Thrifty Veggie Stew
All you healthy eaters out there may now breathe a long sigh of relief. No more peanut butter chocolate pillows to give you a food coma. Ahhhhhhh. Vegetables! Beans! No sugar added! I crafted this meal with you folks in mind. The consistency of this dish is really less stew-like than my title may imply. It's almost more of a pasta dish. But, yet again, too stew-like to deny that fact in the title.
What can I say . . . I'm confusing.
The "thrifty" part comes in when you realize you have most of the ingredients needed already in the back of your kitchen cupboard.
What you'll need . . .
- 5 cups vegetable stock
- 3 cups water
- 1 can sweet corn (no salt added)
- 1 can diced tomatoes (fire-roasted)
- 1 can pinto beans
- 3/4 cup Israeli couscous
- 3/4 cup elbow pasta
- 1/2 cup Marsala cooking wine
- 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 package (about 12 ounces) frozen spinach
- Salt & pepper to taste
Method . . .
- In a large stock pot, combine the vegetable stock and water. Heat on medium-high until bubbling (but not boiling).
- Drain – but do not rinse – the corn, tomatoes, and beans. Add them to the pot, as well as the couscous and elbow pasta. Heat on medium-high heat for approx. 10 minutes.
- Check to see if the pasta & couscous are getting soft. Then add cooking wine and garlic chunks, and turn the heat down a bit. Cook for another ten minutes.
- Add the frozen spinach, stirring occasionally until it is fully incorporated (and not a frozen brick!).
- Add salt and pepper. Cook on low heat until ready to serve.
Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!
11 comments:
hello! just wanted to respond to something I saw your your twitter (as I just clicked on your link and read a few bits)... and since I'm stuck in 2005 and don't twitter myself I chose to do it here? anywho... being vegan is NOT expensive!! I get that all the time from people and it blows my mind. Sure, if you go hog wild at Whole Foods and load up on vegan cheese, veganaise, frozen faux meats, etc. etc. then yes, it will be very expensive. But are fruits and veggies that expensive? beans? tofu? bags of grains? Not to me at least :) My fiance and I are both vegan and have a groccery budget of $400 per month - that's 20 meals a week (breakfast, lunch, and dinner minus one dinner for our weekly indian takeout!) for two people in NEW YORK CITY. aka land of the most expensive grocceries ever. Its totally doable.
An example (because I'm crazy about this): If I were making a veggie lasagna. I make an awesome tofu ricotta which costs a little over $1.50 (tub of tofu from Trader Joe's, assorted spices, etc.). If I were to buy a 16 oz container of real ricotta cheese in NYC it would cost about $4 (how much Fresh Direct charges) plus anything else you add to the cheese like an egg, spices, etc.
okay, done being nuts. Sorry, I just had to get that out!
Hi, Amanda. I agree. Thanks for your input. It isn't necessarily expensive if you do it right -- so you make a great point. But I'm looking at your $400 a month budget . . . which is WAY over ours. I think it all has to do with your income and is totally relative. For us, we'd prefer to spend only $75 or so a week . . . but end up more in the $100 range, which is not where we want to be. We could use that extra cash for something better than filling our bellies.
But I think you posted some good advice. We don't all have to eat the fancy stuff to get good, flavorful nutrition :)
<3
It's good that you switch it up, but nothing tastes as good as peanut butter and chocolate!
SO AGREED, Cathy! Nothing is better.
What a delicious looking recipe...thanks for sharing it!
It's definitely relative. I wouldn't say that is so much income dependant though - the cost of living in NYC is a lot higher so $400 may sound like a lot but we're a secretary/messenger duo who both go to school part-time (hello tuition bills!) so we're not exactly well off. Just trying to say that anyone can do it :) The stew recipe looks yummy btw, I think I'm going to try it this weekend!
I have been craving a stew like this for weeks now. Thanks for the inspiration!
i'm cracking up right now because i hardly have half of the ingredients in the back of my pantry for this dish...but i had ALL of the ingredients for the peanut butter and chocolate pillows... ;) guess you can see where my priorities are! mmm...sugar. LOL
No problem, Erin!
And Ang -- hahahah. I've been there -- so, it's OK :) As long as you have something to eat, it's all good. Hope those pillows turn out well for you!
Ah yes the good old days when I would only spend 75 dollars, if even, a week on groceries. That was when it was just my husband and me. Now I am lucky if I can keep it under $250...a week...sigh. But then again, I have never been a particularly thrifty shopper, so more power to you, you thrifty shoppers you!!
Elizabeth -- we often go over. We're trying to be better at it. But sometimes it's so hard. Plus, eating is one of our favorite hobbies :)
Post a Comment