Bacon Veggie Burgers

A couple years ago, I was making dinner and invited my then boyfriend over to share with me. I was making my famous stir-fry that my roommate and I loved to chow down on. Upon arriving, boyfriend wandered over to the covered pan of food, lifted the lid, and then promptly set it back down. He turns around, looks at me and says, "there's no meat. I'll get something else."

Talk about a low blow. Well, 3 years later, I'm married to the "then boyfriend" and have yet to let him live that down. However, I have been much more conscious about including meat in meals, even if it's not part of the menu.

Which is why, as much as Bacon Veggie Burgers are an oxymoron, I had to do a little compromising in order for him to even consider eating these.

(Bacon) Veggie Burgers

From: Cooking Light, April 2008

1 cup canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup coarsely chopped carrot
1 teaspoon Garam Masala
1 teaspoon amchur powder
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 jalapeño, seeded and quartered
2 pounds peeled red potatoes, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/4 cup coarsely chopped red onion
1 cup dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
2 2/3 cups spinach
4 (6-inch) whole-grain pitas, cut in half
8 red onion slices

(8 slices bacon)

Combine first 9 ingredients in the bowl of a food processor; process until finely chopped.

Place potatoes in a large saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook 13 minutes. Add onion, and cook for 2 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Drain; cool 10 minutes. Place potato mixture in a large bowl; mash with a potato masher or fork. Stir in chickpea mixture and breadcrumbs; cover and chill 8 hours or overnight.

Divide potato mixture into 8 equal portions, shaping each portion into a 1/2-inch-thick patty (about 2/3 cup mixture). Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 4 patties to pan; cook 5 minutes on each side or until browned and heated through. Repeat procedure with remaining 1 tablespoon oil and 4 patties. Place 1/3 cup spinach and 1 patty in each pita half. Top each serving with 1 onion slice, 1 strip of bacon, and fiery tomato chutney.

Fiery Tomato Chutney

From: Cooking Light, April 2008

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
4 small dried red chiles
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
4 cups chopped cored tomatoes
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper

Heat oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and chiles to pan; cook 1 minute. Stir in turmeric; cook 30 seconds. Add tomatoes and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer until reduced to 2 cups (about 50 minutes). Spoon into a bowl; cover and chill.

I'm not a vegetarian, but every once in a while, I do tend to crave a spicy veggie burger. So when I ran across this recipe back in April, I decided it was worth a try.

Unfortunately, this shouldn't have been made a "burger". A "veggie patty" without the pita and spinach leaves would have been more appropriate. The whole mushy potato base completely threw both me and Adam off when eating these.

The flavoring was actually pretty good -- and the chutney worked really well with these. I'm pretty sure they would make a good side, just not as a stand-alone burger.

We rated these:

Nutrition Facts - Includes Bacon
Amount per serving
Calories 539	Calories from fat 186
% Daily Value
Total Fat 20.7g	32%
Saturated Fat 5.0g	25%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 31mg	10%
Sodium 1535mg	64%
Total Carbs 67.2g	22%
Dietary Fiber 11.1g	44%
Sugars 10.0g
Protein 23.7g
Vitamin A 60%	Vitamin C 47%
Calcium 11%	Iron 30%

Fusilli with Pistachio Pesto

I must admit, I love me some pistachios. Left to my own devices, I will sit and eat an entire bag/bowl/container of those little nuts. I don't even mind de-shelling them. I figure it helps burn some of the calories I'm eating. ;)

When I saw this recipe, I knew I had to try it out -- I mean, it's pesto (yummy) made with pistachios instead of pine nuts.

Fusilli with Pistachio Pesto
From: Cooking Light, August 2008

8 ounces uncooked fusilli pasta (I used farafelle)
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup shelled, roasted pistachios, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
Lemon wedges (optional)

Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta through a sieve over a bowl, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water. Rinse pasta with cold water; drain.

Combine basil, 3 tablespoons pistachios, oil, salt, and garlic in a food processor. Process until smooth, scraping sides. Transfer basil mixture to a large bowl; stir cheese and reserved 1/4 cup pasta water into basil mixture. Add pasta and tomatoes to basil mixture; toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tablespoon pistachios. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired.

Serves: 4

The big problem with being so far behind with my blogging, is that occasionally I tend to forget what a meal tastes like. Unfortunately, this happens to be one of those meals. I remember that it was good... but there wasn't really anything that really stuck out about about it. Which makes me kind of sad, as I had such high hopes for my favorite nut. That said, I would still make this dish again, as it is pretty easy to throw together.

We rated it:

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 332	Calories from fat 104
% Daily Value
Total Fat 11.5g	18%
Saturated Fat 2.4g	12%
Cholesterol 6mg	2%
Sodium 421mg	18%
Total Carbs 46.9g	16%
Dietary Fiber 3.5g	14%
Sugars 3.1g
Protein 12.3g
Vitamin A 20%	Vitamin C 14%
Calcium 12%	Iron 18%

Cumin--Scented Samosas with Mint Raita

Every once in a while I get an inch to try something really new -- something that stretches my cooking abilities a bit. Well, I have never played with phyllo dough before. Actually, I was never really able to find it before I moved up to Pennsylvania... excuses, excuses I know.

I also know, that it's probably not really something all that difficult to work with, but hey, it was something new to try out. Kind of like guys and gadgets.

This recipe caught my eye back in May, but as many of my recipes, got shoved into an ever growing pile and neglected. Not really hard to do with a hard-to-find ingredient. That and I'm not the biggest fan of mint.

As soon as I discovered phyllo dough in a specialty food shop conveniently located to our new place, I snatched it up. But what to make with it? After much searching (and looking at what all I had on hand), I decided to go with my forgotten recipe.

Cumin-Scented Samosas with Mint Raita

From: Cooking Light, May 2008

Samosas:
2 1/4 cups chopped peeled baking potato
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled carrot
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely chopped onion
2 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 1/4 cups frozen green peas, thawed
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
16 (18 x 14–inch) sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
Cooking spray

Raita:
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/3 cup chopped fresh mint

To prepare samosas, cook potato and carrot in boiling water 8 minutes or until tender; drain.

Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring frequently. Add ginger, garlic, and red pepper; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in cumin and next 5 ingredients (through turmeric); cook 15 seconds, stirring constantly. Add potato mixture, peas, cilantro, and juice, stirring well to combine; cool slightly. Place half of filling in a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Spoon chopped filling into a bowl. Repeat procedure with remaining filling.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place 1 phyllo sheet on a large cutting board or work surface (cover remaining dough to prevent drying); lightly coat with cooking spray. Fold phyllo sheet in half lengthwise to form an 18 x 7–inch rectangle. Spoon about 3 tablespoons filling onto bottom end of rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border. Fold left bottom corner over mixture, forming a triangle; keep folding back and forth into a triangle to end of phyllo strip. Tuck edges under triangle; lightly coat seam with cooking spray. Place triangles, seam side down, 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining phyllo, cooking spray, and filling to form 16 samosas.

Bake at 350° for 13 minutes with 1 baking sheet on bottom rack and 1 baking sheet on second rack from the top. Rotate baking sheets; bake an additional 12 minutes or until samosas are lightly browned.

To prepare raita, combine yogurt and mint. Serve with samosas.

Serves: 8

I guess Adam and I are just not the biggest fan of Indian food. They were pretty good, but I wasn't really a big fan of the raita. The samosas by themselves were kind of bland, not really having the kick I was expecting and the raita didn't really add all that much. But overall, still not too bad.

We rated it:

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 261	Calories from fat 57
% Daily Value
Total Fat 6.4g	10%
Saturated Fat 1.5g	7%
Cholesterol 2mg	1%
Sodium 481mg	20%
Total Carbs 43.6g	15%
Dietary Fiber 5.0g	20%
Sugars 6.4g
Protein 7.9g
Vitamin A 79%	Vitamin C 39%
Calcium 11%	Iron 19%

Crustless Smoked Turkey and Spinach Quiche

Let's just be honest from the start -- I am not a big fan of quiche. It's usually just so eggy and bland.

Adam usually isn't a fan either. Or my sister. Or my brother-in-law.

But. For some reason, the two times I made this we either fought over the leftovers, or there weren't any leftovers to speak of.

Something about the mixture of swiss and spinach with the smoked turkey-ham made this quiche very flavorful and extra edible. Even my sister (who is not the biggest fan of swiss) loved this.

And it's really not just for breakfast -- the first time I made this was for dinner (and I won the leftover argument and had it again for lunch).

Crustless Smoked Turkey and Spinach Quiche

From: Cooking Light, June 2008

Cooking spray
3/4 cup (4 ounces) cubed smoked turkey ham (such as Jennie-0)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese, divided
1 cup fresh baby spinach leaves
1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
1/2 cup evaporated fat-free milk
1/4 cup (1 ounce) shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add ham, onion, and pepper to pan; sauté 4 minutes or until ham is lightly browned.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese in a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Top with ham mixture.

Combine remaining 1/2 cup Swiss cheese, spinach, and next 5 ingredients (through egg whites) in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, stirring with a whisk until blended. Pour egg mixture over ham mixture. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in center of quiche comes out clean.

Serves: 8

I did use much more swiss on the bottom of the pan than the recipe called for -- I just didn't feel the amount really covered the bottom enough. And I love cheese.

Between Adan, myself, my sister, my brother-in-law, and a couple of our friends, we all rated this:

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 163	Calories from fat 59
% Daily Value
Total Fat 6.6g	10%
Saturated Fat 3.5g	17%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 78mg	26%
Sodium 338mg	14%
Total Carbs 11.1g	4%
Sugars 2.7g
Protein 14.5g
Vitamin A 12%	Vitamin C 3%
Calcium 21%	Iron 6%

Spicy Peanut chicken Over Rice

I've come to the realization that I am so very far behind in my blogging. Well at least with this post I'm moving on to my new September recipes... Horrible, I know. And I still have about 8 or so more recipes to post before I finally catch up. Eeee.

And, I left my camera at my sister's last weekend, which won't be helping the "catch-up" cause as a couple of those recipes we did at her place. I am trying to catch-up though, it's much easier to blog about a recipe I just tried tonight (or maybe last night) than remembering how it tasted a month ago.

I do remember this recipe, however. I am definitely a lover of most things peanut butter. (I would say "all", but then someone will throw some seafood dish out there involving peanut butter and I'll just have to turn it down.) And spicy peanut butter dishes are even better. :) Yum.

Spicy Peanut Chicken over Rice

From: Cooking Light, August 2008

1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (about 4 cloves)
2 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
3 cups chopped plum tomato (about 6 tomatoes)
2 (14-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
8 cups hot cooked brown rice
3/4 cup 2% Greek-style yogurt (such as Fage)

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and garlic to pan; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring frequently. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes or until chicken is done, stirring frequently. Stir in peanut butter and next 5 ingredients (through tomato paste); cook 1 minute. Add tomato and broth to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Serve chicken mixture over rice; top each serving with yogurt.

I did change a few things up in this recipe. I used vegetable oil instead of peanut oil, diced tomatoes instead of plum tomatoes, white rice instead of brown, and creamy peanut butter instead of chunky (although in my defense I did throw in some dry roasted peanuts). Nothing that would drastically change the taste of this dish.

Overall it turned out pretty good, although it was a lot more "soup-ier" than I expected. The hubs and I rated it:

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 647	Calories from fat 97
% Daily Value
Total Fat 10.8g	17%
Saturated Fat 2.1g	11%
Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 56mg	19%
Sodium 537mg	22%
Total Carbs 106.0g	35%
Dietary Fiber 6.5g	26%
Sugars 5.8g
Protein 33.7g
Vitamin A 14%	Vitamin C 31%
Calcium 7%	Iron 18%

Herbed Chicken Rolls

Much like I never really knew what chickpeas were, I was pretty much in the dark as to what Chicken Cordon Bleu was, too. It always sounds like something very difficult and very French, so I never really gave it much thought.

It took me discovering this recipe to realize what it actually is. According to Wiktionary.com (don't ask me where these weird dictionary/encyclopedias pop up from) Chicken Cordon Bleu is "thin slices of chicken pressed together and breaded, with a filling of cheese and a ham slice inside, and baked or sauteed."

Well, lo and behold, while trying to use up some prosciutto, I discovered Herbed Chicken Rolls from Cooking Light. And of course, I had no idea it was pretty much just Chicken Cordon Bleu. Either way, I found a new recipe that was fairly easy to make and turned out pretty good.

Herbed Chicken Rolls

From: Cooking Light, April 1995

1/4 cup loosely packed fresh parsley
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
3/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
5 (1-ounce) slices whole-wheat bread
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons water
12 (4-ounce) skinned, boned chicken breast halves
12 very thin slices prosciutto (about 3 ounces)
6 (3/4-ounce) slices Swiss cheese, halved
Vegetable cooking spray
Basil sprigs (optional)

Combine first 5 ingredients in food processor, and process until crumbs are fine; place crumbs in a shallow dish, and set aside. Combine egg whites and water in a shallow bowl; stir well, and set aside.

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap, and flatten to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin. Top each with a slice of prosciutto and a half piece of cheese. Roll up jelly-roll fashion. Tuck in sides; secure each roll with wooden picks. Dip each roll in egg white mixture; dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place rolls, seam sides down, in a 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until done. Discard wooden picks. Cut each roll into thin slices. Garnish with basil sprigs, if desired.

Note: You can substitute 6 (3/4-ounce) slices of 97% fat-free ham, halved, for the prosciutto.

Serves: 12

Unfortunately, I did not have the required toothpicks, so a bit of my cheese leaked out during the cooking process and they ended up a little bit on the dry side. Overall though, the rolls ended up pretty decent.

We didn't feel that these were "oh wow, amazing", but they were still pretty good. Therefore, we rated them:

Nutrition Facts
Amount per serving
Calories 300	Calories from fat 110
% Daily Value
Total Fat 12.2g	19%
Saturated Fat 4.4g	22%
Trans Fat 0.1g
Cholesterol 114mg	38%
Sodium 269mg	11%
Total Carbs 5.9g	2%
Dietary Fiber 1.0g	4%
Sugars 0.9g
Protein 39.4g
Vitamin A 6%	Vitamin C 3%
Calcium 12%	Iron 12%

Happy 50th Birthday to Me!!

Okay, well, not to me, but to my blog. I just hit the 50th post mark!

I realize that 50 posts is still a fairly "young" blog, and that's really not that many posts, as this blog has been around since January. However, I am still thrilled that I've stuck with it, and am continuing to try new recipes.

As I am relatively new to this cooking business, I have had my fair share of mishaps and whoopies along the way. One of the most memorable was definitely back in August.

Right after Adam and I had somewhat enjoyed the fondue I made in August, we left for a three day weekend to visit my sister. Upong returning, we found that the apartment didn't just smell -- it reeked. Like horrible stinky feet mixed with who knows what. Yet we could not figure out where it was coming from.

We opened up the windows and doors, there was no trash to be taken out as we had done that prior to leaving, but it still smelled. A couple days pass and it still smells. We finally agreed it had to be some chicken scrap or something of the sort in the sink drain. We bought bleach to pour down the drain, which helped a little. But in no time at all, the stench was back.

The following week, it was still smelling, so we figured something had slipped down the tiny crack between the countertop and the oven, as the odor seemed the strongest in that general area. We had to find the source of the stinky feet grossness as both of our parents were coming to visit that coming weekend.

Lo and behold, on Thursday, the day before the parents are going to arrive, I open the microwave to reheat something, and lying there was an open moldy bag of broccoli I had used part of for the fondue. Apparently I had forgotten that I had left the other half of the bag in the microwave to keep warm while we were eating.

D.i.s.gu.s.t.i.n.g.

So, how to remove such a horrendous, foul-smelling thing from one's microwave?

Step one:

Arm yourself with proper face and hand protection. Ziploc bags and socks work just fine.

Step two:

Transfer moldy object to a plastic bag and tie as fast as possible.

Step three:

Dispose of plastic bag as soon as possible. Wipe down microwave and lysol the entire kitchen, repeatedly.