This week is “clean the pantry” time at the Veggin’ household. So, everything in this meal was with stuff I had already on hand. You can play with the spices a bit, I had a wonderful punjabi chana masala spice blend, so I used that. If you don’t have that exact blend of spices, no worries, use garam masala or stick with combination of cumin, coriander, curry and a little cayenne pepper.

Acorn squash is so incredibly easy to make, especially if you’re stuffing it. I paired preparation of the acorn squash with using the rice cooker, so I barely had to do anything to get this meal put together.

So, not only did I not have to do any shopping for this meal, I barely had to do any cooking. Score!

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With Hurricane Sandy (aka “Frankenstorm”) about to rumble up the east coast, we’re all preparing to not have power for a few days. That means running to the store and making sure you have everything you need to stay safe, warm and fed. As far as food is concerned, if you can boil water, you can still have a pretty good vegetarian meal.

I highly recommend the Jet Boil as the must-have camping accessory and the hero of all power outages. They work with a little propane canister and heat up in a flash. Like scary fast. If you’re cooking something besides water, keep an eye on the food as it will cook faster than you think. Of course, there are lots of makes and models of camping pots and stoves, but we’ve found that the Jet Boils that we have don’t take up a lot of room and are light to carry when camping.

If you have access to a grill, you can boil water there, too. Just make sure the handle of whatever you are using to boil the water in won’t melt from the heat.

When you’re in the dark, the last thing you probably want to do is chop vegetables or wash a lot of dishes so I’ve come up with a few quick recipes that don’t require a lot of prep…or cleanup.

- Vegetarian Pasta Puttanesca – Bring water to boil on high setting. Add pasta and cook per package directions lowering heat so you don’t boil over. Make sure to stir pasta occasionally so it doesn’t get stuck on the bottom. Drain. Add some capers, black olives, chopped garlic or garlic powder, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, fresh herbs, salt and pepper.

- Couscous – Ratio of water to couscous is 2-to-1. Bring water and couscous to a boil, turn off heat, cover and let sit for about five minutes. Add some olive oil, Parmesan cheese and fresh herbs. Or, you can also add a vegetarian bouillon cube for extra flavor.

- Lentils – Ratio of water to lentils is 4-to-1. Add lentils and dried spices (garlic, onion, cumin, curry, turmeric, parsley – to taste) to pot, add water and bring it to a boil. Turn flame down to it’s lowest setting and let simmer until lentils are fully cooked about 15 – 20 minutes depending on amount of lentils you are cooking. Stir occasionally. Serve with pita bread.

- Rice – I’m usually not an advocate of minute rice, but I do have some on hand for power outages and camping trips. It takes less propane to cook the rice than regular rice. Instant rice has a one-to-one ratio. Boil water, add rice, turn off heat, cover, and let simmer for about five minutes. If you buy the rice in a little bag, it takes longer to cook about 8 to 10 minutes versus about five minutes for the loose rice. There is also instant brown rice available that’s a little healthier.

- Oatmeal – make instant oatmeal be your breakfast friend. Another thing to keep easily in the back of your cabinet when you have no power. Heat your water for tea or coffee and oatmeal at the same time. Add some dried fruit and some agave syrup for a little extra flavor.

- Ramen noodles – these notoriously pack a sodium punch. But, there are many brands out there that aren’t so sodium filled and there are also plenty of  vegetarian choices. Ramen noodles are easy to make, just boil the water, follow package instructions and can have some hot noodley goodness. These also can be pushed to the back of the cabinet as they have a super-long shelf life.

- Tasty Bite (aka Foods in a Pouch) – I am an enormous fan of Tasty Bite products. If you immerse the unopened pouches in boiling water, the contents will heat up. If your Jet Boil pot is not large enough for the pouch, then place the pouch in a larger pot, heat water to boiling in the jet boil, then pour the water into the larger pot. Add more hot water until the contents are heated through. (Frequently squish around the contents inside the pouch to distribute the heat.)

- Dehydrated camping foods – I am planning on doing a larger review of dehydrated camping meals, in the meantime, we have had good luck with the vegetarian entrees Backpacker’s Pantry makes. They have everything from breakfast, dinner and desserts. Just add boiling water, reseal and let it sit. These products are easily found at stores that sell camping equipment.

And, with all of these recipes, stay safe when the power is out. Don’t leave the Jet Boil unattended while you are cooking. And, remember, it gets very hot so be very careful!

My best wishes and thoughts to all my dear Veggin’ readers out there about to get hit with this seemingly powerful and devastating storm.

Some may think that eating vegetarian meals requires making fussy gourmet recipes every night of the week…in reality, it’s far from it. We vegetarians are just like everyone else where sometimes we want to eat good and eat good NOW. Even more so, it’s getting to the time of year where I want to come in out of the chilly air, spend just a few moments in the kitchen, and then immediately get in my jammies. I’m constantly looking for warm, filling and easy easy easy recipes to make.

This enchilada stacker recipe is an easy weeknight meal that converts to some fantastic leftovers for lunch the next day. I whipped up some homemade enchilada sauce (seriously, it’s super easy) and then got to work quickly layering some ingredients I had on hand. While the pie was cooking in the oven, I had just enough time to get my jammies on…and it was time to eat!

Vegetarian Enchilada Stacker
by Megabeth

•  6 whole wheat tortillas
• 2 cups cooked black beans (or 1 15.5 oz can black beans)
• 1 8 oz package seitan chicken strips, chopped
• 1 1/2 cup shredded cheese (use a combo of monterey jack and cheddar cheese)
• 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce

Coat bottom of glass pie pan with cooking spray (or, drizzle a small amount of olive oil to lightly coat the bottom).

Then add the ingredients in the following order (spread evenly):

- 1/2 cup enchilada sauce

- two tortillas

- 1/2 of the seitan

- 1/2 of the black beans

- 1/3 of the cheese

- two tortillas

- 1/2 cup enchilada sauce

- 1/2 of the seitan

- 1/2 of the black beans

- 1/3 of the cheese

- two tortillas

- 1/2 cup enchilada sauce

Put the tortilla stack in an oven preheated to 400 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining cheese on top of tortilla stack. Place back in oven until cheese is melted  – about 5 minutes.

See, told you…easy easy easy!

Yesterday was a red letter day in the Veggin’ household. I made enchilada sauce. Sure, it seems simple enough now. I had always thought it was a more complicated affair. But, now I know I can whip this sauce up pretty fast and have some super-good sauce as a result.

A word of warning, if you’re one to shy away from spicy then make doubly sure that the chili power you are using is NOT spicy. A friend of ours was moving overseas and gave me a lot of her Indian spices. I had an extraordinary amount of chili powder that I was looking forward to using. It smelled glorious, deep and smoky. I proceeded to add the required 1/3 cup into the mixture and once blended, did an initial taste test and exclaimed, “YOWZA!” To which the In-House Taste Tester yelled from the back room, “Hot, eh?” Yes, yes indeed.

Fortunately, I like the hot and the spicy. I did cut it a little bit with some lemon juice and some dollops of milk after it boiled on the stove for a bit.

But all-in-all, this recipe is basically throw it in the blender, then heat it up on the stove and you’re all set to go make your enchiladas.