7 Meals in 36 Hours (Or, “Driving Through Driving Through”)

In my pantry today:

• 5 freezer and 2 “tonight’s” dinners

See I wasn’t really writing about what I was doing while I was doing it and the photographs are shameful afterthoughts to two days’ work and to several new recipes. I’ve been meaning without much forward momentum to make more meals to freeze and have on hand — while we could eat prepackaged dinners from the Indian grocery as if they’re going out of style (assuming they’ve ever been in it), there’s got to be a cheaper and more nutritious business to be had. It will all start painlessly enough:

• 2 large yellow onions
• 1 medium bulb garlic
• 1/3 c olive oil

Slice and mince the respective bulbs and put everything in the crock pot on H. Let cook until the onions begin to beckon translucence. Erstwhile, work on two meals worth of

Aloo Matar

• 1 10 0z can whole white potatoes
• 1 c peas
• 2 medium yellow onions
• 4 large cloves garlic
• 4 small-medium jalapeno peppers
• 1 32 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 3 tbsp vegetable ghee
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
• 1 c vegetable broth
• 2-3 tbsp coriander
• 3-4 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida

Chunky slice the onion, garlic and chiles. I left the seeds in the peppers this time because the four I picked were pitiful in stature. Melt ghee and sprinkle in the mustard seeds. Cook on ML until the onions begin their wilt then crank the heat to M. The mustard seeds should be popping by the time you mix the turmeric, ginger-garlic paste and 2 tbsp each: coriander, cumin into a buttery paste. Transfer everything to a food processor, pour in a dollop of broth and pulse until as smooth as possible. Return to the pan, add tomatoes and broth. Stir and bring to a low boil on M. Reduce heat to L and let cook down for a few hours before adding additional seasonings, sliced potatoes and peas. It’s not exactly like the store-bought version I so love, but it is an adequate substitute full of good things. 4 spoons.

Now go back to the crock pot. Everything should be sizzling at a light boil. Strain out all the onion and garlic chunks and throw them in the food processor. Pulse until as smooth as possible, then divide 2/3 of the goop back into the crock pot and 1/3 to a new pot on the stove. In this pot, there will be some kind of completely inauthentic version of

Red Bean Makhani

• 1/3 pulsed crock pot doins
• 1 11 oz can red beans
• 1 6 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/3 c half and half
• 1/3 c vegetable broth
• 2 tbsp hot curry powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/8 tsp asafoetida

Mix seasonings into the pot, making it even funkier a gunk. On heat rising to M, add in the tomato sauce, vegetable broth and cream. Throw in the beans and everything cook at a light boil on L for an hour or two. Then, return to the crock pot for marinarings. 5 spoons.

Crock Pot Marinara

• 2/3 pulsed crock pot doins
• 3 36oz cans crushed tomatoes
• 2 6oz cans tomato sauce
• 1 14oz can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 4 oz can tomato paste
• 1 tbsp basil
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Put all of that in the crock pot and cook on L overnight. 4 spoons.

There’s enough going on in the Aloo Matar pot before the potatoes and peas went in that 1c was taken out as a base for a

Creamy Corn Curry

• 1 c that stuff in pan #1
• 1 c corn
• 1 c diced frozen spinach
• 1 16 oz container 1% milk
• 1 5 oz can evaporated milk
• 1/3 c unsweetened almond milk
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida

That little cardboard box of milk in the back of the cupboard? Empty it into a saucepan and bring it to a low boil, then keep it there for a couple hours. When it has thickened, skim off the skin and add the reserved stuff from pan #2. Stir cornstarch into the evaporated milk then thusly stir that into the milkpot. Add a little more almond milk to thin out any overthick attitude. Stir in corn and spinach, remove from heat. 4 spoons.

Five meals went into the freezer, and still there was enough marinara to make a

Cheesy Penne Bake

• 3-4 c penne pasta, cooked
• 2-3 c marinara
• 1/3 c Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 c mozzerella cheese
• dusting of cayenne

Mix the pasta and sauce in a baking dish and sprinkle cheese atop. Bake in a 350 oven for 20m or until cheese is beginning to brown at the edges of the dish. This 5 spoon dish concludes a deeply satisfying almost-two-day-long act against the desire to hit a drive through at the end of a long day. I am so grateful to have had the ingredients and time to start taking care of this before the most hectic parts of the holiday season begin. Happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Hot [Crock] Pot Chili

In my pantry today:

• 3 poblano peppers
• 4 jalapeno peppers
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 56oz/7c/3.5lb petite diced tomato
• 1 c corn
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp taco seasoning
• 1 tsp red hot chili powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp asafoetida

This ended up being the finest batch of chili I have made to date — and it’s completely vegan. I say that because not only should it surprise you, but because it does so for me as well. It’s a tribute, really, to how little meat needs to do with flavor.

Start out with your onion and garlic pieces with oil in the crock pot on H. Walk away and halve your peppers, taking care to leave seeds out or in depending on your spice palate. Put them open-side down on a baking sheet and put them closely under the broiler until their skins begin to char, then remove them from the oven, remove the skins from their shoulders, and dice. Throw those into the crock pot with the garlic and onion, stir and leave on H for a few more minutes. Following enough of a break to begin some dishes or some such nonsense, add canned tomatoes with liquid and cooked beans, reduce crock pot to L and let simmer for several hours. Stir in all your seasonings a little while before dinner — it tasted so flavorful before I did any of that that I nearly didn’t add a single thing; the taco seasoning will get it from “a little too liquidy,” though, into proper chili territory. Despite — or maybe because of? — the lack of meat, this chili deserves 5 spoons.

My pantry’s Dream Team

In the interest of full disclosure here, lemme go ahead and let y’all know what the whatall I usually always have around the kitchen. These aren’t necessarily recommendations, but let’s be honest: if it works for me, there might very well be a good chance you’ll want to stock up on something here. These are your fallback guys to victory in the game of healthy deliciousness. Conversely, I am open to interviewing additions to this list if’n you got a say.

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Vegetable ghee (new as a “staple,” but am I ohsoglad it came into my life. we will discuss the merits of this over butter another day.)
• Canned tomatoes (diced, crushed and/or paste)
• Rice (giant bags of Basmati come cheap at your local Indian supermarket)
• Dried pasta
• All kindsa dried beans*
• Canned broth (chicken. beef and/or vegetable)
• Garlic paste, powder and/or whole fresh
• Spices. Lots of spices. I would say I was indiscriminate about it but it’s public record that I believe cumin smells like third-world poverty.
• *Asafoetida, also known colloquially (by me) as “FART POWDER.” You would eat more beans if it weren’t for the symphony provided by that musical fruit? That much fiber makes you crampy? Tell your excuses to suck it.