Share Your "Universal Recipes!"

[Turquesa]

I tend to suffer from what I've termed RDD--Recipe Dependence Disorder!! I want to get better at improvising with the ingredients that I have rather than running out and buying special ones.

I've gleaned a few "universal" recipes from The Tightwad Gazette that are available at various places online:

http://baskersfunfoods.blogspot.com/...l-muffins.html

http://burnfive.blogspot.com/2008/05...le-recipe.html

http://www.thismamacooks.com/2004/10...iversal_q.html

http://baskersfunfoods.blogspot.com/...ry-at-its.html

But (no offense, Frugal Zealot), rotating through these recipes can get a little old. I'll still continue using them and trying to innovate on them, but I'd like to throw some more ideas into the mix.

What kinds of dinners do you throw together with whatever is on hand? I'm vegetarian, but you can also post some meaty suggestions if you think it would benefit the omnivores. TIA!

[lolar2]

Universal pancakes: same as universal muffins, but double the milk (and, obviously, cook in a frying pan or griddle).

There are some others but I just kind of improvise them, I'll have to give some thought to writing up step-by-step directions.

[earthmama369]

I have four general "bases" that I use in recipes when I want to improvise or when I have odds and ends to use up:

pasta
rice
couscous
tofu

From there, I then decide what kind of flavor I want to aim for:

Indian
Americana
Mexican
Asian
Italian
stroganoff (where does that come from, anyway?)
etc.

That determines the spices I use. For Indian, I lean toward ginger, cumin, cardamon, cinnamon, things like that. For Italian, I use basil, oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary. For Asian, I might use fish sauce, hot sauce, soy sauce, five spice mix, lemongrass, peanut sauce. And so on.

You can add any variety of beans and vegetables to those bases and spices and get a wide variety of meals, many of which translate well to breakfast or lunch leftovers the next day, too. I've found Indian and Asian dishes, especially, to be good for breakfast the next day with a fried egg served on top. Pasta dishes often translate well to a cold pasta salad the next day. If it doesn't have a red sauce, you can add some salad dressing to it the next day to change up the flavor even more.

[lolar2]

Stroganoff is Russian, more or less.

[Usually Curious]

On Sundays I put a pot of beans on to soak (24 hours ala Nourishing Traditions) and cook a huge pot of brown basmati rice. From that base I can make a number of meals very quickly. I call it my 'convenience food'.

Mexican Fried Rice
Asian Fried Rice
Red Beans and Rice
Dirty Rice
Tostadas
Tacos
Nachos
Rice w/Tuna Sauce

This week I'm soaking navy beans and cranberry beans. Last week I made black beans and garbonzo. The week before I made a HUGE pot of pintos.

[Amys1st]

Originally Posted by lolar2

Stroganoff is Russian, more or less.

Darn, now I have a taste for that.....

[BetsyS]

I grew up in the deep south, with a heavy tradition of meat and threes. So, when I can't decide what to cook, I fall back on that. For me, we are meat eaters, so I usually make hamburger steaks (also known as salisbury steak), baked chicken breast, meatloaf, or salmon croquettes. Then, I just make three side dishes.

The vegetarian option for the same menu is the 4 veggie plate. Four completely unrelated side dishes, and yet, it somehow still works. I usually aim for one casserole (I'm in the south, afterall), one plainish vegetable, one type of greens, and one salad-ish something. Oh, and we totally count non-vegetables as part of the vegetable plate. So usually rice and gravy or macaroni and cheese, too. So, this time of year, that might look like squash casserole, collards, rice with tomato gravy,and a cucumber salad.

This is the meal I make in my sleep, though.

[earthmama369]

We totally had stroganoff tonight.

I mentioned this thread and dh and I both got a craving for it. We did a pot of spaghetti, and sauteed minced onions, baby portabella mushrooms, and some veggie "bacon" in a little vegetable oil. Toss it all together with a little cream sauce and freshly ground pepper and you've got a tasty meal in under 20 minutes. It was really good with a fresh salad from the garden -- lettuce, orange bell peppers, cucumber, and tomato. Yum.

[Turquesa]

I can work with these suggestions, even the meaty Southern ones.

I'm trying to devise a universal veggie burger recipe. There should be a way to make patties out of beans, tofu, diced veggies, some flour to make them firm, sauce or herbs to give them flavor, and eggs or another binder. Maybe breadcrumbs, too? This thread has inspired me to experiment.

[lolar2]

Absolutely. I think it will take some experimenting to get the ratios, but not too much-- mash up beans (I'd go with black beans because I prefer black bean burgers to tofu burgers) with seasonings, breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs, and egg. Basically find a crab cake recipe and substitute mashed beans.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by lolar2

Absolutely. I think it will take some experimenting to get the ratios, but not too much-- mash up beans (I'd go with black beans because I prefer black bean burgers to tofu burgers) with seasonings, breadcrumbs or cracker crumbs, and egg. Basically find a crab cake recipe and substitute mashed beans.

If you add some vegan worchestershire sauce to it, it'll add depth of flavor.
That's also pretty much what I do for turkey burgers.

[Chicky2]

Originally Posted by Juvysen

If you add some vegan worchestershire sauce to it, it'll add depth of flavor.
That's also pretty much what I do for turkey burgers.

chana dal makes some awesome bean burgers, too! And brown lentils....

I basically do the same as earthmama369 for our meals. The meats might be more likely to be either domestic rabbit, wild pig, guinea fowl, chicken, lamb, or goat. Fishes usually are either Wild Alaskan Salmon, or fish my kids catch like Bream, Blue Gill, Crappie, Perch, bass, or trout.

Meals are also egg-rich since we have so many.

Sides are made with berries we get for a steal thru a co-op, or that we pick, peaches from our trees, or veggies from our garden that we'd put up, and a grain, but not always-(bread, rice, quinoa, barley, etc...sometimes pasta).

[confustication]

Originally Posted by Usually Curious

On Sundays I put a pot of beans on to soak (24 hours ala Nourishing Traditions) and cook a huge pot of brown basmati rice. From that base I can make a number of meals very quickly. I call it my 'convenience food'.

Mexican Fried Rice
Asian Fried Rice
Red Beans and Rice
Dirty Rice
Tostadas
Tacos
Nachos
Rice w/Tuna Sauce

This week I'm soaking navy beans and cranberry beans. Last week I made black beans and garbonzo. The week before I made a HUGE pot of pintos.

I *really* like this approach. I think I'm going to try it out myself- I don't use beans and rice as much as I would like to simply because they are time consuming to do in the moment. If they were already done and in the fridge I would use them a lot more.

[philomom]

I'm married to a spaghetti guy. It can be a side dish to baked chicken or the main dish with meat sauce or meatballs. Honestly, if I was dead ... he could eat this three, four nights week.