Lean Times and (not) Enchiladas

Well, January has rolled around again and after the holidays, we're all feeling a little pinched. In the waistband and in the pocketbook. Am I right?

I literally revert to the most basic of meal ingredients during these times: rice and beans. I make a big batch on Monday and make it stretch as long as I can (though there's lots of "belly-aching" by the end. Ha! Another double entendre!).

The trouble comes along with how to make these simple ingredients have some variety.

I had a hankering for enchiladas the other night, but not the ingredients to make the real thing. It was a rice & beans week, after all. But I thought I'd experiment a bit, and it turned out quite well. My husband even commented after his first taste (He generally thinks my cooking is good and therefore only comments when I pry, or if it stands out).

So here you are, from my kitchen to yours:

Not Enchiladas

This made enough for my husband and I to have dinner and a "Left-Over's Lunch" 

(always my goal).

I started with pre-cooked rice and black beans. 

(I made a Crock Pot of beans on Monday and make the rice as I need it.)

The most important ingredient in any cooking experiment!

 I started by dicing half an onion, mincing 4 garlic cloves, and shredding a carrot.

Then I threw it all in a hot skillet with some olive oil until 

everything was soft and the onions were transparent.

I also added a dash of cayenne pepper and a cap-full each of cumin and chili powder.

 I mixed the cooked veggies with rice and black beans. 

 Then I wiped my pan clean and added a touch of oil.

I like to soften my corn tortillas by cooking them it a bit of oil.

This helps them to be more pliable as I form the enchiladas.

 Doesn't that look ready to eat now! 

(It's even better when you know its easy on the wallet and the skinny jeans)

But we're not done yet:

 Fill your baking dish...

Top with cheese...

And bake at 350 for 15ish minutes

(until the cheese is melted and bubbly).

While eating these, we decided they would be especially ooey-gooey good 

with cheese on the inside as well as on the outside. 

But since this is a post about being "lean," I didn't go there. 

Maybe in February when we've forgotten all about those pesky skinny jeans again.

 With hot sauce!

Black Bean Burgers

A few weeks ago, I shared a recipe for Falafel Fritters and mentioned my love of black bean burgers. Well, now the research has been done, and I'm here to share the results of my quest! I started with a basic recipe I found at Whole Foods Market and tweaked from there. 

Instead of the 15 oz can of beans, I used 1 1/2 cups of soaked & cooked dried beans. I eventually added some frozen corn kernels and diced red peppers to the recipe. The basic recipe is a bit of a blank slate and can easily be tweaked to appeal to various palates, tastes and flavors. I also played around a bit with the proportion of bread crumbs. This resulted in the discovery that the 1-cup should not be messed with. The patties didn't hold together as well with fewer bread crumbs and only became chewier with more. I also amped up the hot sauce to give the burgers a better kick. The recipe from Whole Foods Market says that it yields 6 servings, but I never got more than four burgers out of a batch.

These pictures came from my first trial with the original recipe from W.F. Market. I hope you enjoy the burgers as much as my husband and I did. I know I have a winner when he asks for a recipe repeat right away! Now I'm really looking forward to warm weather so I can see how these guys hold up on the grill!!!

served with Cajun potato wedges

I found it best to mix ingredients by hand.

Falafel Fritters

I am discovering things. Obvious things, but still, new ideas to me.

The weather has been getting warmer and I am starting to notice the familiar smells of barbecue grilling. I love cookouts, but it often means that I am bringing store-bought veggie burgers to friends' and relatives' homes as they grill burgers, brauts and steaks. Over the years, I have found veggie burger brands and varieties that I enjoy, but this will never be a food that I love. I have just come to accept that being vegetarian during BBQ season means eating a veggie burger a couple times a week. (Though I have stumbled upon a few restaurants that offer "house-made" black bean burgers that are mouth-watering and craving-inducing. I also love it when people put a beautiful piece of fish on the grill - an animal I will happily consume for some inexplicable reason).

I don't know why it never occurred to me before, but it was recently brought to my attention that soy and tofu food products are highly processed - making them the opposite of a "whole food." This caused my brain to work at retraining some synapses. I've also taken for granted that tofu was healthy and an essential part of a vegetarian diet. Store-bought veggie burgers are laden with soy.

I don't think I will ever give up tofu entirely, I have grown to like it. It makes a wonderful addition to stir fries and other "tossed" dishes, but cutting back on my consumption of this "non-whole food" is definitely a summer goal. I am also on the hunt for a delicious black bean burger recipe so I can pre-make and take along homemade goodness to all the summer cook outs.

Until then, I have stumbled upon another tasty item to substitute between the burger buns. I have started calling them Falafel Fritters. This variation on Falafel is beginning to become a regular part of the dinner menu rotation. Last night, I served them with potato wedges and spinach salad. I wonder if they'd hold up on a grill?

Falafel Fritters, Cajun potato wedges, spinach salad and mango.

The recipe:
(Courtesy of my Reader's Digest The Vegetarian Cookbook)
12 oz carrots (I have no idea how much this is, I used about a 1 1/2 cups) grated or finely chopped
1 clove garlic (chopped)
1 large bunch of fresh cilantro (not this time of year! I subbed in a cap full of dried parsley)
1 15 oz can chickpeas (I used dried beans. After they were soaked and boiled, I measured 2 cups)
1 1/2 t cumin
1 1/2 t coriander
1 large egg
2 T flour
oil for frying

The recipe provides specific directions on how to mix all this together. I tend to view a recipe as a basic guideline for getting started and make my own decisions from there (I also do this with the directions to board games - which drives my husband nuts). I just stuck everything in the food processor and it came out looking like this:

straight from the food processor

Then, I just formed patties and cooked for a few minutes on each side. This time we ate ours as open-faced sandwiches on the bread from a previous post. But they are also good between burger buns, flat breads and pitas!

A side note: While quite tasty, these fritters can be a bit on the dry side. Any suggestions for moistening them up (aside from melting a delicious slice of cheesy goodness over the top)?