How to be a Cheap Couch Potato

The Topic: How to be a couch potato and cheap, by VegNews Office Manager Lyndsay Orwig

The Dish: So I'm going to confess—if I'm not at work at the VNHQ then I'm being a couch potato at home, and a big one at that. Let's just say that if I'm not on the couch, I'm in the kitchen preparing something to eat on the couch. But seriously, you don't have to feel sorry for me, because I absolutely love it. I work hard in my career, so I don't feel guilty about having leisure time, and I consider my big, beautiful couch to be my friend. We've had some great times together. Jealous yet? If so, then read on, my dear friends, because I have made being a couch potato into an art form, as well as a frugal and enjoyable way of life. So here are some tips on how to be a couch potato on the cheap!

1. Netflix! I'm sure you've heard of this awesome movie rental service before, but it is one of my absolute favorite things, so you're just going to have to bear with me. I find Netflix to be a huge money-saver, because I love my movies. If you don't believe me, then I challenge you to a movie trivia duel! I have a really big collection of movies, which I'm guessing I've spent more than $2,000 on, but believe it or not, they are all from my past as a foolish high school and college student. I have not bought a single movie since the age of 21. OK, that might be a little bit of a lie, but almost! And now, Netflix has a great Instant Watch membership where you only pay $7.99 per month to instantly stream movies and television shows to your TV or computer. Yes, it is every couch potato's dream come true. Also, right now Netflix is running a one month free trial for instant watch, so if you haven't signed up yet, you should really check it out.

2. Make Your Own Snacks. I'm not your typical couch potato—I don't just snack on junk food such as potato chips and Sour Patch Kids (although, those can sometimes be super good). I get a lot of satisfaction from making my own tasty treats to munch on while being on the couch. Here are a few of my favorites. You've heard about these before, but Abby's biscuits are so simple and oh so delicious! These are my go-to snack on Saturday and Sunday mornings with some maple syrup or jam. For a low-fat snack chip, I like to cut some corn tortillas into pretty little triangles, spray some olive oil on them, and toast them at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes, being sure to turn over once. Then I serve them up with whatever dip I have on hand, be it some fresh salsa or hummus. Finally, if I'm in the mood for something a little more nutritious and substantial, I make myself a big ol' salad with whatever greens I have on hand, some baked tofu, and some really good homemade dressing. I recently scored a copy of Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and I'm in total love with the Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing—a little sweet, a little savory, and just the right amount of spicy.

3. Get Your Read On! Yes, I love my movies, but I also love my books, and nothing's better than reading on a comfortable couch. Luckily, I have a huge collection of books that I still need to read. I also was gifted a really cool Nook Color for Christmas, and I've found that e-books are a bit cheaper than physical books. There's also the library, which is such a great resource—just don't rack up late fees, because they will haunt you for a lifetime. Lately, I've been obsessed with reading cookbooks, because as everyone knows, cooking homemade meals are way cheaper than buying from restaurants. Some of my favorite vegan cookbook authors include Robin Robertson, Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and Joni Marie Newman, but there are so many great ones.

The Final Word: It's not hard to spend a lot of money while being a couch potato. Believe me, I've learned that you can waste a ton of money on GrubHub, and though takeout is good some of the time, it's not the healthiest. Also, I don't condone spending every minute of the day on the couch, even though it's great. I ride my bike at least five days a week, and go out on the town when I can afford it. You can even use the couch as an exercise tool—sit on the edge and do some bicep curls and some leg lifts. Take it from a true couch potato, your couch can truly be your friend, not your enemy. Now sit back, and relax!

Staying in for Brunch

The Topic: Sunday brunch, by guest blogger Brooke Still

The Dish: I hate to say it, but I am without a doubt someone who lives for the weekends. And one of my absolute favorite things to do on my favorite days of the week is go out for brunch. There's nothing quite like sitting at a table, whether it be at a crowded diner or at a sidewalk café, and feasting on delicious tofu scrambles or amazing French toast as a server endlessly fills my coffee cup. Heaven. But, living in the city, what once was a simple Sunday morning treat can easily become an entire weekend's budget. And so when my boyfriend visited this past week, it seemed like the responsible thing to do was to eat brunch at home.

At first, eating brunch at home broke my heart just a little bit. Some of our best memories take place in our college town at a little hole-in-the-wall diner, nursing our headaches from too much, um, studying the night before. But with Savvy Abby's biscuit recipe and Isa Chandra Moskowitz's Vegan Brunch as my ammunition, I was determined to make our stay-in breakfasts just as amazing. Spoiler alert: They were. I won't give you a run-down of every single meal I prepared during my bf's stay, just the highlights. Of course, Savvy Abby's biscuits were amazing, especially mixed with chopped parsley and eaten with hot coffee right before we headed out to a San Francisco 49ers game. I also made some pumpkin mini-muffins from VegWeb that took about 30 seconds, and were absolutely delicious. But what rose to the top above any other brunch dish was Isa Chandra Moskowitz's A-MAZING East Coast Coffee Cake. This stuff literally melts in your mouth and I could not get enough. It really doesn't get any better than the buttery, crumbly, sweet coffee cake. We made ours with organic blueberries, though Isa has about 80 variations of the recipe. Isa was kind enough to share the East Coast Coffee Cake with us. Make it and you will not be sorry!

What You Need:

For the topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 cup canola oil, plus up to 2 tablespoons more if needed

For the cake:

3/4 cup nondairy milk

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease an 8-inch round springform pan or 8-inch square pan (I used the square). In a small bowl, add milk for the cake and vinegar; set aside to curdle.

2. Make the topping: In a small mixing bowl, mix together flour, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Drizzle in canola oil by the tablespoonful. Use your fingers to swish around the mixture until crumbs form. Alternate swishing and adding canola oil until all the oil is used and large crumbs have formed.

3. To make the cake: In a large mixing bowl, mix together milk mixture, sugar, canola oil, and vanilla. Sift in flour, baking powder, and salt and mix until smooth.

4. Pour the cake batter into prepared pan. Evenly sprinkle on the topping and pat it down just a bit. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted through the center comes out clean. Let cool for at least an hour before slicing and serving.

The Final Word: I can't tell you the exact amount of money we saved not eating brunch at restaurants all week, but at meals between $20 and $25 for the two of us, it was easily more than $100. Plus, because I love to bake, I already had most of the ingredients on hand! But the best part of it all was the quality time we spent every morning, slowly sipping coffee and eating delicious, homemade vegan treats. It really doesn't get better than that!

Cheap Eats: The Biscuit Edition

The Topic: The Art of Biscuitry

The Dish: The general equation for eating on the cheap is simple: groceries plus kitchen equals affordable food. Due to my inherently lazy nature and string of excuses—

"It's too early to cook. I'm tired."

"It's too late to cook. I'm tired."

"It's the weekend! I want a burrito."

—sometimes it can be difficult for me to motivate and make the most of my dollars and pantry. Enter: The Biscuit. This five-ingredient beauty has gotten me through some tough times, including a post-college stint in Arkansas in which my sister and I subsisted mainly on their floury goodness.

They make regular appearances during my lunch shifts at the VNHQ, and for a few good reasons:

1. They’re cheap. Using the most basic baking ingredients, a double-batch helps feed a famished staff and is super affordable, clocking in at a couple bucks.
2. They’re easy, using only five common pantry ingredients. If you never bake and don’t buy flour on the regular, stocking up won’t set you back much, and it promises future batches.
3. They’re customizable. From the basic recipe, you can go anywhere with add-ins—sweet, savory, spiced—and it’s incredibly friendly to ingredient substitutions.

These have impressed everyone from homemade-bread aficionados to biscuits ‘n’ gravy-loving omnivores, and they take literally minutes to make from mixing bowl to mouth. The recipe is so simple that I have it committed to memory, and it’ll be no time before you do, too. If you’re baking for a crowd or planning for the week ahead, I recommend doubling the recipe.

Abby's Cheap-Ass Biscuits

Makes 9 small or 6 medium biscuits

What You Need:

1-2/3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup non-dairy milk

1/3 cup oil

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add milk and oil, and mix until just combined.
2. With a 1/4-cup measuring cup, ice-cream scoop, or your clean hands, drop dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until bottoms are golden brown.
3. Top with non-hydrogenated margarine, syrup, jam, peanut butter, gravy, or anything else that you could possibly put on bread. Devour!

The Final Word: Like I said, this recipe can be taken in many directions. Feel free to experiment with different kinds of flours, oils, and milks (I love olive oil and almond milk), and add-ins are the best: garlic, fresh herbs, vegan cheese (1 cup of shredded cheese and a few cloves of garlic make the best cheese biscuits ever!), oats and raisins, etc. You can even skip the oven and throw spoonfuls in the skillet if you don’t want to heat up the house. I could go on forever. Can you tell how much I love these freaking biscuits? Go crazy with your imagination—or whatever you have on hand—and enjoy!