If you have a Whole Foods, get some TVP. Textured vegetable protein is awesome! It is sold in their bulk foods section and is wonderfully versatile. I generally use about half ground beef and half tvp in spaghetti, tacos, etc...You have to play with the amount of liquid, and with-o the meat you need to punch up the spices, but it works very well. Tvp has little taste of its' own and picks up the flavor of the spices super well.
Consider ordering spices online to get the freshest available. It really makes a difference. I LOVE
www.myspicesage.com . Each order comes with a free 1 oz sample from a very long list of spices. They also usually have a deal where if you get ten dollars of spices they send you a certain amt of a certain spice, and you get a bigger amt of that spice with a thirty dollar order.
If you have a copy of The Tightwad Gazette, it has some great recipes. I can't find my copy but their bulgar wheat/lentil casserole was great and I completely loathe most dishes like this. The Tightwad Gazette was originally a newsletter, then the issues were packaged into a book, and eventually they had 3 books. Now you can get "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" and you get all 3 of the books, which are all of the issues of the newsletter ever published.
Hummus is super easy to make by draining garbanzo beans and mashing them with a fork and some spices. Chickpeas and garbanzo beans are the same thing (I had to look this up, lol!). One really cool thing about beans is that if you soak them, rinse and drain them, then freeze them until you are ready to use them, they end up being more tender than if you used any other method with them. Water expands when it freezes and the crystals that it forms inside the beans will break down the cell walls so that the bean is much more tender. I would soak them, rinse them thoroughly, then freeze them in the amt you would usually use in a recipe (1 to 2 cups for most recipes). Then just take them out and let them thaw or thaw them in hot water/the microwave.
You can add any spices you want and you do not have to add any oil or fat to them. We like garlic, onion, sriracha and some greek yogurt in them as our hummus dip. You can do the same thing with beans for refried beans.
Hashbrown casserole (like Cracker Barrel) can be made with vegetable broth, as can many other things. A wonderful way to make veggie broth is to put a container in your freezer. Any time you cook veggies, pour the liquid off into this container and put it back in the freezer. You can also add things like onion peels, leftover veggies or veggies that are not going to be eaten as leftovers or whatever. Use the liquid from canned veggies in this container but do not use the liquid from cans of beans or soaking beans. If you use the bean liquid you will end up with a lot of gas from the fermentation of the beans. When the container is full, thaw it enough to get it out of the container and put it in a big pot. Start over low/medication heat and cook until fully thawed, then bring to a boil, skim the top as needed, and when it has simmered for a while (can't say how long because I don't know how much you will have to start with) remove from heat. Strain this to get the bits of veggies out (these will be cooked to mush and can include celery tops, outer leaves from lettuce, cabbage, etc.....) and use in place of meat broth/stock. I would add some quartered onions and several cloves of garlic before I turned up the heat to bring the broth to a boil, but that is what we like.
You can also do this veggie stock by putting the frozen veggie leftovers into your crockpot, making sure there is at least one cup of liquid that is not frozen when you turn it on (add some water or whatever you like (this helps the crockpot cook more efficiently) turn it on and go to work. Strain it when you get home and there you are.
Another thing we really like is a big tomato based sort of stew. I am not sure what else to call it as we often call it "Garbage Soup". I start with a visit to the farmer's market or the veggie dept at the grocery. I get all sorts of things - squash, eggplant, leeks, onion, carrots, celery, corn, whatever. You can use frozen if that is what you have. We find that green beans and peas are both pretty yucky in this, but you might like them.
Peel and chop the veggies. Simmer onion and garlic in a big pot until translucent. You can simmer in a healthy fat or in water, just keep an eye on it and don't let it burn. Put your chopped and peeled veggies into the pan and cover it iwth tomato sauce. Stir these together well and add whatever spices you like. Let the mixture come to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer. simmer until veggies are cooked to the desired texture.
At this point you can serve it over rice or noodles or whatever or you can put it into the blender or food processor or use an immersion blender to make a smoother sauce. It is great on pasta and on spaghetti squash (don't put the spaghetti squash into the recipe, find directions online to cook it) if you are watching your carbs. This freezes very well.
