Showing posts with label Flax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Flax. Show all posts

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Vegan Black Bean Burgers on Pretzel Rolls & A Short Rant about Sandra Lee

Some of you may be familiar with the (perhaps lovably) inane television food personality Sandra Lee. Notwithstanding her extremely questionable taste in, well, everything and her complete failure to comprehend the term "home-made," I have to credit her for the base recipe for these yummy, healthy black bean burgers. (I know, this closely parallels a previous rant I posted about Rachael Ray, but this one is way better because of all the evidence. And also funnier. See links).

I can't say they're 100% better than the quinoa burgers I attempted recently, since these are still fairly soft, and a bit squishy. As a pick-it-up-and-put-it-in-your-face burger, they would be a bit disappointing, but this recipe makes a lovely flavorful knife-and-fork-style burger. I also think the flavor is much more appealing than the quinoa burgers were.
My version of the black bean burgers uses whole wheat bread crumbs, plenty of cilantro and fresh, yummy bakery rolls instead of burger buns. I've basically halved Sandra's recipe, except for the egg. I skipped the egg, since I realized rather late in the game that we were out. (I know, what kind of weirdo had ground flax on hand, but not eggs? Apparently, this kind.) I learned, though, that you can use 1 tbsp of ground flax seed simmered in 3 tbsp of water as an egg substitute. Brilliant!

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, thoroughly rinsed and drained, divided into 2 equal portions
1/4 yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 cup bread crumbs
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped 

1 tbsp ground flax simmered in 3 tbsp water, or 1 egg

Directions:
1. Place garlic and onion in food processor, and blend until finely chopped.
2. Add cilantro, onion, pepper flakes, egg or egg replacement, and about half of the beans, and blend.
3. Dump mixture into a large bowl. Add the rest of the beans and the bread crumbs, and mix thoroughly. Form into two patties.
4. Cook burgers on oiled grill pan or George Foreman Grill until slightly charred outside and heated throughout. 

Serve on a lightly toasted bun with your favorite burger toppings. I recommend chipotle mayonnaise.  True, it is another step to mix the whole beans in separately, but I think it does great things for the texture.
I served these on something new to me, pretzel bread rolls. AMAZING. How did I not know that these existed? They were deliciously moist and, well, pretzeley. I whipped up a chipotle mayonnaise (one chipotle pepper canned in adobo sauce sent for a spin with some mayo) which went fabulously with the burgers. We had ours with a little baby spinach on top, and a tomato-cucumber salad on the size.

If you're looking for a meaty texture, these are not the thing. Or do us both a favor and improve my recipe! As long as you don't mind using a fork, these are fabulous.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Quinoa Garden Burgers

Despite our omnivorousness, Brady and I are always interested in vegetarian (and sometimes even vegan) food options. Even if you love chicken and beef, a little variety is nice, right? For us, eating meat only 3-4 days per week is part of our small-time effort to be more Earthdwellers. So when we started trying meat-free burgers made with veggie protein and the like, I started to think, why can't I make these? I can make these, right? I'm making these.

Well, I was half right. I made them. They were tasty, but they were not what I would call a "burger." More like quinoa falafel. They were fragile, and too soft to be eaten in a bun. I think I had all the right ingredients happening, but perhaps in the wrong ratios. Also, the addition of black or pinto beans would do a great deal to improve their solidity. I was going for the "vegan" thing with these, so I used ground flax instead of egg as a binding ingredient. With about 1/2 cup of beans and an egg or two, these would be a much more solid patty. Hindsight is 20-20.


I used quinoa as a base because of its protein, fiber, and  hearty texture. I happened to have a little pearled barley hanging around from some more wintry recipes, which I decided to add, but I think you could use all quinoa, increase the barley ratio, or use a mixture of quinoa and brown rice.

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked quinoa 
3 1/2 tablespoons ground flax
1/2 onion 
2 cloves garlic, smashed and coarsely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1/2 - 1 chipotle chili canned in adobo sauce (optional)
4 oz fresh, clean mushrooms, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup - 3/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
small handful cilantro, torn
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Directions:
1. In a food processor, combine the garlic, salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, the onion, cayenne, ground flax, cilantro, and chipotle chili if you're using one. Combine well.
2. Add bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms. Process until veggies are chopped - not liquefied.
3. Dump the contents of the food processor out into a large bowl, and mix in the quinoa. Sprinkle in breadcrumbs until the mixture is just solid enough to form into patties. Mix well, and form into patties.
4. Cook garden burger patties in a grill pan for 8-10 minutes each side over medium heat, or cook them in a George Foreman Grill for about 8-10 minutes total. Serve on a bun or in a pita with veggies or a yogurt sauce.

I served these on burger buns with a super simple tzatziki sauce and steamed green beans on the side. Besides eggs lurking in the buns, and the tzatziki (which is easily swapped out for lettuce and tomato, or an animal-free topping like salsa) this is a vegan meal.

In the end, these weren't what I was going for, but if you made them as mini-patties and served them in a pita, they would be just as delightfully delicious as the dish I had imagined.

Quote of the Day: CBS has no problem with airing commercial after commercial advocating the consumption of fried chicken, pork sausage and fast-food burgers, even though eating these products are making Americans fat, sick and boring in bed. ~ Lisa Lange

NOTE: I have to say, since Lisa Lange is a well-known figure and the VP of PETA, I do not support or advocate for PETA in any way. I believe there is a relatively humane and compassionate way to enjoy reasonable amounts of meat in our diets, and I am a really big fan of animals in general. This quote is funny and poignant, but I do not support the guilt, exaggeration, and fear-mongering perpetrated by PETA. Of course, we all have our own feelings on the topic and must do our own research and make the decisions that are best for us and our families.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Peanut Butter and Oat Energy Bites from The Cilantropist

I have two people to thank for this fab snack recipe: The Cilantropist, for writing about it, and my sister for telling me - quite adamantly - that I should try it.

Despite all the school work I should have been doing instead of making these, a 9-hour shift at my retail job, and the possibility of not having a day off this week were my inspiration to stock up on reinforcements. If you're like me, hungry = tired = cranky = potentially being very rude to my coworkers and customers. So at a job like mine, the challenge is to avoid hunger at all costs without frequenting the nearby fast-food spots.

 Photo credit to The Cilantropist

For these tasty, healthy, and power-packed little guys there isn't a lot more to say than this: Make them. It couldn't be easier. It is literally just a matter of measuring out a few things, mixing them up, and rolling the mixture into balls.

From The Cilantropist:
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup unsalted, roasted sunflower seeds
1/2 cup (or more) dried cranberries, roughly chopped
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract


Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, making sure to evenly distribute all the ingredients.  Take some of the dough and press it together between your hands - if it sticks together well, it is ready to go, if it feels too dry then add a bit more peanut butter or honey.  Likewise, if it is too 'wet,' add some extra oats or flax.  


To form the dough into a small bite, use a spoon or a cookie scoop to portion out the dough, squeeze it between your hands, and then gently roll it into a ball.  This amount of dough makes 12 bites that are about 2 inches in diameter.  Store the bites in an airtight container, and keep them refrigerated until eating.  Bites will keep for 1-2 weeks refrigerated.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Bread Experiment

Yay! Okay, I should probably wait until the end of this post to tell you how the oatmeal-version of this bread turned out, but I am much too happy and excited to wait that long. It's good.

Ultimately, I decided to use 1 cup of oats for the 1 cup of flour being replaced. I did this because I decided NOT to soak the oats first, which you can do for very moist and soft oatmeal breads, because I read somewhere that not soaking results in a more textured bread. I also thought that the 3/4 cup of oats I originally planned for may not expand to my liking, which may be entirely false. I suppose it doesn't really matter.

I thought that to achieve the same texture as the original Mom's Multigrain bread, the addition of oats would require more water, but this was not the case. I dissolved the yeast in a half cup of water, then added another cup and a half to the dough. A few good stirs and it was fully moist and combined.



I am afraid that photos of this bread really won't do it justice. It's beautiful in a hearty, rustic way though, and I do believe I will be making it this way from now on.

The only other change I made was to the yeast content. I used 2 packets of yeast, which are slightly different in size. One claims to be especially for whole grains, but that just means there is 25% more of it. I don't think this difference would change the character of the bread very much. This bread will always be fairly dense, but for me that's much of the appeal.


For those of you watching at home, the final recipe is this:

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup bulgur (cracked) wheat
1/2 cup flax seed
2 cups water
2 packets of yeast; "whole grain" or non

Dissolve the yeast in half a cup of the water. Mix it all up, cover it, and let it rise for 12 hours before baking in a covered, pre-heated baking container at 500 degrees for 30 minutes. YUM.

Edit: This is a very moist bread. You can experiment with the baking time, if you would prefer it to be less so. Personally, I think it is best toasted and lightly buttered.

In pursuit of the full whole-grain experience, I am also interested in replacing either some flour or some oats with brown rice - previously cooked, of course. While flax is arguably one of the healthiest possible bread ingredients, and is already featured prominently in this bread, I love the idea of a fully-loaded multigrain bread that uses just enough (wheat!) flour to keep everything together.

Quote of the Day: “If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” ~ Robert Browning

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Bread & Butter

My memories of my parents' kitchen are largely centered around two things: Family dinnertime, and baking bread with my mom. My mom took a couple of years off of teaching when my sister and I were kids, and we had a lot of happy days at home. One of our main - and I must say, dearest favorite - activities was baking bread. Really, it was an opportunity for us as kids to make a huge mess, get to eat raw bread dough (something I am still known for, in my family) and get to eat something warm and delicious when it was all over.

The first time that I baked a loaf of bread on my own, I felt like the guy that discovered fire: Proud, powerful, and a little bit afraid of what this new-found power may have on the rest of my life. I think it is such a cool and empowering feeling to bake something as basic as a dense, hearty bread. Cool in cavemanish way, I guess. If cavemen can be cool.

My mom was (and is - and I hope she is reading!) amazing. I can picture her throwing ingredients together and kneading bread with a cheerful abandon. So after a long break from regular baking - a break filled with the bulk of her busy career, taking care of everyone else, and lets not forget, the dreaded teenage years - I was thrilled that about a year and a half ago, she made it her mission to invent and craft a delicious, simple, and healthful multi-grain bread recipe. She is not one of those crazy recipe-hoarding non-sharers (what is the deal with that, anyway?) so I feel perfectly justified in sharing what I will call Mom's Multigrain Bread:

Note: This recipe is for a LARGE loaf. I almost never bake the full size. Halve everything (which I've done below) for a reasonably sized loaf. Also, this recipe requires a covered baking container made of terra cotta (like hers) or cast iron (like mine). My dutch oven is a hefty 5 qts but this dough is very thick, and if you mold it into a loaf with your hands, it will keep its shape.


2.5 (1.25) c. wheat flour
3.5 (1.75) c. white
1 (.5) c. flax seed (scant)
1 (.5) c. bulgur (cracked) wheat (scant)
1 (.5) Tablespoon salt
2 scant (1 scant) Tablespoons yeast  (2 packages)
4 (2) c. H20

Dissolve 2 packages yeast in ½ cup water (for half batch, 1 packet in ¼ cup)

Mix, cover tightly.  Let 12 hours elapse.

Preheat oven to 500 (or more) with dutch oven or ceramic bake container in the oven.
Bake about 30 min for single loaf/loaves, 60 for one large loaf.

You can also pop it out of the container(s) and compete baking right on the oven shelf.

If you don't believe me that this is a recipe for a huge loaf...
                            ...Sorry for the crummy quality, this picture was taken with Photobooth.

This is a great recipe. Like, really great. But since I am inclined to tinker with just about anything I can get my hands on, I've tried a couple of adaptations.
Want to use ALL whole wheat flour, no white? Go ahead - just double the yeast.

I've made oatmeal breads in the past, and they have been great, but I have never attempted to introduce oats to Mom's Multigrain Bread. It is my hope to cut out a cup of flour, replacing it with 3/4 of a cup of rolled oats, and use only whole-wheat flour for the rest of it. That is, 3/4 cup of oats (which will expand), and 2 cups of whole wheat flour. For more on this experiment, tune in tomorrow! I'll be mixing it early and baking it late.