Here they are after I smoked them for awhile in the smoker, and then threw them on the grill machine to get some marks on them. D wanted cheese, so that's why one of these is not like the others :) If you aren't allergic to mushrooms (sorry, Stacy), you really should give these a try. They come together really fast. And, unlike mass produced fake burgers, you can pronounce every single real ingredient. I just left out the liquid smoke from the original recipe since I have a smoker. Next time, I'll try them on the for-real grill. Here's one all dressed up on a whole wheat English muffin. Those are chickpea fries on the side.
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I'm in a no grading zone today, but that will change in a few hours. In the meantime, I've already ordered tomatillo seeds, a few Garden Patch boxes, and booked the trip for the Running of the (NOLA) Bulls. I find that doing things in batches like that helps me get over my tight-wadiness a bit. Like ripping off a band-aid.
I've got other plans for the day--still need to vacuum, mop, take the dogs for a walk, and then I'm going to play in the kitchen, most likely. I've become a big fan of My Vegan Cookbook, lately, and love the rice and oats "sausage". Tonight, I think we're going for these burgers and some chick pea fries on the side. I'll be making bread today, too, and feel a potential cracker baking coming on. Those olive oil crackers I made awhile back sure were good. Gumbo with Shrimp, Andouille, and Chicken. The okra was my last bag of home grown from the folks. I put a bit too much rice in our bowls, but that's a good excuse to go back to the gumbo pot for more, of course. King cake! I love the King Arthur sparkle sugars. I also used their artisan seed mix on the bread that you can see on the side of the bowl above. I got the baby, so I guess I'll be the one baking cakes again next year. I hope Susan and Ron enjoyed theirs. Italian Lentils with Morningstar Farms Italian "Sausage" This was quite good--even if we did have to wait in line forever at Kroger because they didn't know where to look for the code for the fresh fennel. Polenta Casserole with Greens and Butternut Squash: A real winner. What wouldn't be good about a big cheesy layer of grits studded with pieces of sun-dried tomatoies, spicy mustard/collard/turnip greens in the middle, and a layer of roasted butternut squash puree with yet more cheese? Even better? 1/6 of this (which was a healthy slice) was under 300 calories. Crazy! Pistachio-Lemon Pesto with Spinach and Whole Grain Pasta: Easy and quite yummy. This is the first go out of The Moosewood Cookbook for Health. We liked it, but will probably opt for marinating the tofu and adding some heat to the greens. We had seitanic nuggets last night and I think the hot and spicy sauce I made for dipping (Sambal and orange marmalade) would be a good addition to the sauce or brushed on right before broiling the tofu. The Quinoa Bread turned out quite good--this is the first loaf I made. I've done another from the batch, and I'm going to let the remaining dough rest awhile to see if it gains a bit more flavor.
Joe sent me my very own copy of Healthy Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day as an Xmas gift. I was hooked on the master grain recipe even before I got the book, and since I've had it, I've made that recipe again. Today, I decided to make the Quinoa Bread today to go with our pot of Harira for dinner. If it's really pretty, I might come back and add a picture. It's not like we need a tub of yeast bread in the icebox all the time, but it is definitely better than store-bought bread, and the doughs will last a couple of weeks (the longer they sit, the more sour-doughy they get). And, after all, quinoa has a lot of protein!
The other book I got recently was the Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health. This one came about because the Good Cook Cookbook Club was like, look, you can buy your membership-required book or we can just bill you. I opted for actually getting a book for that 20+ bucks. I have yet to cook anything out of it, but I've been through it twice already and can honestly say there is nothing in there that I'm not willing to try. Sure, there are some recipes that look less exciting than others, but they all look good. And, unlike a lot of non-meat books, this one includes the nutritional information for every recipe. I'm really excited about this one, and you can expect to start seeing my efforts here as I start going through it. I just got a report from Mom that she is using her smoker (Cameron's stove-top mini smoker). Sis (AKA Crochet Renee) got me one in 2008 for Xmas, and I in turn got Mom, Sis, Deb, and several friends their own smokers this year. Our latest obsession in the smoker has been smoked red onions. In fact, I wish we had some red onions right now! I don't know where the camera is, so no pictures today. If I find it before the soup and the buns are gone, I might add 'em later.
I've kind of fallen for Thai-Inspired Pumpkin Soup. I say "inspired" because I'm not really sure if they eat pumpkin soup in Thailand. It's really more a method than a recipe (honestly, most of my recipes that I make up are just what "happens.") Here's what I did this time: 1 chopped onion Several cloves (at least three) smashed, minced garlic a good knob of fresh ginger, minced 1 lb of roasted pumpkin flesh, give or take. I reckon this was around 2 generous cups I sauteed this for a good bit until the onions were fairly soft, but not melted. I broke the pumpkin up with a spoon while I stirred. I then threw in 1 can of full fat coconut milk, a large clump of Mae-Ploy Red Curry paste, and some salt, hit it with the immersion blender, then put it back on the heat with two cups of chicken stock. My stock was frozen, so I brought it up to temp, letting everything meld together as the broth melted into the soup. When I got a simmer, I squeezed in 1/2 a lime, tasted it, and we called it done. These were paired with the baked version of Sunset Mag's Whole Wheat Mushroom-Cashew buns, which you can read about on Vegan Crunk's blog (they steamed theirs, but I always bake). While on the topic of my "method" recipes, I also should describe how I make Rosemary Borlotti Beans with Polenta for Rita. The polenta process is one described by Crescent Dragonwagon in The Passionate Vegetarian, which I highly recommend to anyone working on adding Arkansan-friendly vegetarian meals into their diet. Preheat your over to 350. Slightly grease a casserole dish (spray it or whatever). I use my cazuela, and CDW recommends a skillet, I think. Any oven proof thing will work, really. I like my cazuela because it's sort of stick-resistant and has a lid, which comes in handy if your polenta is ready before the rest of the meal is. But I digress. Put a cup (for four generous helpings) of course corn grits (not hominy, not instant) into your pan. Add three cups of your favorite stock, stir, add oil if you want, add salt if you like. Put it in the oven and leave it for 40 minutes. At 40 minutes, stir it, then let it cook for 10 more minutes. You just made polenta. You can eat it soft under beans, shrimp, marinara, or a bajillion other things. Just ask Allison about the shrimp and grits! For the beans, take a cup (again, this is for four servings) of dried cranberry beans (AKA borlotti beans). Don't let the exotic name scare you--Kroger carries their own brand of these. If you can't find them, you could use pintos, but the texture and taste won't be the same. Either soak these overnight, or hot soak the beans by putting them in a pan of water, bringing it to a boil for a full minute. Then, turn off the heat and put a lid on it. Let it sit for an hour, then drain the beans, rinse them and the pot, put the beans back in the pot and add water to cover. Cook the beans until they are tender (probably another 45 minutes to an hour). When you are ready to flavor the beans, mince about six cloves of garlic and heat that in olive oil in a large skillet. Add the leaves of about three good sized sprigs of Rosemary and add a some sea-salt and red pepper flakes (you know how much heat you can take). Saute a chopped onion in this mixture for a few minutes and when the onions are about as tender as you like them, add your cooked, drained beans. Heat the beans back up, checking them for flavor and seasoning as needed. You may also need to add a bit of the bean juice to the pan if it's too dry--you're looking for kind of a creamy "glaze" on the beans. If you have bacon in the house, you might do what I did--make bacon bits from several pieces in the skillet first, then draining all of the grease (except what sticks to the pan) and then adding a bit of olive oil to it before you start working on the beans with the herbs and what not. Then, you can put the polenta down first, the beans on top, and the bacon bits on top of that. Don't forget to add spicy mustard greens, kale, and/or turnip greens to your plate! I'm tagging this with Arkansas Food tags for a couple of reasons. First, the polenta and bacon, as well as the pumpkin, mentioned in this post were from our BAM program. Also, we are not getting a basket for January, due to low yield this time of year. CDW used to live in Arkansas, too, and the greens are things you can get locally when in season. One of the food blogs I read often had this Red Posole recipe up the other day that looked awfully good. I didn't want to wait for dried posole (I'd either have to hunt for it or order it, soak it, cook it a long time), so I picked up a huge can of hominy at Kroger and set out to make my own (mostly) meatless version tonight (beef broth is not really "meat," but I can see). Here's what went in:
1 large diced onion 5 cloves smashed, minced garlic 5 peeled, seeded diced hatch chiles (you can use a can of diced green chiles) 1 Large (28 ounce) can of whole tomatoes 1 Large (28 ounce approx) can of hominy, drained Chili Powder 2 (14 ounce appox) cans of beef broth (if you want to stay 100 percent vegetarian, get veggie stock) 3 cups (two cans, if you don't have any in your freezer) cooked pinto beans. I threw them in, juice and all from the freezer, letting them thaw in the stew. lime wedges, shredded cheese, and tortilla chips for garnish Saute onions and garlic with a good bit of chili powder. Add in the chiles and drained hominy. Add the juice from the can of tomatoes, the broth, and break up the tomatoes by hand (unless you get diced, which would be fine). Put your beans in, heat. Adjust seasonings as desired. I have made pork based posole in the past, and D and I both decided this is actually better. Enjoy! I've been seeing a lot about Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and after seeing today's Baker's Banter I had to go in search of the site. I was not disappointed! Here's how mine looked. I used white whole wheat, but followed the recipe, otherwise. My other experiment? Carmelizing onions in the crockpot for onion soup. Worked like a charm. I had a left over leek that went in there, too. I slow cooked those all day, in some butter (not too much). Around 4 or so, I threw in some minced garlic. Tthen when the bread went in to bake, I put in some sherry, two cans of beef broth, about two cups of vegetable stock, and some bay leaves and salt and pepper.
I don't know that I'll go back to making onion soup or whole wheat loaves the same way. I've still got a bunch of dough, so I get to play with it over the next couple of weeks as it gets more sour doughy. Life is good. |
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