Bean\veggie burgers: don't scoff!

These have always sounded really good to me, and I made them for the first time the other day, using some mixed beans we had on hand.  You're really supposed to use black beans, but since red kidney beans were the only ones I had on hand today, I used those.  Don't be scared by the way these look - you should give them a try!

 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees, and put your beans into a bowl

 Mash them up until they make a thick paste

 Chop 1\2 a green pepper into tiny pieces. 

You can also pretend that you're at a Japanese restaurant and try a bunch of neat knife throwing\food chopping tricks.  A word of caution, though: you might get green pepper-lets flying through the air,  so protective eye wear might be wise.

 See how tiny the pieces are?

 Do the same with 1\2 an onion (I used a very small one), and a clove of garlic, or you can use garlic powder, like I did here.

 Stir bean&veggie mix, and add chili powder

 Cumin powder, and an egg

 And a little lemon juice, even though the recipe doesn't call for it!  We're wild.

 Mix everything together

 Add your breadcrumbs so that you'll be able to form the patty

 This is what the consistency of it looks like.  

 Grab a handful, and mush it into a little ball, remembering not to throw it at anyone

 Oil or butter a cookie sheet, and put them on there

 Cook for 10 minutes, flip, and cook for another 10 minutes on the other side

 I didn't put mine in a burger, but made it into a salad instead.  

Yuuum!

Bean\veggie Burgers:

- 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

- 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces

- 1/2 onion, cut into wedges

- 3 cloves garlic, peeled, or garlic powder to taste

- 1 egg

- 1 tablespoon chili powder

- 1 tablespoon cumin

- 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

1. If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
3. In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.
4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.
5. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.
6. If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Braised-Baked Chicken

I made this chicken the other night, and it was really good!  I just sort of made up the recipe as I went along.  Well, it's not really a recipe recipe, but maybe you'll like it. :)

Ingredients: 

• Chicken pieces, with skin (just choose your favorite pieces!)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Thyme 
• Tumeric
• Garlic powder
• Oil or butter


Directions:

- Coat chicken pieces with salt, pepper, garlic powder, thyme, and tumeric.  Be especially generous with the salt and pepper.  You want just enough of all of them, though, that the chicken pieces are well coated.

- Place chicken pieces in oil or butter and braise until the skin is nice and brown - about one minute on each side.  

- After both sides have been nicely browned, transfer to a pan, cover with foil, and bake for about 45 minutes.  


- Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until done.

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Don't worry about how yellow the chicken looks.  I uncovered it for the last bit of baking, and my first thought was, "Ew, gross!  That looks really nasty.  Great.  Oh well."  But it's the tumeric that makes it that color.  Never fear, though!  

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Enjoy ~ Make sure and leave a comment if you've tried a recipe!

The best meatloaf ever

I like meatloaf.  I really like meatloaf!  So when I saw this recipe on The Pioneer Woman's blog, it was love at first sight, and I knew I had to try it.  Wrapped in bacon?  Uh...yes, yes!  It was so good.  There was only a tiny piece left over that I put in the fridge, and that night when we had our "eat whatever you can find in that looks good" meal for supper, I tip-toed to the fridge to snitch it.  But it was gone!

~

 I guess that's a good sign.

Picture via The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients                         

Meatloaf:

• 1 cup whole milk

• 6 slices bread

• 2 lbs ground beef

• 1 cup (heaping) grated parmesan cheese

• 1\4 tsp seasoning salt

• 3\4 tsp salt (you can add a bit more salt here)

• Black pepper

• 1\3 cup minced (or 2 TB dry) parsley 

• 4 eggs (beaten)

• 10 slices bacon (or enough to cover your loaf.  Of meat.)

Sauce:

• 1-1\2 cup ketchup

• 1\3 cup brown sugar

• 1 tsp dry mustard

• tabasco to taste

Instructions 

Preheat oven 350º.  Pour milk over bread slices and let them soak.  

Place all meatloaf ingredients into a bowl, and combine well.  Place in a foil-lined pan and pat into a loaf.

Lay bacon slices over the top of your loaf, tucking the ends underneath.  Pat it and tell it you love it every few minutes.

Make the sauce and pour 1\3 of it over your meatloaf, and bake for 45 minutes.  Add another 1\3 of the sauce to the top and bake for another 15 minutes.

~

Enjoy!

 

Ravioli

Poor little Cookie Monster has been neglected for far too long!  Here is the recipe I use to make the ravioli.  They're really pretty easy to make, just very time consuming.  While you're doing the work, it's a great idea to just make a bunch and put it in the freezer.  (Make the filling, and put it in the fridge while you're making the dough)  Don't be intimidated by how long the recipe looks, hehe!  

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Ingredients

Filling

•  1/2 lb. ground beef

•  1 small onion (minced)

•  1 garlic clove (minced)

•  1\4 C minced parsley (If you don't have fresh parsley, I just use a couple tablespoons of the dried stuff :) )

•  2 TB parmesan cheese (I used more than 2 TB...you can play around with how much you want)

•  1\2 tsp salt (You maybe want to add just a tink more...)

•  1 egg

Dough 

•  2 1/4 C flour

•  2 eggs

•  1/4 C water

•  1 TB olive oil

•  1 tsp salt

Marinara sauce 

•  2 TB olive oil

•  1 small onion (chopped finely)

•  1 clove garlic (chopped finely)

•  1 TB sugar

•  2 tsp basil

•  1 tsp salt

•  1 C tomato paste

•   1 C water

 Directions

Dough

In large bowl, stir flour with other ingredients to make a stiff dough.  On well floured surface, knead dough until smooth and not sticky (about 20 times).  Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 mins.  Cut dough into 4 pieces.  On floured surface, roll 1 piece into approx. a 12x8 rectangle (If you can get it to actually roll into a rectangle - congrats! :) ).  Lightly mark into dough 24 2 inch squares.  Place about a tsp of meat filling into middle of square.  Roll a second piece of dough into a same size rectangle, and carefully place on top of other dough and the filling.  Press down around the lumps of filling and the edges.  Cut into 24 ravioli and place in a single layer on a dry tea towel to dry.  Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling, and let rest for 30 mins.  In saucepan, heat 6 qts. of water and 2 tsp of salt to boiling - then add a tink of olive oil.  Gently add ravioli and carefully stir.  Reduce heat to medium and cook until tender but firm (Approx. 5-10 mins).  Drain, and add sauce.

Sauce

Over medium heat in hot oil, cook onion and garlic until tender.  Stir in sugar, basil, salt, tomato paste and water.  Heat to boiling while stirring.  Reduce to low heat; cover and simmer for 20-30 mins to blend flavors, stirring occasionally.  Pour over ravioli, and eat - ready to handle all the "Oohs", "Ahhs", and elaborate compliments that come your way.

:)

Enjoy, and make sure to leave a comment if you tried the recipe!

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(Pictures courtesy of Julia)

 

Lemon-Mint Chicken

I tried this recipe a while back, and I really liked it!  It's a different kind of "flavor genre" than we usually eat, but it was a very nice change.  It had a nice tang to it, and the lemon and mint flavors went together well.  I just used bottled lemon juice, and some mint sauce because we didn't have any fresh lemons or mint.  I didn't have any watercress either {not that I even know what that is anyway...}.

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Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pound(s) boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
• 2  lemons
• 2 tablespoon(s) olive oil
• 2 tablespoon(s) fresh mint, chopped
•  salt and coarsely ground black pepper                                        
• 1 bag(s) (4 ounces) baby watercress

Directions

1. Heat ridged grill pan over medium-high heat (or prepare outdoor grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat). 
2. Pound chicken to uniform 1/4-inch thickness if necessary.
3. From lemons, grate 1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons peel and squeeze 3 tablespoons juice. In large bowl, whisk lemon peel and juice, oil, 2 tablespoons mint, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper until dressing is blended.
4. Reserve 1/4 cup dressing. In large bowl, toss chicken cutlets with remaining dressing. Place chicken in grill pan and cook 4 to 5 minutes or until juices run clear when breast is pierced with tip of knife, turning over once.
5. To serve, toss watercress with reserved dressing and top with chicken. Sprinkle with additional chopped mint for garnish.

Crusted pork chops with apples and onions

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter                                                         
• 1/4 cup(s) vegetable oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 1 teaspoon(s) salt
• 1 teaspoon(s) fresh-ground pepper
• 2  Rome apples, each cored and sliced into 8 wedges
• 2 tablespoon(s) coriander seed, crushed
• 1 teaspoon(s) ground cumin
• 2 tablespoon(s) Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoon(s) honey
• 4  (6- to 8-ounce) boneless pork chopa

Directions

1.  Caramelize the onions: Melt 1 tablespoon butter and 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are soft and translucent and continue cooking until onions are browned. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and set aside.

2.  Sauté the apples: Melt the remaining butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the apples and cook until lightly browned on one side. Turn the wedges over and continue to cook until browned. Remove from heat and keep warm.

3.  Cook the pork chops: Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine the coriander, cumin, mustard, honey, and remaining salt and pepper in a small bowl. Heat the remaining vegetable oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Spread the spice mixture over the pork chops and place them in the hot pan. Sear pork chops for 2 minutes on each side and transfer to oven. Continue to cook in the oven until done--5 to 7 more minutes. Serve with Sautéed Apples and Caramelized Onions.
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I made these the other day, and they were really good.  I wasn't so sure how the mustard\coriander mixture would taste, but it worked!  They take longer to cook than 5-7 minutes though, but it's not going to be a long time.


-Enjoy! :)