"Garden" Burgers Again

     That recipe makes 6 burgers at a time.  We ate 2 and put the other 4 in the freezer.  Well, they are all gone now.  So my wife was insistent that we make more today.  This time she varied the recipe by putting Italian Seasonings and Garlic into the burgers.  Very tasty.  We ate 2 and put 4 into the freezer.  My wife tells me that as soon as those are gone, we WILL be making more. 
     I think that next time I want to try making the Chipotle Black Bean burgers.  Go for some variety with a little spiciness. 
     These lowfat, low cholesterol foods are going to be good for us ... besides, you know the Doctor is insisting that we do something about reducing cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.   It doesn't hurt that they taste good and are very filling.  They are 4 inches across and 3/4" thick.  Little hamburger buns just aren't big enough.  We are putting them between slices of bread (I like my bread toasted so it isn't so mushy).  Although I'd also like to try the burgers in pita bread with some Pico de Gaiyo (?) and some Bufalo chipotle hot sauce or something.
     We took Nannette shopping this morning.  I took meds for back pain and a little nap (until I heard the lawnmower).  The landlord mowed the yard this evening. The wife is back Indexing because she wants to break 62,000 today.  I did 1325 last month ... which is more than I did the entire last year.  Needless to say, I don't have a big total and we've run out of the 1940 Census.  That leaves strange things to work on ... sigh.

Thai Carrot Veggie Burgers

I got this inexpensive book for the Kindle today ... Veggie-Burgers-Every-Which-Way by Lukas Volger which motivated us to try making one of the recipes.  Arline decided we'd try the Thai Carrot Veggie Burger first.  We had everything but Tumeric.  So, a trip to WalMart ...

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Thai Carrot Veggie Burger

Makes 4 Large burgers

Ingredients:
2 Tbl olive, grapeseed or Canola oil, divided in half

1 bunch scallions, sliced thinly, one inch into the dark green part

1/2 cup cilantro, rough chopped (ours was dead and slimy in the refrigerator door, so we used parsley instead)

3 cloves garlic, minced

2-inch piece fresh ginger, grated

1 Serrano pepper, chopped up finely, seeded or not, depending on your personal heat threshold
 (we didn’t put any seeds in and couldn’t taste the pepper)
4 cups grated carrots (from about 8 medium size carrots)

3/4 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

juice of 1/2 lime
(maybe of a whole lime)
2 egg whites

2 Tbl natural peanut butter
(or three of regular peanut butter ... the heaping kind)
1/4 cup toasted bread crumbs (or rolled oats whizzed into flour)

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

NOW Cut up, grate, and measure everything first. 

THEN Heat a large frying pan (which has a lid) over medium heat.  Add 1 Tbl of the oil, and when hot, add the scallions. Cook for about two minutes, just until they begin to soften, and then add the garlic, ginger, and pepper. Stir for 30 seconds, until fragrant, and then stir in the carrots, spices, and salt. Cover and let cook for six or eight minutes, until soft but not mushy (stir and flip occasionally until not so orangish).  You want to soften the carrots but not turn them to mush.  But you want to retain their integrity so they will help tie things together. (kind of like straw in adobe)

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg whites (we used the whole eggs), peanut butter, and lime juice. Fold in the carrot mixture, making sure that everything is well combined, and then fold in the bread crumbs (or oat flour). Let sit for about ten minutes, allowing the bread crumbs to absorb some of the liquid. Adjust seasonings—particularly the salt and lime juice. Shape into 4 large patties, pressing them to compact and hold shape.

Heat remaining 1 Tbl of oil in an oven-safe skillet or frying pan over high heat. When hot, add the burgers, in batches if necessary, cooking until browned each side—it will only take a minute or a minute-and-a-half per side). Transfer the pan (we put them on a cookie sheet that we had sprayed with oil) into the oven for fifteen minutes, where the burgers will finish cooking.

The last minute or less, we topped them with a slice of cheese.

Make your dressing and fixings however you want.  We toasted two slices of bread, added Mayo, ketchup, raw onion slices (Vidalia), slices of dill pickle, and some lettuce.  DELICIOUS!

Faster No-Knead Dough

Changes to the recipe previously posted below ...

* add 1/4 tsp red wine vinegar
* and increase the water temperature to "almost HOT"
* then after it is all mixed together, set it aside for only 3-4 hrs for fermentation
(instead of 18-24)

Chile Relleno + A Wimp

 

The wife and I each ordered a chile relleno for dinner this evening.  

She ate hers right down and nibbled the flesh off around the bottom of the stem.  And she had barely a sheen of moisture around her eyes and on her cheeks.

So, I started eating mine ... about 2/3rds of the way through, I had sweat streaming off my head, down my neck, dripping off my nose, and I had to keep wiping my eyes to clear them.

She was sitting over there thinking, "What a wimp!"

I left A LOT of the fleshy part around the base of my stem.

She said, "Aren't you going to eat that?  Give it to me, I'll eat it."

So I gave it to her.  She took a small bite of it.

Then very promptly took it out of her mouth and did NOT eat anymore of it.  Instead, she was grabbing for her waterglass, chips, and anything else that might cut the burn.

It seems that not all poblano peppers are created equal ...

hers was a nice medium ... mine wasn't!

:-p 

Boiled Peanuts

I have this bag of raw shelled peanuts, which my wife's visiting teacher gave to me. She (the VT) works at a peanut processing plant.

Anyway, I had this bright idea yesterday ... I took several handfuls of the peanuts, put them in a sauce pan with water and a couple tablespoons of salt. Boiled them for a little while ... then let them soak overnight. Today I simmered them for a bit to soften them up some.

Absolutely DELICIOUS boil'd p-nuts!!

... without all the messy shells.

Sorry, not foto ... they dun bin et.