Vegetarian on a budget: Baked veggie eggrolls

I like the idea of eggrolls. Delicious food wrapped in delicious dough - it's like a tiny bean-less cheese-less rice-less burrito. What I don't like about eggrolls is that they are often tasteless, filled with vegetables I don't like, dripping with grease and too crunchy (or not crunchy enough?).

The solution, of course, is to make my own eggrolls. These are a little time-consuming, but easy and healthy. 

The most difficult part is finding eggroll wrappers. If you have Chinatown or an Asian foods store nearby, look for SpringHome brand (on the right). If you don't have access to these, almost every supermarket carries the Nasoya brand(on the left). These are usually located in a refrigerated aisle next to veggie hot dogs, fancy salad dressings, and tofu. 

The filling can be anything you want it to be, but if you want to go the traditional route, here are the basics for your shopping list:

Vegetarian on a budget: Stuffed bell peppers

Sometimes you want to cook something delicious and filling, but don't want to go grocery shopping and get specialty ingredients that are too expensive or won't get used up before their expiration date (I still have a mostly full half-gallon of milk left over from Russian pancakes I made over a week ago). 

Here is the answer to all of your financial and gustatory problems - stuffed peppers. This dish is incredibly versatile, as you can stuff said peppers with virtually anything you have around the house. Here is the basic recipe - feel free to experiment with it to make it your own. 

Ingredients (essential)

Bell peppers of any color (green are usually the cheapest)
Rice, or any other grain of your choice
A can of diced tomatoes (regular tomatoes or even tomato paste will do in a pinch)

Ingredients (non-essential)

Fake meat
Mushrooms
Eggplant
Beans
Any vegetable or protein you have lying around the house
Cheese (for topping)

Russian pancakes (blini) with filling

There was no post this Wednesday because I was too busy celebrating my one-year anniversary with my boyfriend. To properly celebrate, I cooked his favorite dish from my Russian culture (which is not exactly known for its vegetarian selections). If you've read my post about cookbooks , you know that I'm against stringent recipes. So I'm bringing this dish to you with some tweaks, tips and ongoing commentary to make you feel at ease with preparing this somewhat-intimidating Russian version of pancakes.

A little intro - Russian pancakes, or блины (blini) are somewhere between American pancakes and French crepes. You can eat them unfurled with jam/honey/syrup of choice or rolled up with savory filling. My favorite fillings are mashed potato and mushrooms, but you can literally fill them with anything you'd like - fake meat, sauteed veggies, cheese, rice and beans (a bold choice), or fruit chunks.

We start with the ingredients. You will definitely need flour and eggs. Milk will make them heartier, but you can substitute water for milk (use less). Baking soda will make the dough a little more porous. A bit of salt and/or sugar can be added for a fuller taste. You can experiment with adding any spice, but don't overdo it - a pinch will do. You will also need a bit of oil or butter to grease the pan. Here are the ingredients I used.

1/2 cup flour
2 cups milk (if using water, stick to about 1.5 cups)
2 eggs (not pictured because they wouldn't sit still)
Pinch of sugar, salt and baking soda
Cooking oil spray

Here are the basic steps for creating blinis: