Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chipotle Burgers

I've been eating a lot of veggie friendly food lately. I'm not sure why. I like meat quite a lot but I guess I've forgotten about it for a bit.

I made veggie burgers last night. No meat to be found here. They were quite tasty though. I was inspired by two cookbooks I don't own but that I've flipped through quite at a bit. The first inspiration came from a recipe for something else entirely that I remembered reading in the Veganomicon. That recipe included smashed potatoes as a vegan filling for quesadillas. After drooling over how oddly delicious sweet potatoes and black beans are I was set on creating a no fuss burger with the two. A feat that I'm that has been done before. The other inspiration came from a cookbook and blog about finding the best veggie burger recipes called Veggie Burgers Madness. I'd actually glanced at his recently published cookbook before I stumbled on the blog. There is great stuff to be found in both.

The resulting burger was sweet potatoes, black beans, and chipotle chilies all smashed together then pan fried and topped with melted cheese, avocado and salsa. The English muffin was toasted as the burger cooked. I'm not sure if there is a best way to make a veggie burger but I am thoroughly intrigued by how many possibilities there are. Check out the Zucchini and Almond recipe at Veggie Burger Madness.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chipotle Burgers

Makes 5 burgers

Ingredients:

1/4 cup  onions, finely minced
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
1 adobo chili canned in adobo sauce, finely minced
2 teaspoons of the adobo sauce
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups  cooked mashed sweet potatoes
1 can of cooked black beans, rinsed
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg


Directions:

1. Saute the garlic, onion and adobo chili + sauce with salt and pepper. Cook until browned and fragrant.

2. In a large bowl mix mashed sweet potato, black beans, bread crumbs, egg and onion-garlic-chipotle saute.

3. Form into patties and pan fry, grill or bake. Freeze patties to use later.

Mango Quinoa Salad

I spilled quinoa all over the kitchen. The little red beads are still coating our rust colored kitchen floor, indistinguishable from the tiles. Except when I pass through the kitchen they stick to my bare feet.

This mishap did not stop me from making a salad. I continued to boil the red quinoa, prepare the ingredients, and toss it altogether while lazily trying to sweep up the hidden seeds. Lately I always make a big fruit or vegetable salad for the week. I ere on the simple side. Last week was tabouli with tons of tomatoes and parsley. This week is mango quinoa, a nice combination of sweet and savory. The simplicity pays off because these weekly salads  keep well and sustains me for an entire week.

It is a light salad, ready to accompany anything or to be eaten by itself. Citrus based dressings are my favorite kind too. The only thing I regret  is not having farm fresh tomatoes. A friend gave me a tomato from her father's garden last week. It was down right amazing, with beautifully ripe flesh. I ate it on toasted bread with just a drizzle of olive oil and slightly melted cheese. The tomatoes in the grocery store are never as good, ever.  But I don't have a garden of my own yet, nor did I make it a farmer's market this weekend, so I made do with those deceptively red tomatoes from the grocery store.


Mango Quinoa Salad

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients:
1 cup of quinoa, prepared per package directions
1 mango, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup of onion, diced
1/2 of a bunch of cilantro, roughly torn (about a cup or so)
The juice of 3 limes + 1 lemon
a dash of lime zest
1/4 cup of canola oil
salt and pepper to taste

*optional: for a little more oomph, toss in a minced jalapeno pepper*

Directions:

1. After the quinoa is boiled, submerge it in a cold water to cool down. Drain and set aside in a large bowl.

2. Toss in mango, tomatoes, onion with the quinoa.

3. Whisk together the lime + lemon juice with the canola oil.  Drizzle over salad.

4. Toss in cilantro and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate for an hour or so for maximum flavor.

Do It Yourself Italian Soda

The idea for making my own Italian sodas started late friday when I finally made it to the food truck Clover Food Lab in Kendall Square, Cambridge. Their cheap but delicious menu feature interesting vegetarian fair with strong flavors. Chickpea fritters, rosemary fries, and homemade ginger and brown sugar soda made up my first meal from the truck, and everything was stellar. If only I did not work in the suburbs then making daily trips to food trucks wouldn't be completely impossible. I can only dream.

The ease of do it yourself soda struck me as genius as I gobbled down my chickpea fritter sandwich and drank the delicious homemade fizzy drink from Clover. What a great lazy weekend project, I thought.

So this afternoon I set about making my own version.  I settled on the old standbys in terms of flavor-- raspberry, lemon, and mint. However simple the combination, the end result was very satisfying. The mint stood out in a light and refreshing way. The sweet syrup was mixed with bubbling seltzer and ice, creating the fizzy goodness of familiar Italian sodas.

I'm planning so many variations of this technique that I'm overwhelmed with the possibilities. The good thing is that this recipe is so very basic that it can be made any which way one desires. It all starts with a basic simple syrup of equal parts sugar and water. The flavor of the syrup is entirely up to the cook. You can steep just about anything in the hot syrup and then strain it away before cooling down.

Do It Yourself Italian Soda

Ingredients:
homemade syrup that is equal parts sugar and water (my recipe below)
seltzer or club soda
ice

Directions:
1. Mix syrup and seltzer/club soda with ice to taste. It is that easy!


Raspberry, Lemon and Mint Syrup


Makes around 2 cups

Ingredients:
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of water
3/4 cup of raspberries (I used frozen)

2-3 sprig of mint

the juice of two lemons

Directions:

1. Mix water, sugar, raspberries, and lemon juice in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil.  Immediately turn off the heat when the sugar has dissolved.

2. Place mint sprigs in mixture to steep for 10 minutes with lid on saucepan.

4. Strain the syrup in a fine mesh strainer. Lining the strainer with a paper towel helps in the process.

5. Pour syrup into a covered jar. Cool in the fridge. The syrup will last for at least a month.

How to Make Greek Style Yogurt from Regular Yogurt

I love Greek yogurt. I love the tart flavor and the almost custard like consistency. Yet Greek yogurt is pricey. And the price really discourages me.  At $1.50 plus for a small container of yogurt it is frankly too expensive for my weekly food budget.  However, a tub of plain low fat yogurt is very cheap. Our fridge has three tubs of yogurt in it right now. And we use them for everything.

 I figured why not just strain yogurt myself? The only difference between regular and Greek yogurt is the extra straining process where the whey drips away form the yogurt. The only difference is that is technically strained yogurt cheese.

Let me just say, the end result was awesome. The yogurt was thick, tart, and delicious. Gone was the watery consistency. The process also took very little work and involved no difficult prep tools. I didn't even buy a cheesecloth to strain the yogurt;  a few very sturdy paper towels worked fine for me.  A clean cotton dish towel is probably even better. Other than the yogurt and the cloth, all you need is a strainer and a bowl. Time does the rest.

I left the straining yogurt in the fridge for a few hours while I went about my business. When I peeked  later I saw with my own eyes all the water pooling at the bottom of the bowl. The revealed yogurt looked pretty darn thick. A taste test proved my assumptions right. I couldn't tell the difference.

You could get pretty creative in this process I bet. Maybe swirl in some honey before straining? Or minced candied ginger? Or even orange zest! Oh boy oh boy. I am definitely going to strain some more yogurt for an avocado-yogurt spread I'm dreaming of. yum!

A few tips: If you want a thick yet creamy end result, more like the commercially packaged stuff,  try mixing the yogurt until it is smooth before the straining process. Strained yogurt will get smaller as it strains too, so a cup of regular yogurt will produce half that once strained. As well, the longer you let the yogurt strain the thicker it will become.

How to Make Greek Style Yogurt from Regular Yogurt
A Made by Frances Original

Serving Vary

Ingredients:
Plain yogurt
cheesecloth, cotton towel, or a few layers of strong paper towel
strainer
bowl
your fridge

Directions:

1. In a cheesecloth, towel, or a few pieces of strong paper towell, add the desired amount of regular yogurt. Strain gently over the sink to get out as much moisture as you can.

2. Place a strainer over a bow so that the strainer is elevated above the bottom. Place the ball of wrapped yogurt in the strainer.

3. Let this strain in the fridge  for 2-3 hours, or even over night.

4. Once you have reached the desired straining time, squeeze out a bit more of the liquid over the sink by gently wringing the ball.

5. Unwrap and enjoy!

Dashi Stock & Soba Dipping Sauce

Remember how I said I wanted to cook more Japanese dishes? It has been a slow process, but I've been trying to live up to that promise.

One Japanese staple, dashi, I've actually mastered in the past few months. Dashi is a simple but essential soup stock.  I found the recipe at the Japanese food blog Just Hungry which is a bountiful resource for exploring Japanese food, both the traditional and fusion. I highly recommend giving it a glance if you are interested in dappling in Japanese cuisine.

The ingredients for dashi are simple but definitely not carried in the run of the mill grocery store. I found everything I needed at the Asian supermarket Super 88 in Boston, MA. The Super 88 is my go to market for supplies as of late. They also have a neat food court with awesome cheap meals from several different Asian countries. If you are a Bostonian I'd recommend stopping in there sometime for a quick meal. The Vietnamese and Korean stalls are my favorite.

A particular tasty use for dashi is cold soba noodles with a dipping sauce. In the summer this combination is especially welcome. The meal includes few ingredients: cold buckwheat soba noodles, a cold dipping sauce, and condiments on the side. I had sliced cucumbers, but pickled ginger, carrots, and scallions would all work well.  The premise is simple and pleasing. Dip soba noodles into the sauce and enjoy. Soba noodles cook up fast, making this a good summer weekday meal.

I found the basic proportions for the dipping sauce from Mark Bittman in another of his cookbooks I've purchased called The Best Recipes in the World. I also used the dipping sauce for dumplings (of the frozen variety, I admit) which was yummy.

Other than Japanese food I've been particularly fascinated with Korean food too. Is homemade Kimchi on the horizion? It is probably so.

Dashi
Taken from Just Hungry

Makes 5 cups of stock

Ingredients:

1 piece of dried kombu (seaweed)
A handful of bonito flakes   (dried and shaved fish flakes)
five cups of cold water

Directions:

1. Soak the seaweed for 20-30 minutes.

2. Bring the water to a boil and add the bonito flakes.

3. Remove from heat, let fool for a few minutes, and then strain.


Soba Noodle Dipping Sauce:
Adapted from Mark Bittman

Makes one cup

Ingredients:

1 cup of dashi
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of mirin

Directions:

1. Mix together and serve.

Banana (faux) Soft Serve

This might just be the strangest recipe I've blogged about, but it's also one of the most lovely and satisfying to create. There is literally one ingredient. Frozen bananas are all you need. The only required kitchen gadget is a food processor. In minutes, you will have what looks and tastes like soft serve ice cream or frozen yogurt. Except, it isn't either. It is still just bananas. How is that for a tasty surprise?

It might not be real soft serve ice cream or frozen yogurt, but it will fool almost anyone who tries it. Who knew that frozen bananas whip up in less than five minutes into a silky smooth soft serve like texture? The banana flavor is so subtle that you have to really look for it. It is quite convincing as ice cream.

Not that I'm a health nut or anything, but this recipe satisfies almost all health claims/lifestyles in one try: it is fat free, all natural, gluten free, raw, dairy free, vegetarian, vegan, etc. The bottom line: it is tasty, easy, and cheap. What is not to like?

So when your bananas start to brown freeze them for this recipe. When you need an icy treat, remember this and delight in the simple end result.

Banana (faux) Soft Serve
Taken from the blog Choosing Raw

Ingredients:
2-3 frozen bananas

Directions:

1. Place chunks of peeled frozen bananas in a food processor.

2. Process for 5 minutes, scraping down a few times.

3. The soft serve will be ready when the bananas have formed the right icy-smooth texture. Eat sooner rather than later, as it will melt.

Honey and Spice Almonds

This past weekend I took a quick overnight trip to Hartford, Connecticut to meet up with Brian's family. We ate a lot. I mean, we ate like a week's worth of food. The afternoon before we left to drive back to Boston, I opted for a really simple salad for lunch to sort of recover from the night before (where in a mere hour or so I consumned fresh bread, two appetizers, entree, dessert plate, and glasses of wine, oh my). It was just greens, goat cheese, fruit, and spicy nuts. The combination was convincing and tasty, although by no means reinventing the culinary wheel. The spicy-sweet nuts were what really stuck with me though. I envisioned a curried version, featuring almonds rather than pecans, and noted it as the big To Do recipe for the week.

Goat cheese was bought, fresh berries grabbed from from the fridge, and almonds were found in the cabinet. I followed an epicurious recipe almost exactly to create my own spicy and sweet nuts. Something about the heat of cayenne and honey that really gets me. I didn't expect to keep eating the almonds though, entirely forgetting about making the salad until later in the evening. I even brought a few handfuls to work today as my morning snack.

Don't get me wrong, the salad was delicious. I smashed a strawberry with balsamic vinegar and a few glugs of olive oil to make an easy vinaigrette, and then tossed blueberries + strawberries + baby spinach + honey and spiced almonds to create a pretty satisfying salad at home.  But those almonds, they are good enough to be eaten all by their lonesome.

Honey and Spice Almonds
Adapted from Epicurious

Makes 3 cups of almonds

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups of raw almonds
1-2 teaspoons of curry powder, ras el hanout, or garam masala
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
5 tablespoons of honey, or more (if you please)
salt to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

2. Heat a skillet with olive oil on medium.  Toast the nuts for 1 minute, lower heat, and then stir for 4-6 minutes.

3. Remove from heat and toss with spices, sesame seeds and honey. Salt the almonds to taste.

4. Layer the almonds on the baking sheet. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the honey is dry.

5. As the almonds cool the coating will harden. Store in an air tight container.