Recipe - PB&J Bites

Sometimes a sweet snack is just the thing to hit the spot.  This week I discovered The Chef and the Dietitian.  Two ladies who are vegan and cook without oil, salt, or sugar.  This was one of their recipes.  It is quick, easy, and has 4 ingredients. If you want to see them making these little treats, go here.

PB&J Bites

INGREDIENTS

1	cup unsalted peanuts
1	cup pitted dates
1	cup unsweetened dried cherries
1	Tbls vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

1.	In food processor with S blade, process peanuts into powder. Add dates and cherries and process until it can be easily formed into a ball. Add vanilla and process briefly. Roll into balls or place in a silicone brownie mold pan.

Recipe - Tin Foil Dinner

There is nothing new in a tin foil dinner.  (Okay, technically an aluminum foil dinner.)  Campers have been eating them for a very long time, cooked in the coals of the fire.

A few nights ago we had this dinner.  No meat.  Potatoes, carrots, red onion, zucchini, Mrs. Dash spice blend, a few little slivers of butter on top.  Wrapped it in 3-4 layers of foil and grilled it on the top rack of the grill for about 40 minutes.

It was so delicious!  I wish I had put a bit of garlic on it.  Next time maybe a few more vegetables.  The biggest problem was wrapping it, because of the amount of food.  So I alternated which direction the foil went and got it all covered with 4 layers.  Maybe a bigger sized foil next time?

It would be a delicious dish to go with Black Bean Burgers, but it was all we had and was enough.

Recipe - Black Bean Veggie Burger

Have you ever tried the black bean burgers at Costco?  They taste very nummy.  One of our quick meals recently was one of these burger patties and some baked potato wedges.  Very satisfying.

Well, this recipe tastes like those black bean burgers.  So fast and easy.  I baked one in the oven, and it was perfect.  The others I tried grilling, but forgot to oil the aluminum foil.  BIG mistake.  They still tasted good, but stuck mightily to the foil.  We scraped them off and ate them anyway.  One nephew ate 2 burgers using 3 patties.

This is going in a regular rotation at my house!

4/2/13 Additional information: I just read of a family who eats bean burgers on a regular basis - with a twist.  Instead of cooking them like regular burger patties and putting them on buns, they spread some of the "burger dough" on a tortilla, throw it in the oven (or toaster oven or on the grill) set at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  When it is finished cooking, just add the other ingredients - tomatoes, onions, ketchup, lettuce, etc.  It sounds delicious and less messy.  This is the way we are going to eat these next.

Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers

INGREDIENTS

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
3	eggs
1	tablespoon chili powder
1	tablespoon cumin
1	teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
1/2	cup bread crumbs (or use cracker crumbs)

INSTRUCTIONS

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.

On my soap box

Ready for a rant?  It is really frustrating to live with the consequences brought on by the dishonesty of the food industry.  The FDA allows commercial companies to clean up their labels by changing the names of the ingredients AND by hiding different ingredients under names that really don't mean anything.

For instance, what is the new name for sugar?  "Dehydrated cane juice."  It sounds less harmful, and if the one reading the label didn't think about it, it would be simple to skim over that name and not think about what it means.

And what does "natural seasoning" or "spices" mean?  All sorts of ingredients can be and are hidden under that umbrella.  The only way I know if it is benign or destructive to me is to eat it and wait for the headache.  Argh!  My one big wish for the FDA would be to require companies to list ingredients as they really are.

And here, possibly, comes another dishonest move.

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have filed a petition requesting they can flavor 17 dairy products using "non-nutritive sweeteners" (think aspartame, etc) without having to list it as an ingredient.  Right now they can do so if the food is listed as reduced calorie.  They want to change that.  Here is a quote from the FDA website.

However, IDFA and NMPF argue that nutrient content claims such as “reduced calorie” are not attractive to children, and maintain that consumers can more easily identify the overall nutritional value of milk products that are flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners if the labels do not include such claims. Further, the petitioners assert that consumers do not recognize milk—including flavored milk—as necessarily containing sugar. Accordingly, the petitioners state that milk flavored with non-nutritive sweeteners should be labeled as milk without further claims so that consumers can “more easily identify its overall nutritional value.”

What that says to me is that they want to put artificial sweeteners in milk products and not label it in any way, because then it will be easier for consumers to see how nutritious it really is.  

Hogwash!

If you would like to comment to the FDA about how you feel, visit this website.  Comments are welcome through May 20, 2013.

Enough ranting.  Back to real life.

Recipe - Smoky Refried Bean Soup

Wow.  This is a really good soup.  We ate it with Fritos corn chips, and my husband also added sour cream and shredded cheese on top of his.  It is thick, almost like chili.  Great leftovers, too.

Smoky Refried Bean Soup

This soup is so thick it’s almost a chili. Use the minimum amounts of chipotle chili powder and hot sauce to make this a mild dish or add more to make it as hot as you dare.

INGREDIENTS

1	large onion, chopped
3	– 4 cloves garlic, minced
1	green bell pepper, chopped
1 1/2	cups vegetable broth
1	14-ounce can diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted)
15	ounces fatfree refried beans
15	ounces black beans, cooked
1	cup frozen corn kernels
1	teaspoon cumin
1 1/2	teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8	– 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (to taste)
1	teaspoon hot sauce (or to taste)
1/2	teaspoon Mexican oregano (optional)
	salt and pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1.	Spray a large, non-stick pot with cooking spray, and sauté the onion until it begins to brown. Add the garlic and bell pepper and cook for one more minute. Add all the remaining ingredients and cook until the flavors blend, 20-30 minutes.
2.	Serving suggestion: Garnish with fresh tomato salsa and serve with baked tortilla chips and a large salad.

Recipe - Shepherd's Pie

There is something comforting about Shepherd's Pie.  So homey and pleasant.  Carb lover that I am, the last bite for me is always the potato part.

This is a recipe for Shepherd's Pie vegetarian/vegan style.  Choose which you would like.  The "meat" part in the bottom layer is chunks of black bean burger.  It is just the right touch to add to this dish.

If you are a cheese eater, sprinkle some cheese on top as it goes into the oven.

Traditional Style Shepherd's Pie

INGREDIENTS

Mashed potato layer:
5	russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2	cup sour cream or vegan mayonnaise
1/2	cup milk or non-dairy milk
1/4	cup vegetable broth
3	tablespoons cream cheese or vegan cream cheese substitute (such as Tofutti ®)
1 1/2	teaspoons salt
2	cloves garlic, minced
Bottom layer:
3	tablespoons vegetable broth
1	large yellow onion, chopped
1	carrot, chopped
2	stalks celery, chopped
1/2	cup frozen peas
1	clove garlic, minced, or more to taste
1	pinch ground black pepper to taste
1	teaspoon thyme
1	teaspoon oregano
2	veggie burgers or black bean burgers
	Gravy
Gravy 1          cup vegetable broth thickened with flour or 1 Tbls cornstarch

INSTRUCTIONS

1.	Place the potatoes in a pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn the heat to medium-low, and boil the potatoes until tender, about 25 minutes; drain.
2.	Stir the sour cream, rice milk, vegetable broth, cream cheese, and salt into the potatoes, and mash with a potato masher until smooth and fluffy. Set the potatoes aside.
3.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C), and spray a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray.
4.	Heat the vegetable broth in a large skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir the onion, carrots, celery, frozen peas until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in the seasonings, garlic, and pepper.
5.	Reduce the heat to medium-low, and crumble the burgers into the skillet with the vegetables. Cook and stir until the mixture is hot, about 5 minutes.
6.	Spread the burger/vegetable mixture into the bottom of the baking dish, and top with the mashed potatoes, smoothing them into an even layer.
7.	Bake in the preheated oven until the casserole is hot, about 20 minutes.

Recipe - Cauliflower "Ground Beef"

This is not a typical recipe, but rather an idea for your own recipes.

Spaghetti
Take about 1/2 head of cauliflower and cut into smaller sizes so that it can fit into your food processor.  Pulse the machine until the cauliflower is the size of ground beef.

If you don't have a food processor, put the chunks in your blender with some water.  When the pieces are the right size, strain off the water.

Dump the ground up cauliflower into a skillet and cook with onions and garlic or whatever else you usually use to get ready for your spaghetti.  When the other ingredients are cooked in the manner to which you are accustomed, add it all into the spaghetti sauce.  

Martha Stewart has a recipe for Cauliflower Steaks with Roasted Pepper and Tomato Salad.  I haven't tried it, but maybe someday I will.

The cauliflower has the texture of ground beef.  It has no strong flavor and absorbs the flavors around it.  It amazingly works.  It doesn't taste exactly like ground beef, but is a wonderful substitute.

The first time I tried using this cauliflower ground beef, I used some as the meat in tacos.  It was okay, but I had cooked it too long and it lost too much texture.  I used taco seasoning, which I would try again, but there were too many things going on around me and I lost track of time.

What other things could you use this for?  I can only imagine.