Monthly Archives: July 2016

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Falafel Burger

Every now and then I want a burger. It doesn’t have to be a hamburger, but just that patty on a bun thing. With fries.  Have to have the fries. It’s probably all about the fries and not really about the burger, but it might be a little bit about the burger.

The grocery stores have a good variety of veggie burgers these days, but there is something about making your own that appeals to me. And since I had a little bit of time I decided to try it.

I found a recipe that looked pretty appealing. I still had leftover chipotle bbq sauce that I made the other week and this recipe called for BBQ sauce in the burger mix. I like bbq burgers, so why not. I did modify the recipe a little – in place of breadcrumbs I used oats. Not to make it gluten free but because I didn’t have breadcrumbs on hand. (Weird, I know) I also used less of some ingredients and more of others than the recipe called for – in other words I did exactly what I always do with recipes, I use them as a suggestion and basic guide.

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And because I was making burgers, I made fries – my favorite kind of fries, homemade sweet potato fries. These are stupidly simple to make – cut up sweet potato, coat in oil, salt and pepper and bake at 400 for about 20 minutes. Done. Slightly salty, slightly sweet and comfort food in its best form.

I froze the remaining burger mix as patties so I can just pop them in the oven and have a quick meal when needed. If I make them again, I will remember to not use the food processor on the vegetables – give the burger a little more texture. But overall, I really liked these and like that I have a simple home made burger base to work from. Bob liked them too, but to him they were more a variation on falafel than a burger, so we’ve dubbed these falafel burgers.

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Catching Up

It’s been busier than anticipated around here. I can’t pin point exactly why, but every time I think about making a post, the time gets away from me. Here it is – half way through July – and I’m still feeling like I have a thousand things to do. Part of this is school (cramming semester classes into eight weeks will do that).

I did manage to make a few delicious things over the weeks. I took leftover quinoa taco filling and made nachos. Oh my! I think in the few weeks since I discovered this, I’ve made these four or five times. Yes, they are that good.

It’s a simple concept, really. Chips – the kind we usually use for dipping with salsa – into a buttered pan. You probably don’t need to butter the pan, but I’m always afraid of things sticking and the burning, so buttered pan it is. On top of the chips I added roasted corn (or pan roasted if I’m being lazy) and the quinoa taco filling. To that I added regular queso and some shredded Gruyère because that is what I had on hand. A cheddar or cheese mix would work just as well here. I then repeated with a second layer of everything and tossed them in a 375 degree oven for ten minutes.

While the chips and cheese were melting, I made the salsa topping. I used the leftover tomato, red onion and lime salsa from the tacos, added a little more tomato and some scallion and tossed. I did add a little salt, but no more lime juice. Once the chips were out of the oven, I plated them and added the tomato mix on top. The results … perfection. I had these about 20 minutes before Bob got home for lunch, and the man is lucky I love him so much or I would not have saved him any. Seriously, it was almost the Truffle Mac & Cheese incident all over.

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It is also mango season and I had to get a mango at the farmer’s market the other week. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do with it, but I decided on Mango Panna Cotta. I love this stuff and it is stupidly simple to make. I started with half of David Leibovitz’s recipe and puree’d the mango that I had on hand. I did use regular gelatin in the recipe because I still had some in the cabinet, so these weren’t exactly vegetarian, but it works for now. If I can find Agar in my grocery, I’m swapping the next time I need a gelatin like ingredient. But I digress … I made the basic mixture then added about a half cup of pureed mango to it, poured into glasses, let it set for an hour and then added more to the top of each panna cotta. Dessert.

We also took the kitties to the vet last week. Yes, all three at once. They are all healthy and doing well and the vet was impressed with how well Ms. Leia was doing. It’s hard to believe they are all nine years old now!