White Chik’n Enchiladas With Yellow Rice.

Let’s go with the good news first.

This meal tasted great.  And though the steps in my Pioneer Woman cookbook looked complicated, I really only spent about 20 minutes of hands-on time putting everything together.

The not-so-good news was that aesthetically, things just didn’t work out on the plating front tonight.

All being equal, I’ll take this tradeoff any time versus the opposite results. ;)

I’m going to have to have another go at the wrapping of the corn tortillas, I think.  No matter what I did, the tortillas cracked, or unfolded, or otherwise acted unruly in my baking dish.  The sauce and cheese that topped the enchiladas hid a multitude of sins, to be sure, but you look at that photo above and tell me that it’s restaurant-quality!  My presentation on this one certainly leaves something to be desired!

But the meal itself tasted great – it was a perfectly piping-hot meal for another cold winter night.  As I mentioned earlier, I admit I was a bit concerned about how long it was going to take to put dinner on the table tonight – I was already running late after making a stop after work – but that fear was allayed straightaway.  This was a super-easy dinner to prepare, and paired with a Corona, we could close our eyes and pretend we were in Mexico.  Not bad for a sub-freezing night!

No stats today because, well, I have misplaced my Whole Foods receipt.  But I will say that this meal makes enough for at least four or five servings, which is always a win in my book.

:)

Halushki.

Today has been our coldest day of the winter so far, and LeeLee had a meeting at 7 tonight.  Combine those two scenarios and I knew that halushki – or, as LeeLee calls it, “sweet halushki” – was a must.  Warm, comforting, and carby, it’s also a quick meal to make.  Who can beat that?

I’ve discussed halushki before on this blog, and I don’t mind doing so again.  It’s one of those meals that I’m certain links me to my Scandinavian heritage, but regardless, it’s always a treat to have.  And it tastes much more complicated than it is to make!

Before LeeLee got home, I put the macaroni on to boil, and as it finished up and sat in its pot, drained, I sautéed an onion in butter, adding some minced garlic I had on hand.  Once the onion was translucent, I added a can of sliced mushrooms, and a moment later added almost an entire head of cabbage (it always looks like a TON of cabbage when I put it in the pan, but before too long it’s cooked down to a manageable size).  Once LeeLee was home and ready for dinner, I added the macaroni a little at a time, and voila!  Some salt and some pepper in the pan, some more at the table (with a dollop of nutritional yeast for texture), and dinner was served.

I’m excited for tomorrow’s leftovers already!

The stats:

Macaroni: $1.00 ($0.50/person)

Cabbage: $3.95 ($1.98/person)

Onion: $1.00 ($0.50/person)

Mushrooms: $1.19 ($0.60/person)

GRAND TOTAL: $7.14 … or $3.58 per person.

BUT WAIT!  This meal makes enough for at least two additional servings.  So the per-person price goes down even more!

:)

Pasta With Tomato Cream Sauce.

Sundays are usually cookout nights here at Chez Recessionista, but for some reason I just wasn’t feeling the smoker love tonight, so I began combing my weekly menu list for other options.  We decided on this recipe from The Pioneer Woman’s cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks, rationalizing the heavy cream it uses as a “hearty meal” in preparation for tomorrow’s inauguration activities.  Think of it as carb-loading for the political-junkie set.  Right?

… Right?

Anyway, suffice it to say, we are sufficiently carbed-up and stuffed full for a day on the National Mall tomorrow!  And we’ve got another recipe to add to our dinner-party arsenal, as well.  Prepared in my beloved Le Cresuet, this dish looked as good as it tasted – which was fantastic, if I do say so.  Though LeeLee gave me the accolades tonight, I confess that the credit really goes to The Pioneer Woman.  But since she wasn’t here, I just smiled and said “Thank you.” ;)

The stats:

Fettuccine: $1.00 ($0.50/person)

Heavy cream: $2.99 ($1.50/person)

Basil: $2.50 ($1.25/person)

Onion: $1.00 ($0.50/person)

Tomato sauce: $1.58 ($0.79/person)

Parmesan cheese: $1.32 ($0.66/person)

GRAND TOTAL: $10.39 … or $5.20 per person.

BUT WAIT!  This meal makes enough for at least two additional, post-inauguration servings.  So the per-person price goes down even more!

:)

Lemongrass Curry With Broccoli and Tofu.

I have to admit, I was pretty nervous to try making this dinner at home tonight.  All week, I’ve been putting it off!  LeeLee and I both love Thai- and Vietnamese-inspired dishes, and their flavors are so complex that I was fearful I couldn’t pull it off – or, worse, spend half an hour preparing a meal only to have to order from Papa John’s at the end of the ordeal.  Add to that the fact that there were some negative comments posted at the end of this VegetarianTimes.com recipe – which I read only after I purchased all of the ingredients, of course! – and I was fit to be tied, as we say in the South.

Thankfully, blessedly, my fears proved to be unfounded.  This meal was delicious!

While I sautéed the tofu, I pureed the vegetables into a thick paste and then started them cooking in a saucepan (and flipped the rice cooker on while I was at it).  I added a can of coconut milk, the curry powder and turmeric (I went a little overboard on the curry powder, but it was ultimately the right call), and then deviated from the recipe a bit and added only about a half-cup of water as well as several generous pinches of sugar and some salt, to taste.  Once the rice cooker was finished, I put the broccoli into the saucepan, and tossed the diced tomato in with the tofu.  By the time the broccoli was tender, I poured the curry sauce atop the tofu and tomato, blended everything together a bit, and dinner was served!

Now, it could certainly be improved upon, but for my first Thai attempt, I was very pleased with the result.  And so was LeeLee, who went back for seconds and thirds!  Now the house smells pleasantly of curry, which is not a bad potpourri when you get right down to it.

The stats:

Tofu: $2.99 ($1.50/person)

Lemongrass: $1.99 ($1.00/person)

Ginger: $0.52 ($0.26/person)

Chili pepper: $0.16 ($0.08/person)

Coconut milk: $2.69 ($1.35/person)

Broccoli: $2.99 ($1.50/person)

Carrots: $1.99 ($1.00/person)

Shallot: $0.50 ($0.25/person)

Rice: $0.30 ($0.15/person)

Tomato: $1.00 ($0.50/person)

GRAND TOTAL: $15.13 … or $7.59 per person.

BUT WAIT!  This meal makes enough for at least one additional serving.  So the per-person price goes down even more!

:)

Chik’n Tetrazzini With Rice.

A question for the ages: Can one call one’s dinner “tetrazzini” if there is no pasta served?

Well, either way, we called this meal “chik’n tetrazzini” tonight, and we’re sticking to it. ;)

As you may recall, we enjoyed a pasta dish last night, so by the time tonight’s dinner rolled around, we were all spaghetti’d out and decided that rice would do quite nicely in its stead!  The mixture of creamy sauce and rice reminded me very much – in texture, at least, if not in taste – of the chicken a la king my mother used to make when I was growing up.  I still miss that chicken a la king – I suppose it’s time for me to create my own veg-friendly recipe!

But I digress.

Knowing that LeeLee was attending a lecture that began at 7 p.m., I put the chik’n and cream sauce in the Crock-Pot first thing this morning, leaving only the rice to cook upon our arrival home tonight.  Within half an hour, the rice was fluffed-up and ready to go, and dinner was served!

I’ve made this recipe – which I found over at A Year of Slow Cooking – before, but it had been awhile and I’d forgotten how easy it was to make and how tasty it was to eat.  I’ll definitely make it again soon!

The stats:

Quorn chik’n cutlets: $5.49 ($2.75/person)

Artichoke hearts: $2.49 ($1.25/person)

Frozen peas: $1.99 ($1.00/person)

Cream cheese: $2.99 ($1.50/person)

Broth: $3.49 ($1.75/person)

Rice: $0.30 ($0.15/person)

GRAND TOTAL: $16.75 … or $8.40 per person

BUT WAIT!  This meal makes enough for at least one additional serving.  So the per-person price goes down even more!

:)