[Vegan Mofo] Pantry Essentials - Rice & Beans

 

This week I am going to be sharing some pantry essentials one should keep handy for quick no brainer meals. Having these things in the house keeps food funk at a low and possible fast meals at your fingertips.

You cannot get any more basic than rice and beans. A world staple, rice and beans show up in cultures from all around the world in some form. Often seen as peasant food rice and beans can save a broke person's meal budget and make things more complete. 

Keeping a few varieties of canned (or in this case boxed) beans around allows for things like nachos, tacos, crunchy snacks, veggie burgers and more to happen in a snap. I am a fan of black beans and pinto beans because I dig on Mexican food. I do love garbanzo beans though I do not use them as much. Put them in soup to add a hearty protein punch, make hummus or bake them and make garbanzo crunchies! Target has many organic and low sodium bean options. If you cannot find low sodium rinse your beans before use to get rid of salt if you are not a fan of the stuff or need to watch your intake.

My go to rice is always basmati - I use it in it's plain form to cuddle a stir fry dish or with tomato sauce and olive oil to create Matt's mama's red rice. Basmati has a warm nutty smell and taste that I totally dig. You may prefer brown rice or wild rice - Target has a lot of rice options. Keeping rice around is a sure fire way to add starch to a dish in an affordable way.

Tonight my meal is actually going to consist of both rice and beans. It is taco night and the pair will star in leading roles in my dinner production. If you have a fave way to incorporate these staples into your meals let me know!

[Vegan MOFO] Friday Finds - 99 Cent Only

My mom who is the former Queen of Yard Sales renounced her title a few years back and now has become Queen of the $1 Stores. Growing up Saturday mornings meant sleeping in a bit, watching cartoons and either going to yard sales with my mom or having her bring home loot we could go through. I think for the most part we stayed home - she would often be gone before the first sugar crusted cereal bit hit the bowl or a toy commercial came on...

Now she is consistently searching for gems at the 99 Cent Only store(s) and sometimes she alerts me to products I need to pick up. Last weekend she told me that they had big things of Zico Chocolate Coconut Water, so I grabbed a few, great deal but one expired before I even opened it...Matt has been having a glass each morning with his breakfast and I have added it to some tea that was pretty bland and needed a pick me up.

I scored a bunch of Halloween decorations and hot sauce! I searched the hot sauce section on a mission - to walk away with a new find. 

Do you ever go to the $1 stores? If so score anything good? Last month I picked up bags of mini Chick-O-Sticks at the Dollar General and vegan nail polish! I guess you never know what you may find!

Pumpkin Mac, Baked Tofu And Broccoli

 

I have had the pumpkin cheeze sauce from Oh She Glows in my to do recipe pile for awhile now. I finally got around to it and was not let down! It is really creamy and satisfying. I did not really get a pumpkin taste, the nutritional yeast does come into play though. I was hesitant to give it to Matt because well, it's pumpkin based and he is often odd about things like this. He liked it though and he said it went well with the broccoli. I also made baked tofu from Appetite For Reduction - since I am trying to cook along with the cook book challenge over on the PPK.

The broccoli is easy. Take a few cups of broccoli heads, steam in a pan with a lid and a few drops of water, till the water is gone ( a few minutes) on low heat. Add a bit of lemon olive oil to the pan, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a pinch of S&P and a nice sized pinch of red pepper flakes. Toss and cook for 2-3 minutes and serve!

This is a pretty fast meal - one of those 30 minute meals, if you do not count the tofu marinating for a hour. However that is down time and does that really count?

Sweet & Spicy Stir Fried Noodles

Fast Sunday night dinner...Basically it is a package of baked tofu (Teriyaki flavored), some left over frozen veggies and fresh pineapple with fresh rice noodles. I cooked the veggies with tofu while boiling the water/noodles. I added the noodles to the oan, the pineapple and the sauce. Sauce: a dash of Sriracha, a tablespoon of fresh pineapple juice from the pineapple chunks, a squirt of Braggs and about a teaspoon of rice vinegar. Dump it over the mix and let it heat up and serve. 

Note: The fresh rice noodles from TJ's are hard to work with. They turn into a huge clump once cooked. I tried my hardest to break them up with no luck!

Power Greens & Tempeh Tacos

Power Greens & Tempeh Mix

1 package of tempeh

1 bag of Power To The Greens Trader Joe's salad blend (kale, spinach, chard)

1 package of taco seasoning mix

a squeeze of lime juice

1/4 cup water

oil

Crumble the tempeh into bite side chunks. Brown the tempeh in a bit of oil for a few minutes in a frying pan, add greens (I got most of the bag in my frying pan), sprinkle on taco seasoning, add water and stir. Don't worry if the seasoning packet asks for more water - the greens will let off water so no worries. Turn the heat to a low-medium, cover pan and cook for 10 minutes. Remove lid, the greens should be cooked down now, add a squeeze of lime juice, stir. Serve with salsa (we used green) and in your fave tortilla or taco shell. Easy and fast, healthy & cheap!

Citrus Stir Fry & White People Tacos

I was hungry for a stir fry the other night and since Matt was not feeling well (due to dehydration) I thought a veggie packed stir fry was in order.

I used Gardein mandarin crispy chick'n (one of the few products in the line I am not allergic to) and a bag of frozen stir fry veggies. The Gardein was $3.99 at Target, which it is usually cheaper, but still beats out the grocery store by about $2. The stir fry veggies were less than $2 a bag. I like buying frozen, because I get a nice mix and the price is cheaper than buying a bunch of produce that the store may not even have. Since the sauce packet the chick'n comes with is not substantial enough I whipped up some more sauce with Braggs, rice vinegar, Sriracha and a fresh squeezed orange. I plated it on organic rice with some toasted sesame seeds (I kinda went crazy with them!) and a easy meal was born. About $7 for two beats take out prices any day!

White People Tacos - what the heck!? So last night after the gym I decided to make tacos. I had chickpeas at home, taco shells, guacamole and salsa...I had to stop by the store to pick up some produce and ran into a bunch of pretty organic kale while buying some lemons (I need to ask my neighbor for more - but she has been so generous I feel bad/greedy). I picked up some lacinato kale and headed home.

I sauteed kale, 1 can of drained and rinsed chickpeas with a bit of olive oil. I squeezed the juice of one super juicy lemon on top, added a big pinch of Mexican spice blend, a pinch of onion powder and a squirt of Sriracha. After tossing,  I let it cook down for about 10 minutes. I stuffed each crispy taco shell with the kale-chickpea mix, guacamole and salsa. Served along with red rice it was totally good.
What makes it White People Tacos? Well, when I asked Matt what he thought he said "they were good, something white people would really like". Matt was not trying to be insulting, he really liked them (I did too!). It was just a departure from my 'trying to be a taco truck' style of cooking! This is a gluten free taco - for those that usually see my tacos loaded with seitan and wheat tortillas.  Everything was cheap/on sale and another good meal for two under or around $10.

Taco Time: Soyrizo & Potatoes

I finally got Matt to try Soyrizo! He did not want to (he did not like chorizo growing up), then I made him tacos with it last week, he liked it a lot so they appeared in this weeks menu as well! Simple and cheap, I place a few chopped potatoes in a pan with olive oil, cover and heat on medium-low for 15 minutes till the potatoes are about fork tender. I then add the Soyrizo, stir them and give them another 10 minutes to cook.

I first had chorizo in 7th grade in home economics. It was not a staple in my house or something I saw a lot of so I did not really have lots of experience with it. I do love Soyrizo though, in scrambled tofu, in chili or with fried potatoes! It is tasty! A lot of meat-eaters grab Soyrizo over chorizo, because the health factor and no one wants to eat really crappy-scary processed parts!

When I worked at the mall years ago a taco stand would make me a potato and salsa burrito in the morning. It is something I still love to eat. I grew up with fried potatoes and I cannot eat a baked potato without hot sauce so they just go well together! I am hungry now!!!