Homemade Veggie Burgers!

Thanks to Missy and her hoity toity big city newspapers on the interwebs, I've got some great new ideas for making homemade veggie burgers.  Here's my take on one of the recipes for Mushroom-Grain burgers.  I'm altering the recipe basically because I'm not grocery shopping until tomorrow, and these are the most similar items I have to the recipe in the article.

Here are the ingredients I'm using:

• Mushrooms
• onion
• garlic
• Brown Rice (instead of Barley--I would have preferred barley, but I used it all up...as I said--grocery shopping isn't until tomorrow.  I love cooking with barley.  It adds a nice meat-ish texture to things like chili.)
• egg
• Beans!  The recipe calls for chickpeas (which I really don't like) but I'm using navy beans (because I have them on hand.)
• Edamame (this is not in the recipe, but I'm adding them in for some extra protein and greenth.  I invented that word.  It means more greenness.  :)
• Parsley (fresh from my Aerogarden)
• Sage -- I have zero sage in this house.  Not sure why, or really what you use it for.  Chicken is my first guess or stuffing type thing.  I guess it hasn't come up for awhile...
• Shredded Sweet Potato (not pictured.)  this was an afterthought.

Cook the onions, add the mushrooms.  I'm throwing in the sweet potato shreds and the edamame at this point just to cook them a little bit.

 

Take 1/2 the mushrooms and put in a bowl with the rice/barley and the parsley.  Take the other 1/2 and throw in your food processor along with the beans and egg.  Smoosh it up.  Mix everything together.

This looks.  interesting.  The green bits are nice.  Once everything is mixed together it's pretty.  I guess I had my doubts just looking at the food processor mush.  This will be fine.

I am frying them in little balls rather than huge patties.  They do have a hard time sticking together, but the beans and the egg are the glue.  Just smoosh them back together if they fall apart.

Then it says I have to oven it.  I don't have fancy cookware, so I'm going to transfer the browned dealies to a baking sheet and finish them in 375 for about 10 min.  Well, 5 minutes, then put some cheese on top, bake 5 minutes more.  

That's the gist anyway.  Ok, so I just took mine out of the pan and they're nice and brown, but still really mushy/wet in the centers.  The baking must dry that out a bit.  I hope.  I had to re-shape some of them.  They're downright gooey.  Waitin to see where this goes...

Anyway, I do like the idea of using the beans in a burger.  Maybe chickpeas will end up in my pantry.  Maybe.

Here's an update.  I pulled them out of the oven, and they're a little bit more set, but still didn't seem done.  I am going to end up baking them for about 30 minutes total.  When they're done I'm going to let them sit on the pan for another few.  I hope that's not a huge mistake, but sometimes, you know--recipes are bullshit.  They just didn't seem done.

Ahhhh.....check it out!

Delish!  I'm eating mine with all the condiments of an actual burger and it's really really good.  Thanks again Miss Missy and her You Nork Times.

You Neek.

Niece Hats!

I made these hats for my nieces after Xmas this year.  I had done a few baby hats for my sister who is a baby nurse and brought them to our gathering.  When the nieces saw the teensy versions, they all put in their orders.  I do think that these larger versions turned out better than the small ones, partially because I decided to use felt for the owl eyes in bright colors.  I really like the way they turned out!

Austyn's

Allison's Monkey Hat.

Jenna's

Paige's

Addy's

I ate that.

Why blog about the foods we eat?
Well, people ARE always asking me what "vegetarians" eat,
and because I  feel like I've abandoned my blog.
Also, because I think (I know) I'm a great cook, and in my opinion I think we eat pretty healthy!

So, after deciding I would document our daily diet for a month, I realized that I am just too busy to get all of these pictures and such up on the blog in a timely fashion.  So, here I am almost a month later trying to post this.  Bloggery is hard!

I pack a lunch for work every day for both me and my husband, and that has saved us a TON of money, not to mention the time & energy spent trying to figure out what's for lunch when I used to come to work unprepared.
There aren't really a lot of HEALTHY vegetarian choices available in local restaurants, and please don't tell me that I can 'just get a salad'.
Oh, if I had a nickel...
(Really, are there many HEALTHY non-vegetarian choices out there either?)

**one thing I should point out here is that I now use the term vegetarian fairly loosely since we started adding fish to our diet about 2 years ago.
I have doubts that I'll ever use the word 'pescatarian' to describe my diet.
It's too annoying sounding.
Let's just leave it at 'we eat fish.'

Besides avoiding restaurants we also make almost every meal from scratch, and NO it doesn't take that long!  Very few items in our pantry are pre-packaged meals.  The canned goods you see in my cupboards are mostly just beans or tomatoes.  Hardly ever will you see a 'condensed soup' or any canned soup for that matter.  Partly because they are super salty, there are very few vegetarian canned soups available, but mostly because my homemade soups taste SO much better than anything sitting on the shelf at the grocery store.

Packing the lunches is now a part of my daily routine and takes place at the same time I'm making dinner most nights.  I don't feel like I can really relax in the evenings until things are ready for the next day.  

Here's a taste of dinnertime at the Kearney's...

Veggie burger w sauteed baby portabello mushrooms, muenster cheese, tomatoes & BBQ sauce.  Sweet potato fries on the side.

Can I just say that this meal was freaking delicious.  This sandwich made use of the very last of the loaf of bread.  There were only 2 pieces left, so I cut them in half to make 4 pieces/2 sandwiches.  One unusual thing about this meal is the sweet potato fries.  For most of my life I have HATED sweet potatoes and completely avoided them.  A few months ago I decided that since I'm now a grown-up I'll give them another try and lo and behold I actually like them.  Wait--I actually LOVE and CRAVE them.  That, my friends, is bizarre. Wait until I tell my mother!

Lunch

Tuna Macaroni Salad, alfalfa sprouts (that I grew myself), tomato, roasted sunflower seeds.  Side of 1/2 orange.  YUM!

I had eaten half of it before I remembered that I was going to take a picture of it.  Oops!  It was so good.  I mixed in a little bit of this cranberry/horseradish dip mix with the mayonnaise and the results were delicious!

Tacos!

Tacos are relatively new for us, and a meal that my husband LOVES.
We use Morningstar farms "beefalike" crumbles and regular taco seasonings.
A dollop of plain Greek yogurt takes the place of sour cream.

Of course, tacos for lunch!

Spaghetti Squash, homemade sauce.

I used a can of tomatoes, spices, a little brown sugar, onion, garlic and mushrooms to make this sauce.
Prep time was about 7 minutes, then I just let it simmer while the squash baked.

Breakfast Saturday Morning

Veggie "sausage" and eggs

Not as pretty as I usually like, but definitely yummy.
Eggs are from our own chickies, of course.
That makes them even better!

Homemade noodle soup

I made a soup like this the other day when my husband was trying to get over the flu.  He finally had an appetite and agreed to eat some soup.  We stopped at the grocery store on the way back from his doctor's appointment and he waited in the car while I ran in.  I looked over the canned soups--he said he wanted "noodle" soup--to try to find one that didn't have chicken or chicken fat or whatnot, and there just wasn't anything that looked good!

This soup took me 11 minutes to put together using garlic, onion, carrot, celery, cabbage, mushrooms, peas (a handful of frozen) and some skinny noodles.  He was so appreciative and said several times throughout the rest of the day that it was the best soup he's ever had.
I say, of course it is.
It was made with LOVE and real ingredients.

I ended up with enough left over to put 2 containers of soup in the freezer to use later in the month.
I'm not the type of person who wants to eat the same thing every day,
so leftovers usually go to waste unless I freeze them.
 It's great to have something we can just heat up on those days when we don't have as much time to cook.


Sunday Breakfast

Oh yes I did.  Blueberry Crepes

OK--I had a craving for pancakes.  I don't buy pancake mix anymore because it's too simple to make from scratch (and BETTER).  One problem though--I used up almost all of the flour when I made the sourdough bread.  Crepes use much less flour than pancakes and are pretty easy to make.  For the blueberry topping I just threw a handful of frozen blueberries in a saucepan and added a couple spoonfuls of sugar, cooking until it thickened up.  It isn't unheard of for me to put the filling on the inside with maybe some cream cheese deliciousness, but this time it's on the side with a little dollop of the Greek yogurt and a drizzle of maple syrup.

That was so good.

Egg Salad sandwich w/sprouts, carrot/celery sticks, Greek yogurt w/blueberries, orange slices

I know a lot of people like them or think they're 'convenient' but I never buy baby carrots.
They're overly processed and often seem dried out.  Plus, how are you going to cook with a baby carrot?  Are you going to shred those little buggers one at a time or slice them?  Annoying.

OK,  I am done with this post.  I left out some pictures, etc.  but my god, it's long enough as it is.  If you're still reading this, you're my new best friend (or my current best friend!)

Peas Out!

Crazy Yarn Store Lady

Can I just go off for a moment on the awkward, unprofessional, nosy-ass clerk at the yarn store?  Although she shall remain nameless (because I don't know her name), there IS only one yarn store in my area.

The last time I was there she asked about the photo on the front of my checkbook cover.  (I would tell you right now what the picture is, but honestly who the hell cares what's on my checkbook cover!  It's a rooster!  There--are you happy now?)  The only reason to write a check there is because they don't accept credit/debit cards.  In fact I rarely write checks any more.  The other place I have to use checks is the tiny grocery store in Slater because they also don't take cards.  I pretty much never have actual cash.  So dirrrty.

Anyhoo--I rushed there yesterday to get to the store before it closed.  Yes, it was a yarn emergency!  Don't act like you've never heard of such a thing.  I wrote out my check and she was apparently reading my checkbook ledger and actually asked me about the multiple entries to the little Slater store.  I write in my register "T&C" which obviously stands for Town & Country.  What part of any of that information is HER business?  She asked, "What's T&C?"  I, of course, am a "nice" person so I answered the crazy lady and left the store.

On my walk back to the car I was just flabbergasted.  What?  Who does that?  Besides just being nosy, who would go ahead and comment on that sort of thing?  I'm thinking about writing a letter to the owner of the store to complain.  Ranting and complaining in writing often make me feel better, and in some cases (I doubt this is one) it can result in coupons for free stuff such as the time I found a giant flying insect in my Dole lettuce, and the time that the Hy-Vee manager was an idiot.  

"Wow, your hair is getting so long!"

Whether it's a genuine compliment or just an observation, I hear several times a week that my hair is getting longer and longer.  Sometimes I tell the observer and sometimes I don't that I'm growing it out in order to donate it to charity when it is long enough.

I contemplated my ponytail the other day while running.  I considered it's impact on my life and my attitude toward goal-setting.  I thought about why and when I began the process of growing out my hair.  

It was 2 years ago when my brother suggested that he, dad, sister and I sign up to run a 5K race.  Are you kidding me?  I had never been a runner in any way.  Sure, I was in high school track, but thought I would die whenever I had to actually run.  Also, that was over 20 years ago.  Follow high school with 20 years of smoking cigarettes, and only 2 years of not smoking, and you can imagine the challenge I had ahead of me.  

Quitting smoking might have been my first real attempt at goal setting, although with the help of a drug called Chantix, I was merely along for the ride.  I didn't think of it as being a long-term change in my life at the time, but it was.   I don't know if it was truly the first time I challenged myself in that way and reached a tangible goal, but quitting smoking definitely gave me the confidence to try some other new things.  

To stave off any ex-smoker weight gain, I took a few fitness classes and felt like I was in pretty good shape when the race challenge was presented.  My husband had no doubts that I could do it.  I was completely scared.  I really wanted to prove that I could run the whole 5K without stopping. 

I began one of those "couch to 5K" programs I found on the internet.  I followed the training religiously even though it was hard and I hated it!  I remember feeling supreme dread as the day approached when I'd have to run for 10 minutes nonstop!  It's funny now thinking back to those first efforts, but as my endurance improved, so did my self-esteem, and my mood.  Slowly, over time, running started to be something I looked forward to doing.

The race was in September, and by that time my hair was just barely long enough to pull back into a tiny ponytail.  That was when I decided to grow it out and donate it.  I figured I wouldn't have to do anything but be patient and I can reach this new goal, and I'd be doing something good for someone.

As it grows longer it is becoming a symbol of change for me and a symbol of my personal growth.  I can see by the length of my ponytail how long I've been a runner.  It reminds me that not only did I run that 5K without stopping, but I have gone on to run lots of races since then including a 20K.  

I'm learning the lesson of patience and that instant gratification is not necessarily a way to feel satisfied.  While I wait for my hair, I have made some other promises to myself.  I want to be debt free by the end of the year.  What that means is that there is no using credit cards in 2011.  Period.  If I can't afford it, I save until I can.  I opened an online savings account that helps me track how close I am to the goal of a new flat screen TV.  I am 73% there!  I can already imagine how I'm going to feel when it's installed knowing that I saved for many months to buy it.  It's a strange and unexpected realization to find that waiting is comforting.

Recently, my husband decided to start running too!  Despite running being a solitary meditative thing for me, it is really nice to find yet another thing you can do together.  He leaves me in the dust, however, since his legs are so much longer than mine.  It doesn't bother me though.  I just keep pounding the pavement.  

It's not a contest.  

I will never beat him in a race.  I don't care about winning.  I already feel like a winner in my heart and plan on continuing to set goals both small and large, to stay motivated to improve myself and to help others while simplifying my life day by day.  

All I can say is that now more than at any other time in my life, I'm really enjoying the ride.

Dressing Up Chickens Part 2

Perhaps we won't have to kill the rooster after all.  

Just the thought of MAYBE having to do that has been keeping me up at night.

The "protective apron" for the hen came in the mail the other day and just as I suspected, ridiculously easy to copy.  Do I feel guilty for doing so?  Not really.  

Okay, a little.  

But still--I spent (with shipping) over $11 on the item.  I could have copied it from the little catalog photo with no problem.  What made it worth ordering one of theirs was the handy-dandy instruction sheet.  Thank goodness it explained that it's normal for the hen to walk backwards, to flop around and act generally crazy until she got used to the apron.  Without that guidance, I may have given up and decided that the hen doesn't like it or it doesn't fit her properly.  After just a few minutes, she was back to her normal self.  

Later my husband and I observed the hen and both agreed that she is actually carrying herself with more self-assuredness than ever before.  Are we imagining things?  Also, the rooster does not seem to want to mount her which is excellent and unexpected.  

This might just work!

The next day I purchased enough supplies to make 8 more which cost me a whopping $3.85.  What a bargain!  Last night I stayed up until a little after midnight and finished the homemade aprons.  They look exactly like the original one.  All I did was trace the shape, add a seam allowance, stitched around the edge but left openings for turning right side out and also for inserting the elastic pieces.  Once I turned it right side out and pinned in the elastic bits, I top-stitched around the perimeter.

Super easy.

You can see the wyandottes in the foreground are not yet wearing the apron.  Notice the bare skin showing on her lower back.  This is why.  Far back right is the "little rooster".

Dressing Up Chickens

We have a problem in the hen house.  It's a rooster.  Although he's gorgeous and wildly entertaining, he has become a nuisance to the ladies ever since he reached his sexual maturity.  In fact, they're all adults, so what they do in the coop, out of the coop, in the front yard, in the back yard, that's their business.   It becomes my business when the hens get injured because of him.  

The rooster in question is a very large Buff Orpington.  (We have two males actually, but one of them is a bantam--very small--like a wig with legs.  He's not the problem.)  When the big guy mounts the hens, his talons, claws, whatever you call them, dig into the gals' backs and rip out feathers.  You can see bare skin showing in patches on a couple of them. We have had this issue in the past with a different rooster (who was even bigger than this one) who actually tore the flesh on their backs.  Blood in a henhouse is NOT good.  They can become cannibalistic with very little provocation.  Any little injury can invite their coopmates to pick at the wound.  It is not a healthy situation to be in.  Our solution the last time this occurred was to re-home the rooster.  We sent it to live with my parents. Tragically, it was quickly killed by a wild animal, and everyone was very sad to lose him.   

This time, we've decided to try a different option--dressing the chickens.  It is called a "protective apron" from Randall Burkey company.  I only ordered one to start with since they look absolutely easy to make.

http://www.randallburkey.com/Hen-Saver-Protective-Hen-Apron/productinfo/16120/

We will try this on the ladies to see how they heal, allow some time to let their feathers grow back in, etc.  If this doesn't work we're thinking about whether we can castrate him.  The arguments my husband and I came up with against this solution mainly focused around how big he is now and how much food he already consumes. The fear is that he'll just get bigger and hungrier without his chicken nuggets.

Once I get the Randall Burkey version of the apron, I'll try to make several more. They are a mere $8.99 each, but I'm on a budget!  I know I can whip them out cheaper than that--and probably cuter.  I'm treading on some dangerous ground here--suddenly I'm imagining some crazy designs to dress the chickens in.  We've joked oh so many times about knitting sweaters for the birds, and it's something I am absolutely likely to do. 

Wow.  If the neighbors think we're weird now, wait until they see our flock dressed up!  They won't probably realize that there is a reason for putting a jacket on a chicken, they'll just think we're nuts.  Oh well.  For all intents and purposes we are delightfully nuts and fine with it.