Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

Yum! I tried a new recipe today, from last Tuesday's Food section of the Oregonian. They were even Vegan if you use vegan mayo (or don't have any)! I'm trying to write it fast here, because somehow, after we got the burgers in the oven (and before I had the mayo whipped up) the article disappeared. The kids say it's a single-use recipe. :-) I'm assuming it'll eventually turn up, but then we did take out the recycling, and who knows where it ended up? I looked on the Oregonian's website, but alas, the Oregonian doesn't list *all* of it's recipes online. Stupid Oregonian. Oh, yeah, they did bring us a great recipe--I won't complain too much.

So, here's what I can reconstruct:

Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

2 cups diced garnet sweet potatoes
1 cup rolled oats (I used 1/2 cup oat flour instead)
1/2 cup ground roasted peanuts
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
2 minced cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 cup minced onion
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the sweet potatoes in a saucepan, covered with water, for about 10 minutes until they are tender. Drain and let cool for 10 minutes or so. Put all ingredients into a bowl and squish the mixture together with your hands. The recipe said to form 4 patties, but we recommend 6--they were too big and squashy. (But awfully tasty!)

I cannot reconstruct the mayo since I didn't make it. Instead, I made homemade mayonnaise and made it into aioli by adding two cloves of garlic that I'd ground in my mortar and pestle.

I served this on homemade whole wheat buns. You don't have to make them homemade....but if you have the desire to, it sure did add to it! I'd definitely use whole wheat even if they are store bought. Oh, and lettuce, and everyone else in my family used ketchup. But I did not.

If I remember any ingredients I forgot to list, I'll add them. I hope this is right! Hey, if anyone has last weeks' Food section, let me know if I got all the ingredients right!

Two dinners and a breakfast

Wow, what a last couple of weeks I've had! A week ago Thursday, the kids and I went on the road and headed south to California. It was the Metropolis' annual Presvyteres Retreat (Presvytera is the title for a priest's wife in the Greek Orthodox Church). I had the great idea of adding on some things to do while we were in California: first, of course, was to visit my 101 year old grandmother. She lives close to St. Nicholas Ranch, where the retreat would be held. I decided to drive instead of fly because my parents are out of town and wouldn't be able to drive me over to see Grandma. Also, then I could take the kids and they could see her too. Then, I also had the great idea of picking up Zac's best-friend-in-the-whole-world, Isaiah, in San Francisco, and he could spend the weekend with us, which is just what Zac's been craving. While in San Francisco, I went out to breakfast with my brother Bruce and sister-in-law LaDonna. We went to Crepevine, one place I'd always meant to make it to in San Francisco but never did until now. Wow, was it good! I had their Santorini crepe, as I was in the mood for a sweet crepe, and was a little taken aback that it came with not only whipped cream, but also ice cream! For breakfast! Okay, I'm cool with that. Yum, it was so good.

So! After we got done with all that wonderfulness and got home on Monday, we were ready for a break (but weren't to get too long of one right away). We got home at around 3 pm on Monday, and I sure didn't feel like going to the grocery store and doing a whole lot of cooking. So, I took stock of what we had in the house and just whipped up a little stew.

Lentil Vegetable Stew

Saute one onion
and a couple of cloves of
garlic, chopped, in a tablespoon
of olive
oil. Add 1 1/2 cups lentils and a handful of sun-dried tomatoes,
chopped or torn,
and stir for a minute or so. Add one quart of water or
vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and then lower
heat. Cook for 15
minutes.

Add two
cubed potatoes (I left the skin on), half a head of
cabbage,
shredded, and 4-5 carrots,
sliced. Pour in enough water and/or stock to
just cover everything. Toss in a couple of sprigs of thyme and a teaspoon
of salt and pepper to
taste. Cook until everything is tender. Serve
with parmesan cheese.

We then headed to Seattle the next day (we're suckers for punishment) adding up to 2300 miles the kids and I were in the car, over three states, in 7 days. Yikes! This time the drive was for a regional clergy family dinner with our bishop. It was nice, and we had good food--a rarity at these things!

Recently we went to Pambiche--a Cuban restaurant. We all just loved it! So, I knew I had to try to replicate the black beans we had there, and especially the frituras names (I don't know how to put the little squiggly line over the n to make it an "enyay"). Yam fritters--we liked them so much, we ordered a second plate, and would have ordered more but we were all full by then. So, while perusing my Jack Bishop cookbook A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen (one of my favorites, and the one I'm using most these days) I found a recipe for Caribbean Sauteed Plantains and Black Beans. So, I made that, along with a recipe I found on the web for yam fritters. I served these dishes along with a chunked mango, and though it was different from what we ate at Pambiche, it was so good! I didn't realize, though, until I was slicing the plantains that the recipe called for almost black plantains, and the ripest ones I found at New Seasons were dark green. It was still good, and they are cooked this way as well, but I think I would have sliced them into skinnier bits and cooked them like french fries.

Everything was vegan, except that the fritters call for an egg. I just took a portion out before I added the egg, and they seemed to fry up just fine. Maybe the egg is superfluous.

Plantains:

Cut off the pointy ends of two almost black
plantains. Cut into two inch slices. Make slits in the
skin, and peel off with your fingers. Saute in 2 tablespoons
olive oil. Turn once, and cook until brown but not
blackened. Remove from pan and add salt to
taste. Cover to keep warm.

Black Beans:

Saute four cloves garlic, minced, and one jalepeno, minced, in 1 tablespoon
olive oil. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add two 15 oz. cans rinsed and drained black beans (I used
the equivalent of home-cooked beans), 2/3 cup orange
juice, and two tablespoons lime
juice. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the juices are nearly
absorbed. Add 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
and salt to taste.

Serve plantains over the black beans. Serve Black Beans, Plantains,
Frituras, and Mango with slices of lime for
drizzling.

"Home Sick" Soup

Paul is sick today. So when he finally felt like eating something, I offered to make him the soup I like when I'm sick. It's very quick and easy to make, and you can leave out or substitute a lot of the ingredients in it if you don't have them, because who wants to go anywhere when they're sick? As long as you have flavorful broth and an egg or two, you can make this soup.

Italian Parmesan Egg Soup

Bring 3 cups of vegetable broth to a simmer. While it's heating, stir together one or two eggs, 2 tablespoons grated parmesan, a tablespoon of dry bread crumbs, one tablespoon chopped parsley (I subbed green onion today), and one minced garlic clove.

When the broth is simmering, add the beaten egg mixture and stir vigorously until the egg is set, about a minute or less. Ladle into a bowl (or bowls) and sprinkle a bit of nutmeg on the top.

Indian Dinner

Hibi really likes this meal, and it's becoming one of my favorites. Last night we had Lentil Saute with Indian Flavors, Indian sauteed cabbage, and brown rice.

Here's how to make it.

Start rice cooking (brown rice takes longer than white rice to cook). Bring to a boil two cups of water, add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 cup of rice. Stir until the water comes to a boil again, then lower to a bare simmer and cover. Let cook for...?...I think about 40 minutes or so.

Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add 1 cup lentils and boil until lentils are tender, about 30-40 minutes.

Chop one onion (yes, I know traditionally Indian cooking doesn't use those.....if you don't want them, use asafetida instead, or not at all). Saute at low heat in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until done and somewhat browned, about 12 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon curry powder and two cloves minced garlic. Cook until aromatic, about 1 minute. Add the cooked and drained lentils and cook until warmed through. To make a saucier lentil saute, add some water and cook for 5 or so minutes. You can add chopped mint to this dish if you wish.

Meanwhile, shred half a head of cabbage and wash thoroughly. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet and add one tablespoon minced fresh ginger, 1 teaspoon garam masala (a spice mix), and 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds. Laugh while the mustard seeds pop all over the place, or just add the cabbage before they begin popping. In any case, add the cabbage and cook until nicely wilted and smells wonderful.

I like to put all these on a plate, in separate thirds, and add a dollop of plain yogurt in the middle. They get mixed as I eat it. Yum! It's completely vegan except for the yogurt. I suppose you could use soy yogurt but Hibi doesn't care for it.

Almost there!

Man, I am exhausted. I'm getting too old for this! But it's a good exhausted. We closed escrow on our house on Thursday (yay!) and the seller is now in the process of moving out. He's supposed to be out by 5 pm tomorrow and we move in on Monday! We went over this afternoon and he showed us all the ins and outs of how the house works. We are all so happy to finally be HOMEOWNERS!

On Thursday evening, we were invited by a family from the church to come to dinner, then go to The Grotto to hear one of the daughter's high school Christmas concert. The Grotto has a big Festival of Lights every year and I'd wanted to get over there to see it this Christmas season, but I probably would have let busyness keep me away. I'm so glad this family invited us to come with them because the place was beautiful and the concert was wonderful. It was nice to get away from packing for an evening, too.

Vegan Cornbread

Happy Thanksgiving! I wanted to take a break from the dinner preparations to write down how I made some absolutely delicious cornbread last night. We're in Tucson at my in-laws house, and all the family is here. Last night Mom had the family's traditional Coward Lush (vegetable soup) for dinner, and she was making cornbread to go with it. It had eggs and milk in it, so I said I'd make some vegan cornbread, too. I thought I had a recipe for vegan cornbread in my Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book, which I brought along to make rolls from for Thanksgiving, but when I looked there was none. So I adapted my favorite cornbread recipe from that book and came up with the best vegan cornbread I've had!

So, here it is.

Vegan Molasses Cornbread

Stir together 1 3/4 cup cornmeal, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda in a medium mixing bowl.

In a quart-size liquid measure, mix together 2 1/4 cups soy milk, 3 tablespoons walnut oil(or other tasty oil), 3 tablespoons molasses (I used blackstrap--loading on the calcium, too!) and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar.

Stir the liquids into the dry ingredients and pour into a greased 8X8 pan or a round cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out without wet batter. Cut into squares or wedges and enjoy!

Chile Relleno

Here's the recipe I burned my poor hands on. They're feeling better, though--I think I'm going to get away with no ice, this time. It came close, though!

First, start the poblanos (or other mild peppers, like Anaheims, but make sure they're suitable--have thick enough flesh for some handling, and not too skinny) roasting. I pop mine in the toaster oven. We usually eat two each, and Zac eats one or one and a half. But the number depends on how large your peppers are, too. Tonight, I did seven and we'll have a couple left over for tomorrow. :-) (I've offered to stuff Hibi's with soy cheese, but this is one meal she's not crazy about and she's okay with making her own.)

Start some brown rice cooking--I usually make one cup rice to two cups water. Brown rice takes longer than white rice to cook, so you need to begin it before you start with anything else.

Make the ranchero sauce: In a large-ish saucepan, combine 1 tablespoon peanut or olive oil, 4 medium tomatoes, chopped, 1 small chopped onion, 1 minced garlic clove, one minced jalepeno (make sure to wear hand protection!), 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Cook for around 15 minutes or so, until the tomatoes are soft and everything is well blended.

Chiles: after the peppers have roasted and cooled, peel the skin off. Make a slit (or use one that appears naturally) and carefully remove as many of the seeds as you can.

Grate some Jack cheese, about a pound. You could use cheddar or muenster but I like jack for rellenos. Take a handfull of cheese and squish it into a cylinder. Insert it into a pepper. Fill the peppers until they have plenty of cheese, but aren't over-full. Close them as best as you can, and squeeze them gently to keep them closed.

Sprinkle the peppers with flour to coat them.

Separate three eggs, and beat the whites until stiff. Beat in 1/8 teaspoon salt, then the yolks, one at a time.

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a heavy skillet. Dip each pepper into the egg and then put it in the pan, as many as will fit without being crowded. Fry until golden on the bottom, then turn and fry on the other side.

Serve the peppers with rice alongside, with ranchero sauce over the peppers or over both.