafs, “macaroni and no-cheese,” etc.) I had managed to live 27 years without ever eating tuna casserole.  Yesterday, out of curiosity and a fascination with easy dinners that last for days, I decided to make it.  

I don’t love that it involves so many ingredients that come out of cans, but then again, that’s part of its charm.  We had plenty of cans of stuff lying around, because, you know, just in case.  We’ve been reading a lot of apocalyptic fiction and non-fiction around here, so let’s just say we’re prepared for any eventuality.  As long as that eventuality calls on us to subsist on canned food for a few weeks.

I don’t know why I don’t ever make casseroles (I make enchiladas, but that doesn’t really count).  This one is easy, fairly cheap, and definitely resembles comfort food, though I’m sure my version, with its crimini mushrooms, pine nuts and whole wheat pasta fails the authenticity test.  Without further ado:

• 1 lb Whole Wheat pasta (I used rotini, I think)
• 10 oz tuna fish, in water 
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 10-15 crimini mushrooms
• A couple of shallots, or a small yellow onion
• cheese to sprinkle on top (I used Colby but some kind of dry Parmesan-type cheese would be awesome)
• a sprinle of oregano, sage, and whatever you like (fresh herbs if you’re feeling fancy)
• olive oil
• pine nuts (totally optional, as they kinda ruin the ‘budget’ aspect of this recipe – I had them lying around)
• 1/2 cup milk (I used soy)

Cook the pasta according to the instructions.  Saute the shallots and mushrooms with the herbs in few tablespoons olive oil for about ten minutes.  Turn off the heat and add the soups, tuna and milk to the saute pan and mix them together.  Drain the pasta and place in a casserole dish.  Add the mixture from the saute pan and stir it around a bit.  Sprinkle with cheese and pine nuts.  Eat for the next few days, or until you get sick of it.  If you have dogs, make it without the onion/shallot and you can feed it to your pups if you get tired of eating it.  There’s also always the freezer!

Cheap Eats: Fried (Brown) Rice

Today has been one of the most frustratingly unproductive days of my life.  I’m past the honeymoon phase with graduate school, and into the heart of the marriage, as it were.  Not having other distractions like a job is starting to work against me.  I can spend all day staring at my computer screen, trying to write a paper while being distracted by any number of blogs, gossip and news sites I feel the need to check compulsively.  Fie on you, Google Reader!  I was a better student back in 2004, when I’d never tasted your evil fruits or experienced your endless potential for wasting time!

Well, at least I was able to rip myself away from my computer’s hypnotic gaze to make myself a square meal or two.  I had some leftover brown rice (cooked with vegetable stock – I always add tomato paste or stock or something like that to make it more flavorful), zucchini, red pepper, eggs, shallots, and tofu, so I decided to fry them up:

Hm… it really doesn’t look like much (no thanks to my crappy camera phone), but believe me, it’s semi-wholesome and it hit the spot.  Here’s how I made it.

• Slice a few shallots and a handful of veggies up very finely and sauté them in olive oil on high heat until they are lightly browned
• Dice up some tofu into small squares and add it to the mix
• Add a bit more oil, then add a few cups of cooked rice (I used brown)
• Cook until rice is slightly browned
• Stir in two eggs and mix thoroughly
• Cook until eggs are done, and top with soy sauce 

So easy and so quick!  But a LOT easier if you have a non-stick pan.  And like so many of  the best foods, it’s carb-based But if you make it with brown rice, you can pretend it’s health food.

Potato-Kale-Zucchini-Carrot Soup

This soup turned out pretty good.  I won’t say I invented it, because there are probably a billion similar soups out there, but I kind of made it by feel and not using a recipe.  One tip: don’t over-cheese it: too much cheese in hot soup gets stuck all over the inside of your mouth.

Ingredients:

• 2 Russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 Small zucchinis, cut into 1-inch coins
• 4 Carrots, cut into 1/2-inch coins
• 2 Tomatoes, diced
• 2 Cups of chopped kale
• 1/4 Cup of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 White or yellow onion, diced
• 1 Shallot, diced
• 2-3 Cups vegetable broth
• 1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Olive oil (used at your discretion)
• Spices (sage, thyme, and/or any kind of Italian seasoning)
• Salt and Peppper

Sautee the shallot, onion and spices in some olive oil.  When translucent, add the carrots and zucchini. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth in a large pot and add the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add the sauteed mixture and bring back to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the kale and tomatoes and simmer until the soup reaches the desired texture.

Makes enough for about 8 bowls. Serve with the shredded cheese and chopped parsley.

Ciabatta French Toast: OMG YUM

Another camera phone photo, sorry. I’m working on replacing my stolen camera, or getting a working one up and running from the camera dude in my house, aka my husband.

There’s something about the airiness of ciabatta that lends itself to french toast very well. It soaks everything up just right, and renders the tough chewiness of the bread a nice soft, spongy consistency. I used one egg, some cinnamon, soy milk, and a dash of sugar. I like to top it with Trader Joe’s blueberry syrup, because it’s runnier than jam but about an eighth the cost of pure maple. I refuse to put high fructose corn syrup (e.g. Aunt Jemima) on my breakfast foods.

Inspired by Panama: a Cheap & Simple Fish Dish

In Bocas del Toro, on the island of Bastimentos, at the Roots Restaurant, my friend G and I had a mind blowing dining experience for about $12 total. It involved a white fish in wine sauce, along with coconut rice & beans (made with coconut water, not coconut milk), patacones (mashed fried plantains), and cabbage salad. This is my ideal meal, and I would eat it every day if I could.

In an effort to at least recreate the fish part, I googled ’tilapia white wine’ and came up with this recipe.  If you need more motivation before clicking over, the sauce is made from white wine, shallots, parsley, olive oil, flour, and meyer lemons.  You really can’t go wrong with those ingredients.  In fact, any way you cook those up with white fish, it will undoubtedly taste damned good.

I spent about $7 on four tilapia fillets from Trader Joe’s.  Two Buck Chuck works fine for the sauce, and meyer lemons were about $3 for four, though I only used one.  All told, this meal cost about $15 for two, including the couscous I served with it.  We got a full meal for two plus leftovers for one.

Now I just need to find a good recipe for coconut rice, or more importantly, a good (and cheap) source for coconut water.

Cheap Eats: Sweet Potato Coconut Squash Soup

I went to Trader Joe’s this week craving sweet potatoes. I’d planned to make a sweet potato side dish, and I may still do that, but last night, because of the chill, I ended up throwing a soup together. As always, my cooking is experimental and my measurements are far from exact, so please keep that in mind if you attempt to try this.

Sweet potato coconut squash soup

Ingredients:

• About 2 and a half cups of cubed butternut squash.  I’m lazy as hell and hate cutting up unwieldy squash, so I use 2 packages of the pre-cut squash from Trader Joe’s.
• 2 sweet potatoes, cubed
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon of green curry paste (or any kind of curry), plus a teaspoon of garam masala and whatever other Indian spices that you have laying around
• Olive oil
• Pinch of salt
• 1 can of light coconut milk, or half a can of regular coconut milk

Put the cubed squash and sweet potato in a stock pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the cubes are tender.  Drain off excess water until it covers about half of the squash and sweet potatoes.  In a sautée pan, add a generous dash of olive oil, the onion, curry paste and spices, and sautée until onion is transparent.  Add this onion/spice mixture and the can of coconut milk to the stock pot, and bring to a simmer.  Purée with a wand blender if you like, or leave it as it is if you like it chunky (and you know I do).

I served it with brussel sprouts sauteed in butter and olive pugliese from Trader Joe’s.  OMG so good!! Total cost: about $11 for 2-4 meals, depending on what kind of eater you are.

Recession Eats: Gorgonzola ‘Mac and Cheese’

Trader Joe’s 99-cent boxed mac and cheese is a good deal for lean times, but fresh is always better. Gorgonzola is surprisingly cheap, and this is both a quick and satisfying dish that makes 3-4 meals for about $5.

All ingredients from Trader Joe’s:

• 1 Wedge of gorgonzola ($2 or less)
• 1 Package of bowtie pasta ($.99)
• 1 Box of grape tomatoes (~$2)
• Olive oil, salt and peper to taste

Cook the pasta and drain it.  Coarsely grate about a cup of gorgonzola.  Dice about a cup and a half of tomatoes.  Combine with pasta immediately after draining for a melted cheese texture, or wait until the pasta cools for a crumbly cheese texture.  Add a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper, and mix until the pasta is coated.

Easy and YUM!

A Recession-Friendly Lunch Fit to Pack

If you’re lucky enough to still have a job, you may face the quandary that I do: what kind of cheap lunch can I pack that will still taste good once it makes it through my commute and four hours of sitting in the breakroom fridge?  I loathe packing a lunch, but going out is not economically feasible and I suppose I should be grateful that this is a problem resulting from having a job, for which I am thankful.

One major problem is that I’ll make something and then not want to eat it once it gets to be lunch time at work for various reasons, usually involving freshness, taste and the effect of time and transit. The exceptions to this rule seem to be yummy restaurant leftovers, pizza, or when I really hit on something that works for lunch.  I think I have found something.  It’s cheap, easy, healthy and most importantly, doesn’t indulge (very heavily) my cheese addiction.

All ingredients from Trader Joe’s. Buy:

• Salmon Burgers (4 to a pack)
• Whole Wheat Pitas (hard to separate, so if you know of a better brand, use that instead)
• Herb Salad Mix
• Goat Cheese
• Grape tomatoes (or bell peppers)
• Balsamic Vinagrette Dressing (or whatever you prefer)

AT HOME:

-Bake the salmon burgers on 400-ish for about 20-30 min

-Cut up one burger into small pieces and refrigerate the rest

-Pack a few handfuls of spring mix, diced tomatoes, crumbled goat cheese and diced burger in a bowl

-Pack a small container of salad dressing

AT WORK, SCHOOL, WHEREVER:

-Toss salad with dressing

-Separate pitas (good luck, I hate this part!)

-Stuff with the salmon burger/salad mixture

pita pita

I love bringing this lunch to work because the pitas perfectly contain the salad, and I’m not spilling food all over my keyboard. On the weekends I like to use the pitas and salad mix to make tuna pita sandwiches.  As a rule, I do not eat tuna at work as it stinks the place up (a friend calls it her ’stinky mistress’) and I can never get the scent off of my breath no matter how many sticks of gum I chew.

Cheaper than Lasagna and Twice as Good…

It’s…

Enchiladas!!

OMG so good!

It’s hard to believe I was ever a vegan (and for seven years, at that) because I now subsist mainly on cheese. I’ll have goat cheese on my pizza and on my salad in the same meal. Pizza, by the way, has become a staple in our house. That and risotto (with lots of cheese), cheese and crackers, and cheese sandwiches.  If only there was a way to combine cheese and pancakes in a pleasing manner… no — impossible — too much goodness.

I made enchiladas for the first time earlier this year when I had a dinner party at my apartment. It really is the perfect dish to feed a group of friends — aside from the frying of the tortillas (which isn’t crucial, and may not even be advisable for those who watch their fat intake) it’s very speedy and delicious.  I mean, it’s over a pound of cheese — how could it not taste good?  Here’s how I make it:

• 12-15 corn tortillas
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 pounds cheese (I use a combination of mozzarella and a Mexican cheese mix), shredded
• 1 onion, chopped
• Olive oil
• 1 can of black beans
• Cilantro, pickled jalapeños, and avocado for garnish. Sour cream is also permissible (though I usually feel like I’ve got enough animal fats going on with all the cheese)

Sautee the tortillas in a small amount of oil over medium heat.  Cook on each side for about a minute. This helps to bring out the flavor of the tortilla.  Next, sautee the onion in some oil.  Combine the onion, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and tomato sauce in a bowl. Roll the enchiladas: cover about a third of the tortilla with cheese and beans (I like to go sparingly on the beans – they are more of an afterthought, whereas the cheese is the main idea). Roll it up and place it in a 9×13 inch pan. Continue until you’ve filled the pan. Cram them in – you can make skinny ones if there is only a little bit of space left. Now cover it with your tomato mixture. Sprinkle the top with cheese until it’s fully covered. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Top with cilantro, avocado, and jalapeños. 

YUM!

Soup for an Economic Crisis

So, luckily my husband and I still have our jobs and are renters for the long haul, so we’re okay for now. But we did however just postpone a camping trip because we realized it would cost us something like $120 in gas to get there and back. (Ouch – even a hobo’s idea of vacation is too posh for us). Instead, we stayed home this weekend, running (me), cleaning, reading and internetting (both of us), fantasy footballing (him) and cooking. I had suggested going out for Thai on Saturday night, but our bank accounts insisted that we dine chez us. Our laziness and brokeness compounded, we decided to use ingredients we already had in our kitchen.

Lentil soup is great because I usually have the ingredients on hand, and yet it feels a lot less desperate than mac and cheese, frozen pizza, or any other kind of no-money-to-spend-let’s-see-what’s-in-the-house dinner. Here’s what I put in mine:

• 2 cups lentils (the brown kind)
• 1 shallot
• 2 small onions
• 10 or so small potatoes
• garam masala
• curry or any combo of Indian spices on hand
• bay leaves
• butter or olive oil
• coconut milk (1/2 – 1 full can)
• salt

I proceed to haphazardly throw these ingredients together – usually boiling potatoes, lentils, and bay leaves in a stock pot, sauteing shallots, onions, and spices with butter or olive oil, then combining the two for a slow boil. I add coconut milk and salt to my liking, then blend the mixture (with a wand blender) to give it that dal-like texture. Serve with bread and butter.

It looks like shit (literally):

See?

But it tastes good and is cheap cheap cheap! I made this last night and we got a good ten bowls out of it. Next up: my favorite gruel recipe.