What's for Dinner

Tofu, garlic, celery, peppers, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, stir-fry sauce, a touch of oil, a touch of soy sauce, black pepper and brown rice.

Black Bean Burgers & Oven Fries

I wish I had taken a picture of tonight's dinner, but I was in too much of a hurry, so you will have to use your imagination.

This post goes back several years. When Justice first started middle school, we were invited to dinner at the home of a new friend of hers. They served the best black bean burgers we had ever had. I never got that recipe, but I did some experimenting with other recipes, hoping I would stumble on the right one. I could always tell which ones were not right: anything with a bunch of chunky stuf ~ diced peppers and onions, corn, etc. The black bean burgers we craved were very simple, very flavourful and, well, simply delicious.

Recently, I stumbled on this recipe: http://recipes.bushbeans.com/recipe/71666/backyard-black-bean-burgers.aspx

Yes, it is on the Bush's Beans site. In fact, I have to explore that site more. Looks like some good stuff.

Well, this looked like a pretty great recipe, but we wanted to have some tonight and save some for later, so I knew I wanted to increase it a bit. I started by purchasing larger cans of beans. I changed a couple of other details, too, but stuck very close to the original. My recipe made 9 burgers (instead of 6), which was perfect for us. I think I might tweak it just a bit, but it got rave reviews from the family as it is. (Except Kaia. She ate a Boca Burger. But that's okay. I mean, that's why I keep them on hand.)

BLACK BEAN BURGERS

2-19 ounce can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup + 3 TBS of your favourite salsa (I use Trader Joe's Salsa Autentica)
a few drops of Liquid Smoke (or skip this, and use chipotle salsa)
2/3 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons chili seasoning (I make my own blend. Use what you like)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste

In a food processor, process beans and salsa until fairly smooth and blended. (You could probably mash them by hand. Just mash very well.) Transfer to a mixing bowl, and stir in the remaining ingredients with a fork, mixing very well. Form the mixture into 9 balls and place them on a plate. Form the balls gently with your hands. They should be bigger than a golfball, but smaller than a baseball. That seems to be the right size. You should get about 9 of them. 8 might be okay, too. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. When you are ready to prepare your burgers, heat oven to 375°F. Flatten each ball into a burger (about 1/2" thick). Place the burgers on oiled cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, then flip and bake for 8-10 minutes more.

Serve on buns with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, guacamole and salsa. I served corn salsa and oven fries on the side (because I forgot to make the coleslaw. Otherwise, I would have served coleslaw with it, too).

OVEN FRIES

6 potatoes, scrubbed, peeled and cut into sticks
about 1 TBS oil (we like olive oil)
salt or Old Bay Seasoning to taste

Okay. If I had my druthers, I would always make these with Old Bay, but sometimes other people want plain fries. This is really simple. Preheat oven to 450°F. In a large mixing bowl, toss cut potatoes with oil and salt or seasoning to coat. Arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with a bit more seasoning or salt, if necessary. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip, and bake until done (depends how thick you cut them, and how well-browned you like them. Just keep and eye on them). Serve with your favourite dipping sauce.

Now, the truth is, you can make more (or less) fries, if you wish. My mom taught me to prepare one potato for each diner, plus one for the pot. So, for the five of us, that's six potatoes. Just remember, you have to be able to fit them in a single layer on your cookie sheet, so, if you make more, you might need more than one sheet.


In order to get this all done at the same time, I heated the oven to 450°, put in the fries and set the timer for 15 minutes. While they were baking, I formed the burgers. When the timer rang, I turned the heat down to 375°, moved the fries to the lower rack inside my oven and put the burgers on the top rack. I baked them for 8 minutes on one side, then flipped them. Just a few minutes later, the fries were done, so I pulled them out, set them on the stove and covered with a tea towel. The burgers were done just a few minutes after that, and everything was hot.

So, that's it. Super simple. Tonight, I just mixed corn and salsa, but I usually add cilantro and scallions to my corn salsa. It's better that way, but, in a pinch, simple works :)

Seitan Roast

I have been meaning to post this for ages.

Decided to try making seitan (which I believe is pronounced something like "SAY-tan" ~ which, of course lead my husband to ask repeatedly, "What's for dinner? Could it be..."SAY-tan? hmmm??" in his best Church Lady voice). To be honest, I thinkI have avoided making it so I wouldn't have to talk about it. You know, since I don't really know how to pronounce it.

I have thought about trying this before. In fact, I had gone so far as to buy not one, but two, packages of vital wheat gluten in anticipation of trying this recipe. (I forgot I had bought the first one, and so I bought the second. I am frighteningly well-organized.)

ANYWAY...

Having zipped around the internet for quite some time, I had settled on this recipe:

http://veganplanet.blogspot.com/2008/03/slow-cooker-seitan-pot-roast.html

You'll have to copy and paste the link in to your browser. I am so sorry, but I just cannot seem to successfully post a link here. Can somebody help me figure that out, please?

You know what? Screw it. I am copying and pasting the recipe here:

Slow-Cooker Seitan Pot Roast
This is an easier version of the pot roast recipe in Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker.
Important: You may need to adjust your cooking time according to the quirks of your own crockpot. The one I used for this recipe cooks fast — if I had used one of my other slow cookers, it would have taken nearly twice as long.

1 sweet yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 pound baby carrots
1 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved or quartered
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup vegetable stock
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
2 cups wheat gluten flour
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 cup water or vegetable stock, or more as needed
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup or tomato sauce

1. Arrange the onion, carrots, and potatoes in the bottom of a lightly oiled slow cooker. Season the vegetables to taste with salt and pepper and add the stock, garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon each of the thyme and marjoram.
2. In a large bowl, combine the wheat gluten flour, onion powder, garlic powder, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon each of thyme and marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Add the water or stock, soy sauce, and ketchup. Mix well, adding a little more water if the mixture is too dry, then knead for 2 minutes until smooth. Shape the gluten to fit inside your cooker and place on top of the vegetables. (You can place it on top of a piece of aluminum foil or wrap it in cheesecloth, if desired, to keep its shape). Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours (or longer, depending on your slow cooker), or until the seitan and vegetables are cooked.
3. To serve, remove the vegetables and seitan from the slow cooker. Cut the seitan into slices and arrange them on a serving platter. Surround with the vegetables and spoon the cooking liquid over all or transfer the cooking liquid to a saucepan and thicken into a gravy.
Serves 4

For the record, I didn't have any marjoram, so I skipped it ~ which is okay, because I have never liked the flavour of marjoram, anyway.

Several hours in, I realized the top of my seitan was just not cooking, while the bottom looked done already. I decided to turn it over, hoping it would finish cooking in time for dinner. Upon further investigation, I found that the broth was rather flavourless. I found a packet of Hain Vegetarian Brown Gravy MIx, stirred that in to about 1/2 cup water, added it to the crockpot and turned the whole thing to high.

In the end, it did finish cooking, and we decided it was not bad.


(Going to stop taking pics in my kitchen. The florescent lighting makes everything look a little greeinsh)

Shane found it reminiscent of pepper steak (a green pepper in the pot would probably have helped sell that angle). I suggested using a vegetarian beef flavour bouillon as the liquid that is mixed in to the gluten instead of water next time. I think that will give it a richer, beefier flavour. Hallie suggested seasoning it more like chicken some time. I thought it tasted like pork. Shane disagreed, but he did like it. We decided, at the very least, it will serve as a good jumping off point, and definitely warrants more experimentation.

The next day, I tried slicing some of the leftover roast into very thin strips, mixing it a little bar-b-que sauce and heating it. Sooooooooooo good! I only wish I'd had some coleslaw and hot biscuits to go with it. When we had the leftovers for dinner, I prepared half of it that way (very thinly sliced and simmered in barbeque sauce). The other half I placed in a baking dish with stuffing in between the slices, drizzled with a little gravy, covered with foil and baked. Both variations were well received. (I will try to find pictures of these and add them later.)

Quiche of the Day

Not to be confused with the "Quickie of the Day," as a customer at a deli at which I worked many years ago called it. I cannot (will not!) be held responsible for whatever THAT might be. What we have here is quiche. Real men do, indeed, eat it. In my experience, real men kind of love it. And, really, who can blame them?

If I remember this all correctly, years ago, my mom's friend and neighbour, Mrs. Main, gave her a recipe for Quiche Lorraine. Based on that recipe, I developed a couple of vegetarian variations. I have made them for many years, now, and they have always been well-received. Over the years, I have tweaked the recipe, and I think it is darned good now.

So, here you go ~ I will start with Broccoli Cheese Quiche, and then give the Spinach and Cheese variation. The great thing about quiche is that it is so simple to make, but it always impresses people.

Broccoli Cheese Quiche

2 pie shells*

3 cups chopped broccoli
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2-3 cups shredded cheese** (cheddar or colby work best)
salt & pepper
2 TBS flour
1 TBS butter, cut up
5-6 eggs
2 cups milk

Preheat over to 375-degrees.
Steam broccoli just until tender.
Divide the broccoli between your two (unbaked) pie shells. Sprinkle the sliced scallions, salt and pepper evenly over broccoli. Top with cheese. Sprinkle the flour over the cheese, and dot with butter.
In a mixing bowl, lightly beat eggs. Whisk in milk, beating until well combined. Pour egg mixture over all, dividing evenly(ish) between the two quiche.

Bake for about 40 minutes, until the eggs are set and top is lightly browned. Let stand at least 5 minutes before slicing.

*I am lazy (and usually in a hurry), so I almost always use a pat-in-the-pan pie crust. Here's one I like a lot:
http://www.exit109.com/~mstevens/lrccookb/PATINPAN.htm (I cannot post a link here. I don't know why. I have decided to copy and paste the recipe at the end of this entry, for ease of use.)

** The original recipe called for an entire pound of cheese. You can use that much if you prefer, but it always seemed like and awful lot to me. I just eyeball it, but I think we fall closer to the 2-cup mark, and everyone seems to like it just fine.


Okay. Now, for the spinach variation. The method is a bit different. Trust me. This works.

Spinach & Cheese Quiche

2 pie shells

1 10-oz bag frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2-3 cups cheese (any combination of mozzarella, monterey jack and parmesan/romano is divine*)
2 finely minced garlic cloves
2 scallions, thinly sliced
salt & pepper
2 TBS flour
1 TBS butter, melted
5-6 eggs
2 cups milk

Heat oven to 375.
Squeeze out as much liquid as possible from the spinach.
In a large mixing bowl, using a whisk, lightly beat together eggs, milk, flour, butter, salt & pepper.
With a large spoon, stir in all remaining ingredients. Divide mixture between the two pie shells.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until eggs are set and top is lightly browned. Let stand at least 5 minutes before slicing.

*Swiss is also good, by itself.
Note: I have always thought some crumbled vegetarian bacon would be a nice addition to this recipe, but I have never tried it. Maybe one of you will :)


Oh! I almost forgot! THIS TIME, instead of making two quiche, I made one regular quiche. Then, I divided the remaining pie crust and filling between 8 muffin cups. They made the cutest, most perfectly-sized individual quiche. when they had cooled, I removed them from the pan, placed them on a cookie sheet and froze them, then sealed them in a freezer bag. We'll save them for quick meals and snacks. The kids were so tickled with them. I think you could divide the dough again and get about 16 mini-muffin-sized quiche, if you wanted. My regular muffin-sized ones took 28 minutes to cook.

They are so cute! See?


Pat-in-the-Pan Pie Crust:

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons cold milk

Directions:

Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the pie pan and mix with your fingers until blended. In a measuring cup, combine the oil and milk and beat with a fork until creamy. Pour all at once over the flour mixture. Mix with a fork until the flour mixture is completely moistened. Pat the dough with your fingers, first up the sides of the plate, then across the bottom. Flute the edges.