Your fallback dinners?

[yewberry]

I remember reading at some point (gads, don't ask me where...) that most people have 7 or so standard dinners that they rotate through routinely and then add in a few other things.

Well, I'm feeling a little sick of mine. I've made hummus until I'm blue in the face, and I need some new 'tried-and trues'--so, what's your favorite one or two?

Yes, this is kind of a recipe thread, but I really want some new fallbacks. I'm vegan (and not terribly comfortable with meat analogues), my husband is lacto-veg, so bring whatever you've got. Help?

I'll start with one vegan:

Brown rice & tofu

Cube a brick of x-firm tofu & drain
Rough-chop 1/2 white onion
Clean and slice (thick-slice or quarter) about 6 oz of button mushrooms

Start 1 cup of short grain brown rice (ratio is 1:2)
Pan-fry tofu with veg oil & 1 tsp sesame oil until crisp; set aside
Saute onions in a large pan until almost translucent; set aside
Saute mushrooms well in the same pan (if you don't know how to make non-slimy mushrooms, let me know)

At this point, rice will be done. Throw the rice into the large mushroom pan on low heat, add the onions & tofu. Add a generous amount of thai garlic chili pepper sauce
mix, and bring up to temp.

Serve hot with cold salad or whatever.

Reheats well.


And one of my husband's favorites:

Black bean quesadillas

Start with a can of black beans (we use S&W reduced salt); rinse well, and toss into a saucepan with a little veg oil & lime juice (like a tsp), a bunch of cumin, some coriander, a dash of cayenne, and just a tiny bit of cinnamon. (I know, the cinnamon sounds strange, but it really helps round out the flavor, I promise.) Heat on low.

Grate some jack cheese. Prep guacamole (avocado, garlic, lemon juice, salt, minced tomato). Find some green (tomatillo) salsa and washed spinach.

Toss a WW tortilla in a dry pan (med-low) until it's hot & soft--you'll need to keep it moving. Flip. Cover half the tortilla with black bean, jack & spinach, and then fold it over so that you have a nice half-circle. Turn the heat up to med to med-high and brush the top of the tortilla with a small amount of veg oil and flip; brush the other side with a small amount of veg oil and flip once it's made a nice brown crust. Cook until a nice brown crust forms there, too.

Slide out of the pan and slice into fourths. Top with tomatillo salsa and guac.

(Vegan: Start with all ingredients as above. Toss the tortilla into a dry pan, but brush the uncooked side with veg oil. Flip and add beans and then turn up the heat to med to med-high. Once tortilla is nice and crisp (a very short time!) add spinach and tomatilla right away, fold and remove from heat. Cut into fourths and top with guac and probably more tomatillo salsa.)


Whatcha got?

I'm sick of the same old, same old!

TIA!

[CrispyQ]

1. My current passion is my new 'ricotta' of crumbled tofu mixed with pesto.

I've made lasagna three times in the past six weeks. Yesterday I wanted something with pasta & ricotta, but not all the time it takes to make lasagna or even stuffed shells. So I came up with this casserole:

One batch pesto - Isa's from VWAV is good
One block tofu, drained & crumbled into a large bowl
16 ounces elbow macaroni, cooked & drained
28 ounce can of spaghetti sauce
8 ounce mushrooms, sliced (optional)

Throughly mix the pesto into the tofu. Add the macaroni & mix again. Pour this mixture into a lightly greased 9x13 pan. Arrange the mushrooms on top of the pasta mixture & then spread the spaghetti sauce evenly over the top. Bake for about 35 minutes at 350°. Serve with vegan parm, salad & garlic bread. Not quite as many flavors as lasagna, but for the amount of time, a very adequate casserole!
===

I also bake up 3 blocks of tofu weekly & have had great fun seasoning them differently. We call them tofu sticks. ;) White Wave Baked Tofu is approaching $4 for 8 ounces in my area. ~gasp! Their regular blocks of tofu are $1.69 for a pound. This week they are on sale for $1.25! So my fave seasoning is Bragg's Aminos with a basil/marjoram/vegan parm sprinkle. But, I also really like some of the others I've made: a terriaki, a soy sauce mixed with hot mustard, & one with orange/ginger/soy sauce. I will have to find a good BBQ sauce & try that soon.

Your black bean enchiladas sound wonderful!! I have all the ingreds on my grocery list. We eat tons of spinach, beans & tofu in our family. As for meat analogs, we use to eat lots of them, but not so much anymore. The only one that I purchase regularly is Turtle Island's smoked tofurky slices. That said, I am badly craving a meal of GimmeLean sausage gravy & biscuits!

That garlic chili pepper sauce sounds good!

Great thread! :hi:

[yewberry]

10. Oooh, I like the baked tofu idea.

I've never tried it. I buy smoked tofu at the grocery store sometimes, and it's really expensive. I'm going to try it.

I'll bet that barbecue sauce idea will be great...as a matter of fact, I think there's a BBQ recipe in the pinned thread.
Thanks!

[CrispyQ]

2. I made the quesadillas & they were quite good.

I didn't have all the seasonings, so I used a dash of ground chipolte. I had a small tomato from the garden & a little bit of onion. I sauteed the onion in a bit of oil, added the drained beans, spinach, tomato & onion & spice. I cooked on medium until the spinach was wilted. I spread it on a whole wheat tortilla & put a bit of vegan cheddar on top & broiled in the oven until the cheese was bubbly. I spread a few green chiles on top of that.

~SLURP!

[yewberry]

11. That's one of the reasons I love that recipe:

it works with whatever you've got on hand.

Okay, maybe not summer squash.

[peacebuzzard]

3. I am on a cajun rice kick these days

I use a rice cooker and in a separate saute' pan I throw in the holy trinity of celery, bell pepper, onion (and of course garlic) marinated in olive oil. I alternate additional veggies: cauliflower, broccoli crowns or carrots into the base. Then, when rice is done, I add the rice to the sauce.

I always have a pot of beans cooked: black or pinto. Today for a switch I had lentils marinated with garlic, onion and plum tomatoes.

I add a tossed salad and I am done.

[yewberry]

12. Sounds good.

My husband loves rice & beans. I'm completely lazy about cooking my own beans, though. I should try to do that more often.

Any particular variety of rice you like best?

[youthere]

4. Here's my newly discovered fallback...

Boil up some noodles, drain, throw on a healthy scoop of kimchi and a drizzle of sesame oil. Stir and enjoy. I guess that would be the vegan version..the veg version includes an egg fried into an omelet and then cut into "ribbons"...I don't know..is there a vegan egg substitute? I'll bet some firm or extra firm tofu cut into strips and fried crispy would be a good vegan sub...oh, I also throw some sliced green onion on the top.

[yewberry]

13. I confess that I've never had kimchi.

I've Korean friends who have kind of warned me off of it, but I do like big flavors. Maybe I'll give it a shot next time I go shopping.

Well, it sounds simple enough.
Thanks!

[flamingyouth]

5. Sweet & Sour Tofu is our latest favorite

We make a variation of this recipe:

http://food.yahoo.com/recipes/eatingwell/469/sweet-and-sour-tofu

But the recipe for Hawaiian Tofu in the latest VegNews is good too.

[yewberry]

14. You know, I've never made sweet & sour anything.

It sounds good, though.

(I grew up hating Chinese food, probably because I lived in New England, where Chinese food is horrible and smothered in mysterious brown sauce. If you ask what it is, they will say that it is brown sauce. Eeek!)

I really should give that a try.
Thanks!

[Ellen Forradalom]

6. Try polenta

You can make it from coarse cornmeal, or buy a tube of it at the store. Slice it and fry it. Top it with corn relish, salsa, caponata sauce, spaghetti sauce, veggie chili, Cuban black beans, ranch beans, or whatever the hell else you have a half-jar of in the fridge. If you're lacto, sprinkle some cheese on it.

Today for a snack I spread a little almond butter on a slice of polenta and topped it with some sliced banana. OMG it was good.

[yewberry]

15. That is a great fallback!

I occasionally make polenta, but have never tried most of your variations.

Here's a polenta question: I don't like to buy 'polenta' at the grocery store because it costs like 4 times what cornmeal costs. So, yep, I buy cornmeal. I have sometimes neglected to get the coarse kind, and it's turned out pretty well with far less stirring time. Have you ever done that?

Thanks for the ideas!

[stuntcat]

7. JUST the thread I was looking for!

My husband has agreed to go vegetarian for a while! :headbang: :headbang: :headbang: :headbang:
I'm gonna print out every one you guys posted, the simplest fallbacks are what I need too.

I got nothing to add yet, sorry :D

[Beaverhausen]

8. If you want recipes- check out the recipe thread pinned to the top of this forum

or just click here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=231x497

[stuntcat]

9. oooooooooooo

I always miss what's in bold at the top of a page :blush: :blush:

All the recipe searches I've done.. but I bet what I want is posted there, TY