Cents and Sensible Eats

Eating sensibly while travelling and doing so on a tight budget isn't always easy... but it can be quite delicious. Every road trip we take I really try to plan what we are going to eat for the 3 to 5 days that we are travelling well in advance. Travel days are the worst when it comes to meals, mostly because I always seem to make us late for our departure time. So breakfast tacos and salty snacks and fruit seem to be our meal plan during the actual drive.

By the time we get to the hotel, it's usually dinner time. Rather than take the easy way out and pick up a greasy bag of fast food, I prefer to cook if I have any strength left in me. This is why I LOVE my
rice cooker. In all honesty, I wasn't crazy about it when my husband got it. I thought to my self, "great, an appliance that makes one thing and one thing only." But, the more we travel the more things we learn to cook in it.

This trip's recipe is one pot pasta dinner that can be enjoyed cold with a fresh salad the next day. The ingredients can be purchased at most grocery stores pretty readily. Since we were headed to Sulphur Springs this trip and I wanted to make sure I had the supplies I needed as soon as we got to the hotel, I packed the dry ingredients I'd be needing in the "kitchen box". The kitchen box is a Rubbermaid tote that is filled with the basics for cooking on the road. The veggies and the proteins traveled frozen, in a small cooler. We packed the bag of organic greens on top so it stayed cool enough to keep them from wilting.

For this dish you will need the following...

1cup  whole wheat rotini pasta (gf or regular is fine too)
1 9oz container of crushed tomatoes (don't forget a can opener if you buy canned)
8oz water
1/2 tsp dehydrated/freeze dried minced onions
1tsp paprika
1/2tsp Kosher salt
1/8tsp garlic powder  
1tsp olive oil
3/4 c vegetarian chick'n (Quorn is my protein of choice) or diced cooked chicken
8 oz of frozen vegetables Mediterranean Blend

Garnish
10 Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1Tbsp Parmesan Italian spice blend

Into the rice cooker pot, add the pasta, crushed tomatoes, olive oil, water, freeze dried onions and spices. Flip the switch to "Cook" and stir the ingredients before covering. About 10minutes into your cooking time, check the pasta and stir in the frozen precooked protein of your choice and the frozen vegetables. Cover the pot and let it cook until the switch flips back to "Warm". Let it sit for another 5min in the cooker on "Warm". Any residual moisture should be absorbed into the pasta without it overcooking.

We got 2 servings from this as our hot meal on Thursday. I really wish we hadn't been so hungry after that 7hr drive... 'cause I forgot to take a picture for you. We did get two additional servings with a salad and fresh made pita chips the next day.. which are the pictures you see in this post. The crushed tomato will make for a lighter sauce, which means it's perfect as a cold pasta salad too. The cost of 4 servings came to under $12 total. Not too bad, considering that we would have spent at least $7 each for fast food meals. We also had enough frozen veggies, Quorn, pitas, tomatoes and fresh veggies for the next day's dinner.

When you try this, don't forget to share your spin on this recipe. We'd all like to know how it turns out for you.

 I'll post the "home made pita chips" in a few days.

Eggplant Stew... it's what's for dinner.

I know it's been a while, but, I decided it's time to try blogging again.

Summer is pretty much done here in S. Texas. The temperatures are no longer in the 100's and it's finally started to rain again. It's nature's way of letting us know that fall is clearly on the way.

Rainy weather means comfort food, for my husband that means soup. For the "lone vegetarian" in the house (that would be me), it's Eggplant Stew. I had honestly never had eggplant until last year when mom and I (ok.. mostly mom) started growing it in a local community garden. She tried several varieties, including a long Japanese eggplant and a gorgeous heirloom variety called Black Beauty. Black Beauty just loved it's garden spot. It's a very productive variety with a longer season than most. We picked the last eggplants in early December. It's also not as bitter as others. We had more eggplant than we knew what to do with, and Eggplant Parm got old quick. On a quest for something different this shiksa found a wonderful Kosher/Vegetarian food blog called Cafe Liz and her recipe for Eggplant Tomato Stew. Never being one to follow directions or an actual recipe... I had to put my own spin on it. 

I love this recipe because the ingredients are easily accessible and won't break the bank. It also freezes really well. Trust me, that's a good thing because I usually cook like I'm feeding an army. This was a bad summer in the garden and I had to actually buy an eggplant. I was surprised at how relatively inexpensive they are (under $3 for a large eggplant). 

For about 6-8 servings (depending on how hungry you are), you'll need....

1 medium eggplant

1 medium yellow onion

3 medium carrots

1 stalk of celery (include the leafy bits.. no need to waste them)

1 small sweet potato

2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (russets tent to get mushy)

1/2 a red bell pepper

1/2 small can of tomato paste or 1 can of your favorite condensed tomato soup

2 cloves of garlic (crushed) or 1 heaping teaspoon of garlic powder

1 Tbsp of Paprika

2 Tbsp of Olive Oil 

2c of water

2 vegetable bouillon cubes

the juice of 1/2 a lemon plus 1c of water

(I also added 1/2c of seeded and deveined Poblano Pepper.. 'cause a Mexican chica needs her spice.)

Dice all the veggies, keeping the eggplant in a separate container. I cut the eggplant a little chunkier than the rest of the veg and soaked the eggplant in the lemon juice and water to keep it from oxidizing (but that is not really necessary). 

Preheat the oil and add the carrots, potato, onion, celery, sweet potato, and red bell pepper. Cook them in the oil until the onions have become translucent. At this point add the water, garlic powder, paprika, tomato, and two bouillon cubes. Simmer just long enough to dissolve the bouillon cubes and add the diced eggplant. Continue to simmer until the eggplant softens up and the carrots are fork tender, then salt and pepper to taste and serve over white rice.

**If you have a passionate dislike for eggplant (I really hope you don't because this is reeeeally good)... feel free to substitute it with zucchini, butternut or acorn squash. Just remember the cook time is longer for butternut and acorn squash.