Frugal Stew

     Weeks fly by, as they always do but the excitment of Friday never disappears. I work later than usual days come Fridays, I get to take advantage of the morning and stay snuggling until noon. Granted, I've been doing work in the am, so I don't stay cozied up for as much as I would like, but that's because this lady needs to make and save some dough. I recently dropped a lot for a flight so I've been kicking it VT style (is it free?) Everyday I usually nom on raw carrots, cucumbers, and some 쌈장 (ssamjang) and saving cash has left me stealing nuts for extra energy for the day. I don't get my coffee shop coffees, don't go out for drinks often...I mean it's always much more efficient to brew the joe at home, pop a cork with friends, but...that fresh acidic water is a treat. Payday, come my way so I can fill myself up a couple mugs. 
     The other day I caved, I needed to make something warm, I wanted a stew, a soup of some sort. I trucked it to a local grocery store and zipped to reduced price items...yea, I'm that one.
     I got a pound of tofu, 1.5 pounds of slightly soft cherry tomatoes, wrinkly mushrooms, some ignored kale, sad mushy bananas (I hate bananas but they have energy and potassium), and some soymilk on special. All this cost me~ 5,500W
     I had the carrot and cucumber slices and cabbage threads in my bag and was ready to whip something delicious up.

     I did.

all sorts of yum (photo taken by VeganBeats)

     I sliced, diced, seasoned, and my tiny apartment was sweating with a savory smoke that got Hamlet talking!

I call this my Frugal Stew~
What you need: (you can make a lot to a single serving, I made a lot...)
*1 cup cherry tomatoes, washed and de-stemmed
* as much kale as you want, chopped roughly
* shredded cabbage (as mush as you want)
*1 box of oyster mushrooms, chopped
*1 lb of tofu, cubed or slivered, all up to your preference
*1 small potato diced into bite-sized pieces
*1-2 T veggie powder (I brought some from Vietnam with me)
*2T chili seasoning
*1 t lemon juice
*1-2 t fresh ground pepper
*water

Directions:
1. In a medium-large pan bring several cups of water to a boil, add the potatoes, mushrooms, and tofu
2. Cook through until the potatoes are almost done, add the tomatoes, cabbage, and kale
3. At the same time add the pepper, powder, and lemon juice.
4. Add the chili powder and add more water if getting too thick.
~You can add water as you go, the starch from the potatoes naturally thickens this, you want the tomatoes to essentially split, you can crush them for more broth.

     This can be served with rice or alone. I went for it solo and it was just what my body wanted. Comforting, flavorful, the tomatoes really added lots of flavor...mushy of not, worth the price!! ^^*