Cookouts and Flavor Flav

So yes: like most of you, I cooked out on Memorial Day Weekend. Actually more than once. I forgot to take pictures at the first cookout though, which is a shame because there was some good stuff there, like my mom's vegan taco pizza, for example. But oh well.

My second cookout was at my friend P's and was very laid back and feminist-ic. We sat out on her huge voluptuous porch. I cooked burgers on my ex's little grill. We talked about books we were reading, bands, some really bad movies that we're fond of. One of P's friends quietly knitted while we sat and bullshit. It was a nice nice day.

I whipped up some peanut burgers with satay sauce for everyone and dragged along some of Veganomicon's blinding potato salad. P made a delicious chickpea salad with basil and mint (recipe hopefully forthcoming). And we battled it out upon realizing we'd both baked VwaV chocolate chip cookies.

The peanut burgers were decent--nothing special. Though I must say, coupled with the peanut satay sauce, they were quite scrumptious. (The sauce isn't exactly the epitome of healthiness though.) The potato salad, on the other hand, I found sorely disappointing. My mom's boyfriend liked it a lot when I brought it to my brother's cookout, but I just thought it was bland bland bland. Then again, I'm kind of a traditionalist when it comes to potato salad, so maybe THAT'S why I didn't like it? Who knows. But honest to god, I found it really super-boring on the flavor front.



Nonetheless, I post both recipes here. If you DO go the bean-burger route, definitely try it with the satay sauce. It adds a much-need oomph.




Peanut Burgers with Satay Sauce



INGREDIENTS:

• 1 c. TVP granules


• 1 scant c. boiling water


• 1 T. tomato paste or ketchup


• 1 16-oz can pinto, kidney, or other beans, drained (I used kidney)


• 1/4 c. whole wheat bread crumbs (I used panko)


• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced


• 1/2 t. ginger powder


• 1 T. soy sauce


• 1 t. sugar


• 1/4 c. chopped peanuts


• salt and pepper to taste


• whole wheat flour for dusting

DIRECTIONS

Pour boiling water over TVP and tomato paste in a bowl. Stir and let rest for 10 minutes.

In food processor, combine TVP mixture and remaining ingredients except for flour and peanuts. Pulse until mixture is almost a puree. During the last pulse, add peanuts. Pulse just enough to mix.

Dust hands with flour and shape mixture into 6 burgers. Dust them lightly in flour. Layer the burgers with sheets of waxed paper and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Cook on a grill covered with foil for about 10 minutes on each side.



Satay Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 small onion, minced


• 1 clove garlic, minced


• 1 small chili pepper, chopped (or alternately, red pepper flakes to taste


• 1 t. sesame oil


• 1 c. natural chunky peanut butter (make sure it's natural--I made the mistake of not doing so, and it coagulated very strangely)


• 1/4 c. teriyaki sauce


• 2 t. brown sugar (or regular sugar works too)


• 1/4 c. water


• 1 t. tomato paste


• 1 t. sesame tahini


• salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

In a heavy saucepan saute the onion, garlic, and chili pepper in the sesame oil.

When translucent, add the peanut butter and stir until melted.

Add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Serve over grilled peanut burgers.
(Posted at Award-Winning Veggie Burger Recipes)




Prospect Park Potato Salad


                                    from Veganomicon

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 lbs. potato, washed and peeled (I used red, I think the original recipe calls for yukon gold maybe?)


• 1 seedless cucumber, sliced thinly


• 1 large carrot, peeled and grated


• 1 c. vegan mayonnaise


• 1/4 c. Dijon mustard (whole grain)


• 1/4 c. olive oil


• 1/3 c. white vinegar


• 2 T. sugar


• 1 T. dried dill


• 1 t. turmeric


• 1.5 t. salt (to taste)


• 1 t. fresh ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Slice the potatoes between 1/2 and 1/4 inch thick. (If potatoes are large they can be cut into halves or thirds before slicing.)

Place potatoes into large stockpot, and fill with cold water about 4 inches above the top of potatoes.

Bring to a boil for about 15 minutes or until potato can be pierced easily with a fork. (With red potatoes, this took only about 5 minutes.)

While the potatoes boil, prepare the dressing.

If making the whole recipe, you will need the larges mixing bowl you have in order to add the potatoes later on.

Mix the vegan mayo, mustard, olive oil, sugar, vinegar, dill, turmeric, sal and pepper. Wisk together briskly. Add sliced cucumbers and place in the fridge until potatoes are ready.

When potatoes are done, drain and rise them quickly under cold water. Be sure to shake off any excess water. Add potatoes to the dressing and mix well.

Top with grated carrots and mix. Check seasoning and adjust as needed.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

(from Veganomicon, posted at Recipezaar)

Black Bean and Walnuts in Three Shorts

If you haven't caught onto this fact yet, every weekend I make some sort of a) lunch dish, and b) dinner meal that I can chow down on for three out of four days during the week and which can sustain the transition to leftovers without tasting like crap all week. It is a nice habit as it forces me to make the time (and gives me a justification) for trying out a couple of new recipes a week. But one thing that I'm not such a big fan of is the fact that by the time Day Four of leftovers rolls around, if I never ever ever have to see this dish again, it will only be too soon.

So last week, I decided to put a spin on a VT recipe in the hopes that I'd conquer the blahs when it comes to leftovers for the week. What I ended up settling on was the Black Bean Burger recipe from a summer issue from last year. I heart black beans, and I heart homemade veggie burgers, so I figured what the hell. I hadn't decided that my plight would be to create three different items from the same recipe when I first whipped up (a halved version of) the recipe, but once I realized that one of the two evenings I would need to have something easily microwaveable to eat (which veggie burgers aren't quite so much unless you precook), that became my plan.

And voila: three takes on the VT black bean burger recipe.

Truth be told, the only one I was really and truly wowed by was the enchilada recipe. Oh my god, did I like this one--mostly because the Samsara cheez sauce was WAY too fricking tasty (even despite the fact that I accidentally dumped a good 2 T. of garlic powder into it while adding spices). But... with a little tweaking, I'm sure you could get the other two up to par as well. I think they just were a bit too soggy and need more adjusting to keep them from crumbling so easy. So get at it.

Oh, and in case you didn't notice, this is kind of a one-person meal-deal. If you wanna whip these up for two folks for the week, you'll of course need to double the recipes.

And you'll probably want to figure out your black-bean burger ration quantities ahead of time as well--I'd suggest portioning out enough for three small patties and one bigger pattie before figuring out how much you have to spread on your enchiladas. If you hadn't noticed I'm not so much the Queen of Exactness.

And finally: the enchilada recipe is the recipe that made me realize my cat Zooey is deathly afraid of the sound of foil. Ha ha ha. I thought I was weird.


Core Black Bean and Walnut Burger Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 15-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained well


• 1 tsp. ground cumin


• 1.5 tsp. chili powder


• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper


• 1/4 c. cooked brown rice


• 1/4 c. chopped walnuts


• 3 T. chopped red onion


• 1.5 T. canned corn

DIRECTIONS

Purée beans (minus 1/4 or so) with cumin, chili powder and cayenne pepper until smooth. Add rice, walnuts, onion, corn and remaining beans, and pulse 2 or 3 times to mix. (Mixture should be stiff but not dry.) Add 2 to 3 Tbs. water to moisten, if necessary. Season to taste with salt and pepper. If the consistency is too wet (or you overwet it--which I of course totally DID NOT DO, *ahem*), just add a bit of flour until it's less slimey and holds a bit better). Cover and chill.

(Recipe originally from the Vegetarian Times)


Black-Bean Burrito Burgers


INGREDIENTS:

• 2 med. red potatoes, diced into 1/2" cubes


• 1/4 to 1/2 c. water


• 3 cloves garlic


• A pinch of: cumin


• Season salt & onion powder to taste (I used about 1/4 t. season salt and 1/2 t. onion powder)


• 1 burrito-sized flour tortilla


• Shredded lettuce


• Salsa


• 1/4 c. cornmeal


• 3 mini-patties from your core-recipe above, each about 2" in circumference (and coated in the cornmeal above), each probably around 1/4 c.'s worth of your core black-bean recipe

DIRECTIONS

Toss your potato cubes into a microwave-safe bowl with your water. Cook for about 6 minutes or so (or until nearly soft, but not yet soft) on medium-heat. Heat up a frying pan and spray with some non-stick oil. Toss your potatoes into the pan. Add seasonings and stir... Cook until soft and browned on all sides. Remove potatoes from pan, toss in bowl, and cover.

Reusing the same pan, spray a bit more non-stick oil, and return it to the heat. Toss on your mini-patties, and cook each side until browned (3-4 minutes each).

In the meantime, heat up your tortilla in the microwave according to directions.

Toss some lettuce on your tortilla. Add potatoes and your mini-patties, and top with a nice hearty scoop or two of salsa.



Flantastic Black Bean Walnut Enchiladas





INGREDIENTS:

Awesomest Cheezy Sauce Ever

• 2 T. corn starch (also works with flour, but you have to use a little more of it)


• 1/4 c. nutritional yeast


• 1-2 c. cold water


• 1/4 t. chili powder


• 1/4 t. ground cumin


• 1/4 t. season salt


• 1 t. garlic powder


• 2 t. soy sauce


• 1 t. vinegar

The Rest of the Enchiladas

• Two flour tortillas
• 
  
• 1.5 to 2 c. of some sorta chunky (preferably black-beany) salsa


• 1 avocado, diced


• 1 c. shredded lettuce


• Core black-bean mix (probably about 1/3 c. per enchilada--but that's a guesstimate)

DIRECTIONS FOR THE CHEEZY SAUCE

Stir the cornstarch, nutritional yeast, and dry spices together in a sauce pan. Add one cup of the cold water and put over medium heat while stirring with a whisk. Add garlic, vinegar, and oil now. Keep stirring while the sauce thickens and bubbles adding more water if the sauce is too thick (will take at least 5 minutes, more if you used flour instead of cornstarch). Add soy sauce to taste. Turn off the heat when the sauce gets to desired consistency. Remember that it will get a little thicker when it cools down.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE WHOLE ENCHILADA (BAHA!)

Preheat oven to 450.

Line a baking pan with foil. Spray with some nonstick spray.

Take a tortilla and smear 2/3 of it with the black-bean mixture. Coat with a generous helping of cheezy sauce. Roll up and place on foil. Do the same with your second tortilla.

Pour your salsa over the two enchilada-wraps. Place in oven and cook for about 25 minutes or so (or you can use the Lindy-Loo poke method, if you're not trying to impress people with how pretty they look, and poke your finger in the middle to see if they've cooked through).

Divide your lettuce between two plates. Place an enchilada atop your lettuce, and top with 1/2 an avocado, diced. Do the same with the second, and voila--dinner.

(modified from Samsara, because they are *awesome*)



Standard Black Bean Burger



INGREDIENTS:

• The remaining veggie-burger mix, formed into a patty (probably about 1/2 to 3/4 c.)


• A bun or bread


• A scoop of leftover "cheez" sauce from above recipe


• Any other garnishings (I just used ketchup and mustard with mine)

DIRECTIONS

Cook patty on medium-heat in a pan sprayed with non-stick oil for about 4-5 minutes each side (or until brown and burger cooked through). Place on a bun or bread, and top with "cheez" sauce and your other accoutrements.

Cooking Out and Erin McKeown

This past Saturday, my friend Peppermint came over to go with us to see the very awesome and delectable Erin McKeown play at a nearby venue, but not before all three of us decided that we were gonna cook-out, despite the foreboding weather reports of massive thunderstorms (which never really graced my area, thankfully). Peppermint brought me boobs and Trader Joe's Roasted Red Pepper dip and pita chips to share. E made some black-bean concoction from Vegan Family Favorites (whose name I am not quite sure of), and I made veggie-burgers and fruit salad.

The veggie burgers were some extremely protein-rich, hearty ones from Vegan Ventures, and man were they good. I followed her directions to a t, except to substitute in fresh parsley and fresh oregano. As Kate said, they hold together really well on the grill, which is always a perk for veggie burgers. The only thing that threw me a bit was the amount of veggie-burgers it was supposed to yield: I followed the directions accurately, and yet I only had enough for 3 large patties and one slightly less buxom one. But then again: maybe I just suck.

I definitely recommend these though. They're not too complicated or involved to whip up, they are packed with protein, and they are really damn flavorful. So check them out.

KATE'S NEW AND IMPROVED BLACK BEAN BURGERS


(BEFORE)

(AFTER)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/4 c. grated onion (I used red)*


• 1/4 c. grated red pepper


• 3 garlic cloves, minced


• 1/4 t. each of dried red pepper, cumin and chili powder


• 1 t. each of oregano and basil (or 1 T. each, fresh)*


• 1 T. parsley


• 1/2 c. coarsely chopped almonds


• 1/2 c. coarsely chopped sunflower seeds


• 1 t. sesame oil


• 1 15.5 oz. can black beans


• 2 tablespoons of water


• 3/4 c. of wheat germ

DIRECTIONS

After grating the red pepper and onion set them aside in a medium bowl. Combine the garlic, spices, almonds, sunflower seeds, and oil in a food processor and pulse until texture resembles bread crumbs. Transfer mixture to the bowl. Put the black beans and water in the food processor and process until smooth. Add this mixture to the bowl along with the wheat germ. Mix (preferably with your hands) completely. Separate into five balls and shape into patties. Make sure the patties are not too thin or they will fall apart. Grill for 8 minutes on each side, or until slightly browned. Enjoy with your favorite burger fixings.

Serves: 4-5

(Original recipe HERE)

* * * * * * *

On the side, I whipped up a very basic and simple berry-salad since raspberries and strawberries were dirt-cheap at the market and kept batting their big fat eyelashes at me all seductively every time I walked by. Fruit salads are always just, well, sorta fruit salads. But I'll share my recipe anyways--the mint made a nice addition, so if nothing else, at least you can take that idea with you.

BERRY NIPPULAR BERRY SALAD



INGREDIENTS:

• 1 sm. container strawberries, rinsed and sliced


• 1 sm. container raspberries, rinsed


• Juice from 1/2 an orange


• About 1 T. or so of mint, slivered

DIRECTIONS

Toss all your berries in a bowl. Drizzle the orange juice over them. Sprinkle with mint. Serve.

In the Land of Veggie Burgers

I haven't cooked much this week, so today I figured I'd post about what I'd LIKE to cook instead...

Ever since I cooked up those veggie lentil walnut burgers for Ye Ol' Vegan BBQ, I've found myself getting geeked up at the prospect of accruing even *more* veggie burger recipes.

Thanks to the delightful dorklepork, I got to take a gander at the book, Vegetarian Burgers by Bharti Kirchner, which has some damn good-looking veggie burgers housed within, including a quinoa and black bean burger and... *gasp*... STUFFED veggie burgers. Oh yes.

I also stumbled across these award-winning veggie burger recipes while originally trying to hunt down some lentil burgers recipes, so I figured I'd share this site as well, as the recipes also sound out of this world.

So if you end up trying any of the above recipes out, feel free to share your recommendations. As I'm sure all the rest of us would love us some nice juicy veggie burgers as well.

L and E's Vegan Barbecue Extravaganza!

(Graphic courtesy of the great Natalie Dee)

Oh cripes. Where to even begin?

This past Saturday, I decided to throw a little vegan barbecue. It initially started off as just a few folks, but then I thought, what the hell and continued to invite people. Given that we only had one tiny little camping grill to work with, I had to limit the number of course. But there ended up being about ten of us in all. It's funny because whenever I want to plan a large gala, no one can come, but when I get to thinking about having a small gathering, it just grows and grows until my best friend is begging me to let her invite her cousin's mom's ex-wife from his second marriage. Or something like that. Nonetheless, I was very pleased at the turnout.

The invitation made it clear that it was an all-vegan barbecue, a point that evidently threw some of my non-vegan friends (one of whom called me up thinking I'd accidentally invited him, saying, "When I got your email, I was like, I'm not vegan--she must've just accidentally sent this to me"). But goddamn if folks didn't go all out in embracing a night of vegan cookery.

My contributions to the bbq were corn on the cob, veggie lentil walnut burgers, and chocolate-covered bananas, but the definite highlight of the evening were the vegan 'smores, bless Ms. Lantz's vegan heart.

Vegan Food:

• Veggie lentil walnut burgers (recipe following) with homemade buns





• Veggie kielbasa and beer brauts





• Corn on the cob





• Lyndsey's homemade potato salad





• Stir-fried ginger eggplant and glazed tofu sticks from Mustard Seed





• Dave's inari sushi





• Chocolate-covered bananas (recipe following)





• Lyndsey's drunken 'smores

Vegan Booze:

• On the Border Frozen Margaritas


• Oberon ale


• Great Lakes Brewing Co. Beer


• Rolling Rock


• Yellowtail Merlot

Highlights of the evening:

• Smoking smelly cigars.


• Getting Mo stoned (and not having her try to crawl into anything this time).


• Blasting Neil Diamond as loud as possible on my stereo and dancing around to "Sweet Caroline."


• Watching folks attempt to deep-throat my chocolate-covered bananas.


• And of course...



Vegan 'smores! Arghlghlhglhgl.

Veggie Lentil Walnut Burgers

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup dry lentils


• 4 1/2 cup water


• 6 tablespoons cider vinegar


• 3 tablespoon peanut oil or olive oil


• 3 cups onion, finely minced


• 12 large cloves garlic, minced


• 30 large mushrooms, minced


• 1 1//2 cup walnuts, very finely minced


• 1.5 - 2 teaspoon salt


• 1.5 cup fine dry breadcrumbs (plus one extra piece of bread, food processed into crumbs as well)


• TVP (texturized vegetable protein)--between 1 and 3 cups

Directions:
Place lentils and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, for about 30 minutes, or until the lentils are soft and the liquid is gone. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl, add vinegar, and mash well. Heat oil in a medium-sized skillet. Add onions and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add all remaining ingredients except breadcrumbs and TVP, and saute 5 to 10 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender. Add the saute and crumbs to the lentils and mix well. Chill for about an hour. Gradually add in TVP to the mix until your burgers are firm enough for your taste (they should be able to form patties without crumbling or oozing all over the place formlessly). Return to the fridge for at least 30 more minutes. Form 4-inch-diameter burgers (aim for thinner rather than thick so they cook through better without burning first). Toss carefully on the grill and cook through, flipping a few times (carefully) until cooked all the way through. Alternative cooking: Fry in a small amount of hot oil on both sides until heated through and crispy on the outside, or broil for 5 to 8 minutes on each side.

NOTES : You can saute the vegetables while the lentils cook. The burgers can be made up to several days in advance and stored in the refrigerator until just before cooking. Uncooked burgers can be individually wrapped and frozen. Defrost before cooking.

Makes 12-18 burgers, depending on size.

Original recipe: HERE

I'd never made these before, and I typically don't like trying out new recipes at parties since you never know if they're gonna suck-ass or what. But the problem was, I'd never made *ANY* veggie burgers before, period. So I didn't have much of a choice.

These sounded really good to me and looked relatively easy to make, so I figured what the hell--I'd take the leap. However, the recipe called for lentils and I've also never cooked lentils before--that ended up being a major suckfest, given that the lentils turned into some lovely reddish mush resembling mashed potatoes by the time they were done. (If anyone has tips on the best way to cook lentils, please let me know--I'm guessing that the problem was that I didn't rinse them first...) I figured it wasn't a major problem since I was supposed to mash them anyways, so I mixed all the ingredients together as stated. Unfortunately, even after an hour's worth of refrigerating, the burger mix was pure mush. They looked startlingly like actual greyish hamburger meat (probably due to the mushrooms) and even smelled like it. But I tried grilling up a tiny sampler to see if they'd even cook correctly, and the outcome was more like a mushy formless pancake than anything resembling a burger.

So trying not to panic, I added in some pine nuts and almonds and an extra piece of wheat bread I had on hand (all of which I'd pulverized in my food processer). This didn't do crap, leaving the burger mixture pretty much the exact same consistency. Thankfully, I then hit upon a much better idea: TVP (texturized vegetable protein). Those of you who've worked with TVP before know that it sucks up moisture like crazy, so I figured this would be perfect for excessively mushy burgers. So gradually I started adding TVP until the mixture had firmed up quite a bit and I could tell I would be able to easily form the mix into patties. I ended up using about 2 cups, probably even more (I didn't take exact measurements) and let the burger mixture sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes more so the TVP could get to sucking up the flavor and everything.

I tripled the recipe so that I could make up to twelve burgers if necessary (the tripled version is posted above). But with the addition of the TVP, the mixture ended up being enough to make... at least 15 burgers (which was great for left-overs of course). With the addition of the TVP, the burger mixture formed easily into patties and, despite being tossed on the grill, they stayed intact (for the most part). And people really dug them quite a bit--they are a bit on the mushier end of veggie burgers (nothing like the chewier and meatier boca burgers or something) but they were really quite good and flavorful. I'd definitely recommend the addition of TVP to the recipe--just keep adding it slowly until the patties are at the right consistency to suit your taste.

Cradle them in some fricking amazing Big Bread veggie-burger buns, courtesy of the delectable Ms. Lantz and you'll have a helluva good grillable veggie-burger.


Chocolate-Covered Frozen Nanners


Talk about ineptitude--how hard could chocolate-covered frozen bananas possibly be? I mean, the directions on how to make them ARE RIGHT IN THE NAME OF THEM. Freeze them, cover them in chocolate.

And yet, somehow I managed to make this the most difficult endeavor possible.

After peeling ten bananas, cutting the very ends off, sticking shishkbabob-sticks up their bums, and then freezing them for a few hours, I moved on to the chocolatey part of the process.

First, I managed to tank my chocolate by adding in some soy milk to the mix. It immediately seized and turned into unmanageable guck. I HATE WHEN CHOCOLATE SEIZES and must remember not to keep trying to add soy milk to it. *sigh*

I tossed that batch of stinky poo. I then tried again with some new chocolate chips and without the soy milk with a little bit better success. However, when your apartment is about 85 degrees (at least) and the bananas are quickly unfreezing as you try to slather them with chocolate, despite your most valiant efforts, this *also* causes the chocolate to sieze up as you're trying to dip and spread. So what seemed ridiculously easy quickly began to get on my last nerve. But I floundered my way through them, ending up with just the right amount of chocolate to cover all ten, despite tanking the first batch of chocolate chips.

After each banana was coated in chocolate, I immediately rolled them around in a plate that I'd filled with pulverized Oreos, coating them with even more chocolatey-goodness.

All in all, they came out well and people dug them. They just were a royal pain in the ass. So if anyone has tips on how to do some chocolatey-dipping without so much angst, please feel free to share.

INGREDIENTS:

10 bananas, frozen and stuck with shishkabob sticks
Somewhere around 18 oz. of vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips
Pulverized vegan Oreos

* * * * * * * * * * * *

There was tons of fantastic homemade (and supposedly homemade--Mo!) food Saturday night, and I was impressed with the time and effort folks put into whipping up some good grub for the party. It's nice to see people supporting and enjoying what really is some damn good vegan grub. I heard many orgiastic grunts from folks while consuming various nibblings, I heard frequent comments along the lines of "Holy crap, these vegan marshmallows taste even better than regular marshmallows," and I saw many visages covered in glorious glorious chunks of oozy goozy food, so needless to say I was very very pleased. It is nice to hear doubtful omnivores get wooed into ecstasy by vegan food, let me tell you. A Fourth of July miracle, one might even say! And it's really nice to not be the odd-man out at a barbecue.

And after all was said and done, I now have *way* too much vegan beer jam-packed into my fridge. So don't expect to see me sober until the end of the month at least. ; )



So thanks to everyone who came and cooked and bought and made the barbecue a fantastique time!



Oh, and I guess folks are right--I clearly and undeniably AM a dirty hippy after all: