Homemade Veggie Burgers...and a winner!

Homemade Veggie Burgers...

First a big WootWoot to LadyTink_534, aka Jen, the winner of the Gold Medal White Whole Wheat Flour giveaway. Jen will receive a VIP coupon for a free bag of the flour, a set of recipe cards, and a nifty blue Gold Medal cookie jar! Jen, let us know how your snickerdoodles turn out using the white whole wheat flour.

You all may remember me talking about how my daughter, Taylor, is a vegetarian. The phase that I thought she would outgrow has turned into a permanent lifestyle change and, while I remain a true carnivore, I gladly embrace most of the food that she now prefers. Good food is good food, after all. Now, my husband has seen how healthy former President Bill Clinton is looking these days (rumor has it he had become a vegan), and has decided to jump on the "mostly" vegetarian bandwagon. I really have to go with the flow here....

This weekend, I had a request from Taylor for some homemade food. As a poor college student (that dang chemistry book was $400!), she has been existing on ramen noodles. She specifically requested a couple of homemade pizzas--one veggie for her, and one pepperoni for the boyfriend--and some veggie burgers. The veggie burgers are a relatively new invention of mine. They even have a secret ingredient. Care to wager a guess? No? OK, then. I'll spill the beans. Pun intended. :)

The soup adds some liquid and some flavor to the veggie burgers.

Homemade Veggie Burgers

Printable Recipe

4-6 tablespoons olive oil for frying 1 cup chopped onions 1 cup chopped red bell pepper 2 cups chopped fresh mushrooms 1 clove garlic, crushed 1 cup fresh or frozen sweet corn 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 (19 oz) can ready-to-serve lentil soup 2 eggs, slightly beaten 2 cups fresh spinach leaves ¾ cup Panko bread crumbs 2 cups quick cooking oatmeal 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Turn down the heat to medium, and add the onions and peppers, then saute until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms, corn, and garlic, then continue to cook until the mushrooms are softened and browned, 5-6 minutes. Stir in the corn. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Reserve skillet for sauteing the burgers. While the vegetables are cooking, place the black beans in a large bowl and mash slightly with a fork. Stir in the can of lentil soup and the beaten eggs. Add the vegetables and the spinach and stir to combine.

Combine the oatmeal, breadcrumbs, and seasonings in a medium bowl. Add to the lentil and bean mixture, mixing well. To form the patties, line a custard cup with plastic wrap, leaving an overhang and fill with the bean mixture. Carefully pull the bean mixture out of the custard cup and fold the plastic wrap over the top to form into a patty. Repeat until 12 patties are formed, leaving wrapped in the plastic until ready to cook (you may freeze the patties at this point). Add a tablespoon of oil to the skillet and heat over medium high heat. Unwrap 2-3 bean patties and carefully add to the heated skillet. Reduce the heat to medium low and fry for about 5 minutes per side, or until browned and cooked through. Repeat for the remaining burgers, adding additional oil to the skillet, if needed. 

I chose the red bell pepper for some color. Feel free to use green instead.

I used Trader Joe's Roasted Sweet Corn...because I like it. :)

Instead of canned black beans, I cooked my own. The only problem was that they were a little hard, so I pulsed them in a food processor. All was good.

Here's where I could have added a slew of fresh herbs...but I didn't have any. Feel free.

Isn't this a clever way of forming the patties? No fuss, no muss.

I filled them almost to the top and got 12 patties.

At this point you can freeze the patties. Once they are frozen, they are easier to handle. When I fry them from frozen, I put a lid on the pan so that they cook through.

Of course, I toasted the bun with a little butter, then I spread some basil/tomato hummus on the bottom bun and topped it with some fresh spinach.

Have you seen the Pretzel Buns at Trader Joe's? Yum!

You can add whatever toppings you love. I used some prepared Taboule that I bought at Costco.  MMM...tomatoes, onions, parsley, cracked wheat, seasonings, olive oil....this was great on the burger.

The bottom line is that these veggie burgers are tastier and far more economical that the ones you find frozen  at the store. In fact, the husband is wanting me to make a second batch for our own freezer....they must be good!

Cavatappi with Pea Pesto

It all started with a boatload of fresh peas.

It's kind of sad that I've lived in Green Giant Country for over twenty years now and I've never made anything with fresh peas. Not even fresh peas. Well, thanks to my friend, Brenda, I can now cross that off of my bucket, baking, cooking list. She brought me two big bags of fresh peas (ironically from a shipment bound for Green Giant)!

The thing about peas, though, is that they come in their own packaging. This means that I had to put a little work into my finished project. Yup. I shelled peas. Oh, it wasn't hard. I even ended up with a couple of green thumbs. Literally. They were green....and I still can't keep a plant alive... 

Aren't they beautiful?

A few hours and several freezer bags of peas later, I was finished. I had no idea what to do with my peas, however. Boil 'em? Cream 'em? Fry 'em? Really, I hadn't a clue. But modern technology has given us Facebook, and I posed the question to my friends: "What should I make with my peas?"

Hmm...not a huge response. Luckily, my friend Emily from Sugar Plum came up with a few suggestions for me. The one that caught my attention: Pea Pesto! It rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? I had to try it.

I did a little research and found that the kind of peas I had were English Peas. The pods on these are pretty stringy, not suited for stir fry. It was almost a shame to toss all of them...

It turns out that making pea pesto is very similar to making regular pesto. Here, I adapted a recipe I found on epicurious.com. Easy Peasy. <----(sorry--couldn't resist). I changed out the penne pasta for cavatappi and added a few basil leaves, but aside from that, and using fresh peas rather than frozen, the recipe is the same.

Cavatappi with Pea Pesto

Printable Recipe

2 cups fresh peas (or use (1) 10 oz. bag of frozen peas)

2 large garlic cloves

1/2 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

several leaves of basil (optional)

1/3 cup olive oil

1 pound cavatappi pasta

Bring a medium saucepan of water to a boil. Add the peas and cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain well.

With the food processor running, drop in garlic and finely chop. Turn off motor and add peas, nuts and cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, then process until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil, blending until incorporated.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water (4 quarts) to boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 9-10 minutes. Reserve one cup of the pasta water before draining .

Toss the pasta with the pea pesto and thin as desired with the reserved cooking water.

It's like pesto, but it's also like guacamole. I'll bet if I added cilantro and a little lime juice, I could use this with tortilla chips....as it was, my husband and I were testing it out with a couple of spoons. 

I can think of a few things this pesto would be so good with....French bread, pizza, sandwiches....oh, the possibilities...

I probably could have made the picture look more appetizing, but I was running out of light. On the other hand, wouldn't this be a good dish for St. Patrick's day?

And there you have it. Pea Pesto. Pea Pesto Pasta. Say that real fast five times.....

Sweet Potato Bruschetta

I’ve mentioned before that my daughter has become a vegetarian. I’m afraid that at this point she really means it. No. More. Meat. While that may be fine for her, her mother is having a difficult time of it. What? No bacon? No burgers? While I may not embrace her choice, I do support the decision and I certainly want to be able to provide some tasty snacks, so I’ve been honing in on some of the foods that she does enjoy. This week, I’m experimenting with the lovely sweet potato.

The sweet potato is the ugly duckling of the vegetable world. This strange looking tuber actually transforms into some beautiful, not to mention tasty, food. Not only that, it provides some serious nutrition….this is a root vegetable that qualifies as an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), a very good source of vitamin C and manganese, and a good source of copper, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium and iron. And did you know that a yam is really just a sweet potato with a different name? I like just saying the word yam. So now that we have a great tasting, fun sounding veggie, what do we make with it? Hmmm. How about a Sweet Potato Bruschetta?

I’m not sure of the exact moment that I thought of making a Bruschetta out of my sweet potato. It may well have been a dream. Or, I may have thought of it as I passed a really nice baguette display in the grocery store. At any rate, this is what I came up with:

Sweet Potato Bruschetta

Printable Recipe

1 French baguette, cut into 1/2” slices

Extra virgin olive oil

1 cut clove of garlic

1 recipe Sweet Potato Chutney*

Begin by toasting the baguette slices. I do this by placing them on a large cookie sheet and putting them in a 400 degree oven for a few minutes, until they are nicely browned. Remove them from the oven and drizzle a bit of olive oil on each slice and then rub each slice with the cut clove of garlic. Then, simply top each slice with a spoonful of the Sweet Potato Chutney.

I cheated this time and just used a flavored dipping oil. See the red pepper at the bottom? It gave the oil just a bit of a kick.

Sweet Potato Chutney:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 large, sweet onion, chopped
1 large sweet potato, cubed
1/2 (about 3 cups) of a fresh pineapple, cubed
1 sweet red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (or I found this stuff in a tube that looks like pureed fresh ginger--yum! use a teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon curry
a pinch of salt

Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium/high heat. Add the crushed red pepper and the chopped onions and saute for about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and cook the onions until soft and just starting to brown, about 15 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients to the saucepan, stirring well. Cook over medium heat until the liquids boil down and the sweet potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Doesn't this picture just shout beta-carotene? 

The truth is, you can use this chutney on about anything. I tried it on grilled salmon and I also caught my daughter just eating it straight from the bowl....

Since I bought a boatload of these tasty tubers, stay tuned for more sweet potato adventures. Yam and eggs, anyone? Yamburgers? Hot Yam and Cheese? Yambalaya? I love that word.....

Veggie Burgers and Crunchy Potatoes with Caramelized Onions

Everything in moderation….

I’m trying to lose a few pounds. But, I like to eat. So, instead of going on a diet, I’ve decided to cut back a smidge. Trim a little here and a little there—it’s bound to make a difference, right? I think it’s called a lifestyle change. Yeah—I’ve done it before and lost 50 pounds in the process, but I’m thinking it won’t be quite as easy this time. Since I can’t (or should I say won’t) give up everything that I like to eat. My new motto: everything in moderation.

It helps that the other members of my family are hell bent on healthy eating. We been hanging out in the natural foods section of the grocery store and finding out that food that is good for you actually tastes pretty good (for the most part). I have found, for instance, that I really like hummus. Who knew chick peas could be so tasty? More on that later…

Tonight Pete was craving a hamburger. After much perusing in the grocery store, we decided on a veggie burger instead. The one we chose was a Morning Star brand “Turkey” burger. Hmmm…a veggie burger pretending to be a turkey burger? It didn’t make much sense, but it was made out of tomatoes and avocados---yum! I ended up buying just one hamburger bun since Pete didn’t want one and I didn’t want a whole bag to go to waste. Luckily, there was just one lonely bun left in the bin and it looked really good. A little crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, sesame seeds, whole wheat—it was perfect!

Once I got home and commenced to making our burgers, I decided we needed something to go with them. Pete really wanted potatoes of some kind so I ended up quartering a few russet potatoes, boiling them until they were just fork tender and smashing them on a cookie sheet with just a little olive oil (if this looks familiar, I got the idea from The Pioneer Woman's Crash Hot Potatoes-- I just used russet potatoes instead of red potatoes and I topped mine with onions) In the mean time, I cut up two large onions (I heart onions) sprinkled them with a tiny bit of sugar and sautéed them in a little olive oil for about 20 minutes. Then I topped the potatoes with the onions (saving some for the burgers), some parmesan cheese and some steak seasoning (it’s mostly pepper, garlic and salt).

I baked them in a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until the tops of the potatoes were crunchy and the onions browned. I actually have a “speed bake” option on my oven that I used---it blows hot air over the food while it’s baking.

Now, you have to admit that the crunchy bits of parmesan cheese and onions baked on the bottom of the pan are the best part of this...

Then, I put my burger together. Pete was on his own at this point---that bun was mine! Actually, the bun kind of dwarfed the burger, so I had to top it with a few things to even it out.  A little cheese, some more of the caramelized onions, some catsup, mustard and pickles....I'm getting hungry again, just thinking about it!

And there you have it. Craving solved in a most delicious and somewhat healthier way. Now if only I could motivate myself into dusting off  the elliptical.....

And before I forget...check out my new header! Isn't easier to read? A big thank you to my new friend and fellow Bake-Off® Finalist, Laura Stanke for fixing it up for me. You can find Laura at her very cute blog  Ohmydoodle.