Quick and Easy Homemade Black Bean Burgers

Nicole and I were looking for a quick, easy, and generally healthy meal a few nights ago. We had missed our chance to hit up a restaurant and the grocery store across the street was closed so we were left with few options other than what was in the cupboard. While wracking our brains I suddenly remembered a super easy and totally delicious recipe for homemade black bean burgers that can more than likely be made with what’s in your pantry right now. After a quick double check of the recipe on the internet this is what we made:

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
½ cup bread crumbs
½ onion
½ pepper
3 cloves of garlic
1 egg
Cayenne pepper or chili powder, to taste
Cumin, to taste
Hot sauce to taste

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 375* or begin heating grill. Place onion, pepper, and garlic in a food processor, process until smooth, set aside. In a small mixing bowl combine egg, cayenne, cumin, and hot sauce, set aside. Pour beans into medium sized bowl and mash with a large fork until mostly uniformly creamy (a few whole beans or bean parts are fine). Mix in egg and spice mixture. Mix in onion/pepper/garlic mixture. Fold in bread crumbs a little at a time; until mixture become firm and workable by hand (you may not need the full ½ cup of crumbs). Divide mixture into 4 parts and shape into patties. Place on baking sheet and bake at 375* for 10 minutes per side, a properly heated grill should only take 3-5 minutes per side.

From here you have a slightly southwestern flavored blank canvass to work on, top it with guacamole, salsa, cheese, jalapenos, barbeque sauce, or anything else you desire. Or you could alter the base flavor of the burger by subbing out the hot sauce, cayenne, and cumin for other herbs and spices. With a little basil, oregano, a squeeze of tomato paste, and a sprinkle of parmesan you’ve got an Italian black bean burger that could be topped with a little marinara and sautéed mushrooms. The sky is literally the limit; anything you can do to a meat burger can be done to these. When we made these the other night we didn’t have the onion or pepper so we left them out and instead folded in some diced mushrooms both for taste and texture and dressed them with spinach, satium mustard, and horseradish. Or how about some sautéed onions and Swiss on rye for a black bean Patty Melt? Plus these are already completely vegetarian friendly, but could easily be made vegan by leaving out the egg completely or mixing in one egg’s worth of egg replacer (I stand by Enner-G in these matters).

These burgers were simple to make, delicious, filling, and require nothing strange or unusual. Oven time make take a few minutes but while they’re in there you’ll have more than enough time to wash up the few dishes this soils and crack open another beer or let that bottle of red start to breathe. Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Indian Soup!

A few snowy nights ago Nicole and I needed a quick, warm, filling meal. Soup seemed to fit the bill, but so many of the really tasty looking soups in the cook book take hours to prepare, simmer, etc. and we were hungry now! Finally we stumbled onto a simple and delicious recipe in one of the Moosewood cookbooks. After a quick trip through Dave’s we were ready to assemble our evening repast: Curried Cauliflower and Chickpea Soup!

Here’s how it works:

1. Chop and sauté one medium onion in a1-2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a large soup pot

2. Once softened add 1½ tbsp fresh grated ginger and 2-3 tsp curry powder continue sautéing until onions take on color but be sure not to burn the spices

3. After sautéing for a few minutes at 1 15oz can of chickpeas and 3 cups of vegetable stock

4. Cover the pot and bring to a boil

5. Once boiling add a 28oz can of diced tomatoes and 1 small head of cauliflower, coarsely chopped

6. Reduce heat and bring to a simmer

7. Allow soup to simmer at least 5 minutes or until the cauliflower is cooked to desired texture

8. Take 2-3 cups of the soup and pulse in a blender, then return puree to pot and stir to combine.

9. Top with chopped cilantro and chutney, and serve with naan!

A flavorful, aromatic soup with a hint of the curry powder’s spice, we opted to kick things up a few notches with an extra dash of curry power and about half-a-teaspoon of cayenne, but you could add some Scotch Bonnet and take it into serious Indian territory. And not only is this soup delicious but including shopping time it took maybe an hour to make and the leftovers only get better as the spices and flavors have more time to mingle

Easy Peasy Applesauce Pancakes

I won a bet this weekend, and it was that vegan applesauce pancakes are not only easy to make, but also damn delicious. Someone (of the boyfriend variety) tut tutted me when I wanted pancakes, "No eggs! No pancakes!" he cried. "Ah, but you're wrong," I said, slyly bringing the cinnamon applesauce out of the fridge. He turned up his nose in disbelief and 30 minutes later he was gobbling up mouthwatering, dairy free pancakes like they were going out of style. No fear of that though, like a strand of pearls, this breakfast is a classy staple that will always be in fashion.

Before you get out that sweet sweet maple syrup, make sure you have these few necessities:

• whole wheat pastry flour
• baking powder (aluminum-free recommended)
• salt
• soy, rice, or almond milk (I think soy tastes the best, esp. if you're going with flavored applesauce)
  
• applesauce (I highly endorse using a cinnamon applesauce for the most unique and distinct flavor)
• real maple sryup
  
• hand or stand alone mixer + large bowl
• cast iron pan (the best option, but a regular pan would work also)
• ladle
• spatula
• dry and liquid measuring cups
  

Dry Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Liquids
3/4 cup of the dairy free milk of your choosing
1/4 cup cinnamon applesauce

Combine the dry ingredients in the large mixin' bowl and in the liquid measuring cup combine the applesauce and dairy free milk. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and use your mixer to combine the ingredients into a thick paste consistency.

Once your batter is ready it's time to oil and heat up your pan and start makin' the pancakes! This next part can be done in the way you prefer, as different cooks have different styles. I am still working on my pancake making technique, but what worked well for me this time was using a ladle to scoop up the batter and pour it into a perfect pancake circle on the pan. This takes some practice for sure, as you wanna make sure they are not too thick, and doughy in the center. Sometimes using a spatula to help spread the batter out in the pan helps. If you have any other suggestions for this part, feel free to leave them in the comments! Also, you have to have patience for pancakes, don't try to be a hero and cook more than one in the pan, it never works out well for anybody. One at a time, and have a plate handy to stack the done ones on. You can always heat the oven up just a smidge and put the plate in there to keep your flapjacks firey warm. Make as many as the batter will allow (I made 6 with this recipe, well, technically 7, but one was too burnt for mouths and got tossed), and then top them off with some Earth Balance Vegetable Oil Butter (also dairy free), and real maple sryrup.

This is a great recipe to show off to your anti-vegan friends who think any food made w/o eggs and cow milk will taste like shit.

Vegan Lime Poppy Seed Birthday Cake

Northern Spy celebrated a birthday this week: Bethani is finally 21! In addition to the traditional birthday festivities—drinking—I thought I’d be a nice guy and whipped up a birthday cake for the little lady. However, as I was pressed for time for a variety of reasons, most of them personal and banal, I opted for a quick, but totez delish, recipe I’ve used before, with a few slight changes.

I present to you now Bethani’s Vegan Lime Poppy Seed Birthday Cake:

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup poppy seeds
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• grated peels of 3 lemons
• ¾ cup apple juice
• ¾ cup (canola) oil
• ¾ cup (pure) maple syrup
• 3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (I'm sure white flour is fine)
• 1½ tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp sea salt (or regular salt)
  
  Directions:
• Mix dry ingredients.
• Mix wet ingredients.
• Fold gently together, adding wet to dry.
• Pour into greased and floured 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan.
• Bake in preheated 350° F oven for 1/2 hour or until toothpick comes clean

Notes and Adjustments:

• ¾ of a cup of poppy seeds is a lot, I mean a lot, of poppy seeds. To make this I cut it down to half a cup, but you could probably get away with 1/3 if you wanted to.
• To make this a lime cake instead of lemon I used the peel of four limes, and it took about 2 of them to get enough juice.
• If you use maple syrup for this recipe get the lightest you can find, otherwise your cake will taste like pancakes (not necessarily bad, but the maple can be overpowering). For this and most other vegan baking applications I prefer to use honey! It’s a cleaner, more neutral taste, it’s attracts water so your baked goods will stay moister longer, and it’s a natural preservative so your food will keep longer!
• You could use an equal amount of Kosher salt in lieu of the sea salt if you don’t have it, or a ½ tsp of regular salt.
• I also added a ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract since I think most baked goods benefit from this.
• I used pastry flour for this and the cake was very light and tasty, the first time I made it all we had was all purpose and the cake was still excellent, just more dense. It’s up to you and your cake preferences, but if you choose a.p. flour mix this sparingly or enjoy your gluten block!
• I baked this in a loaf pan which took about 45 minutes, checking every five or so after the first thirty. This would also be great in a Bundt pan and would probably cook in 25-30.
• While this cake is perfectly delicious on its own I chose to top it with a glaze made from confectioner’s sugar, lemonade, and a bit of vanilla extract.
  
  

Baking playlist courtesy of my totez rad post-hardcore on-the-go iPod playlist:

1. The Means – Heart
2. The Future of the Left – The Lord Hates a Coward
3. McLusky – 1956 and All That
4. Refused – New Noise
5. McLusky – Whiteliberalonwhiteliberalaction
6. The Means – (t.p.) Massacre
7. The Future of the Left – Wrigley Scott
8. The Birthday Party – The Friend Catcher
9. The Future of the Left – Real Men Hunt In Packs
10. The Bronx – Strobe Life
11. Gallows – In the Belly of a Shark
12. Shellac – Dog and Pony Show
13. Hot Snakes – Rock’n’Roll Will Never Die
14. The Means – R. Loxley
15. McLusky – You are my Sun
16. The Means – Rob Wheeler
17. Gallows – Six Years
18. Detachment Kit – Hurricane Designed for People
19. Shellac – Il Porno Star
20. Refused – Worms of the Senses/Faculties of the Skull
21. The Bronx – False Alarm
22. Harvey Milk – Maelstrom of Bad Decisions
23. The Birthday Party – Hamlet (Pow, Pow, Pow)

11 Short Films About Pizza Making

I now unveil to you, my cooking video/You Tube debut. Me and the boyfriend attempt to make our own pizzas with delicious results. On an ability scale of 1 - 5, I'd rate this project at a 1, so easy a hamster could do it. Yes, there are 11 (!) video clips here. I know it looks like a lot to watch, but all in all it's like 15 minutes. I just don't have a video camera and had to use the capture feature on my camera which only takes video for like a minute and a half at a time. In addition, I'm not what you'd call steady handed, so if the Blair Witch Project gave you motion sickness, then, uh, I'd turn back if I were you. We are totz profesh here at WWEIL. So sit back and drink in my sweet how-to-idness...and then go make yourself an awesome, organic, veggie pizza!

Are You Daring Enough for the Vegan McPizza?

Many of your distinguished palates are probably familiar with the McPizza. This is when a pizza is covered with Mickey Dees cheeseburgers, french fries, and chicken nuggets:

Or perhaps you have made your own concoction of fast food on a pie goodness. I know a favorite during my college years was the Taco Bell pizza:

Either way, being vegan I have always missed on this gluttonous side show, and for someone who likes junk food so much, it's been a sad hole in my diet. Luckily, there is this guy out in the world who was also pretty into this concept, but unlike me, he didn't let his diet stand in the way of making this priceless meal. With the help of two of the cutest vegan children I've ever seen he was able to craft one delicious looking pile of vegan junk food.

He describes the vegan McPizza as being, "very filling...it will only take a piece, maybe two, to fill you up…and I mean fill. I daringly went for two pieces…a half burger, half fry and a half burger, half nugget...I was stuffed." He goes on to give it more than favorable reviews, and to me, it sounds like maybe this could qualify for more than just junk food? Maybe... "The flavors were all actually quite good. The tomato sauce and cheese go well with all 3 toppings by themselves…chicken parmesan, cheese fries w/ marinara dipping sauce, a pizza burger. But all combined on a pizza…Vegan McMagic!"

To read more about the making of a vegan McPizza check out this post he wrote for the blog/website he shares with his wife called Ste Martaen. This is an excellent down to earth, welcoming vegan site. Plus, they sell what looks like awesome Vegan Gourmet Cheese. I haven't attempted to purchase it yet (online shopping intimidates me), but it's tempting. Please check it out for great recipes, thoughts on healthy eating, and of course fresh cheese!

Vegan Cookies, jon's first post

Vegan Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, Peanut Butter Cookies

I thought for my first post I’d use one of my favorite recipes. I’ve made these twice in the past week, and have knocked out a few other batches in the past for parties and birthdays. The cookies are dense and chewy, with an excellent balance of all its flavors, not overwhelmingly peanut buttery, a good hand full of chocolate chips, and just enough oatmeal for texture. The holy trinity of cookies, combined!

It’s a pretty simple recipe and is difficult to go to far wrong. If you have a stand mixer I recommend using that, otherwise you’ll want a good hand mixer as this dough gets pretty thick, especially once you add in the oatmeal.

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup turbinado sugar
1/3 cup soy milk (regular or vanilla flavored)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (4 ounces weight or very lightly scooped)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips — use non-dairy such as Tropical Source
1/3 cup chopped, toasted walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together first five ingredients.

In a small bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, soda and salt. Stir into batter. Stir in oats and chocolate chips, followed by nuts if using.

Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto Silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until set. Remove sheet from oven and let cool on tray for 5 minutes.

Makes 18 cookies

Notes: The recipe, as I found it online, suggests crunchy peanut butter, I don’t. Between the oatmeal and the chocolate chips these guys are dense and have a ton of texture already, crunchy p.b., and the optional nuts at the end, are going to make them overly textural. As far as brands go I can’t recommend full flavor creamy Jif nearly enough, for this and any other baking application requiring p.b. It blends well and as this is replacing the bulk of the butter you would normally use in a cookie recipe the higher fat content is appreciated for flavor and needed for body and binding.

For a moister cookie substitute half a cup of brown sugar in for half the turbinado. Incidentally, if your natural sugar has larger grains you may need to use more sugar as the larger granules have more space between them.

I prefer almond milk for this and most other sweet vegan applications, it’s richer, creamier, has less of that gaminess soy milks so often does, and the nuttiness compliments the nuttiness of the cookie, but any milk sub will do. Also, you may want to consider adding in an extra tablespoon of milk as this batter is a little on the dry side.

Using pastry flour instead of all purpose makes a lot of difference. The first few times I made these I only had all purpose flour and the cookies came out much denser. While not inedible by any means, using pastry flour yields a lighter, but no less chewy cookie. (For more information on how flour and fat choices affect the out come of your cookie check out the episode of Good Eats entitled “Three Chips for Sister Marsha” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB-KVveLp3k).

When checking for doneness don't wait until the cookie is golden brown and set. Remove cookies when the edges are brown and set. Allowing them to sit on the warm cookie sheet for five minutes or so after will allow the heat stored inside to carry over and finish cooking them out of the oven, thus protecting you from dry or burnt cookies.

When sifting together the dry ingredients—always sift!—I like to add in half-to-three-quarters teaspoon of cinnamon. The cinnamon, oatmeal, and chocolate work so well it’s ridiculous, and it perks up the peanut butter, too.


Baking Playlist, courtesy of iTunes shuffle:

Misfits – Bullet
Pedro the Lion – Eye on the Finish Line
Saturday Looks Good to Me – (even if you die on the ) Ocean
Misfits – Static Age
The National – Cold Girl Fever
James Brown – My Thang
Detachment Kit – Ricochet
Del tha Funkee Homosapien – Signature Slogans
Elliott Smith – St. Ides Heaven
Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Rollin’ Wit You
The Kinks – Muswell Hillbilly
Caetano Veloso – In the Hot Sun of a Christmas Day
The Dwarves – Back Seat of My Car
Hall & Oates – It’s a Laugh
They Might Be Giants – No One Knows My Plan
They Might Be Giants – Famous Polka
Cibo Matto – Clouds
The Replacements – More Cigarettes
Caribou – She’s the One
Supergrass – Road to Rouen
LCD Soundsystem – Us V Them
Jesus and Mary Chain – Frequency
Stylex – No!
Beulah – Popular Mechanics for Lovers
The White Stripes – Prickly Thorn, but Sweetly Worn
Klaxons – Isle of Her
Crystal Castles – Love and Caring
Rocket From The Crypt – Good Bye
Fugazi – Returning the Screw
Pavement – Fight This Generation

Easy Vegan Indian Food in 20 minutes or Less (Depending on the Suckitude of Your Stove)

I just moved into a new apartment. It's got everything I want (two bedrooms, hardwood floors, ceiling fans) and one thing I really effing hate: an electric stove. These stoves are crap because they make it overly hard to shift the temperature, or be precise about anything. Also, the burners stay hot long after they get turned off, which is bad for kitty paws that like to hop up when no body is looking. But despite these disadvantages, I was able to cook a pretty quick and delicious Indian dinner for two last night.

I bought two different dishes from separate companies to compare. Trader Joe's Indian Fare "Madras Lentil" and Tasty Bite "Bombay Potatoes." Both are vegan and are about three bucks. The latter was bought at a Giant grocery store, and I assume it can be found in other such places (Meijer, Kroger, Hy-Vee, Safeway, Giant Eagle, etc.). I also bought Trader Joe's White Basmati Rice for around three dollars. You can definitely make Indian dishes with regular rice, but the taste and texture won't be quite as authentic.

I also recommend Trader Joe's Garlic Naan (for dippin'), though my sheckles are lacking and that was one three dollar purchase too many for this meal...I'm going for meager chic here.

Okay, now you know what to buy, so here's how it comes together. First get out your/buy your rice cooker and dump the rice plus two cups of water in there with it. 1/3 bag of rice is a filling meal for two. More rice means more water, and I only ever make enough for two, but a good rule of thumb is to just make sure the rice is submerged with a 1/2 inch or so of water above it. So once the rice is in the cooker, it's practically done, and you can ignore it while you prepare the rest. These Indian meals come in handy little foil packets (like space food) and in order to eat them, all you have to do is heat them up in boiling water. Just make sure you lay them as flat as possible in the pot, and that the water is mostly covering them. Due to buoyancy issues, one corner will always stick up out of the water a little bit just to drive you to the brink of insanity, so try to ignore it if you can. Trust me, there is no amount of poking or prodding that will keep it totally under. Then if you're like me you'll wander around the kitchen eating snacks (because you're starving, duh) until the cooker and stove have done their magic. It takes about three minutes for the Indian space packets to be ready, and a little longer for the rice (like 10 minutes-ish) so that's why you should start the rice first. Or do whatever you want, I'm not trying to boss you.

Once the cooking magic is done, grab the packets out with some kind of tongs, because they are hot and not above burning the shit out of you. Then rip 'em open by the convenient slit at the top, and dump them on the rice I'll assume you already smartly distributed on your plates. Then it'll look like something not wildly beautiful, but pretty fucking delectable (see below).

The lentil one is on the top and the potato one is on the bottom. The lentil one is much more mild, while the potatoes are spicy spicy, too much for my wimpy palate. Also, if you're into texture, the lentil one is pretty runny, and soaks into the rice right away, while the potato one lingers a bit more in it's chunkiness. All in all, it's a pretty great dinner for two. It's yummy, under 10 bucks, and it'll be cooked in less time than it takes to watch another That 70's Show rerun.