Garden Burger Wraps

The Garden Burger Wrap idea came from a more complicated dinner that I used to make. The mixture below can be placed in the food processor until it has a consistency that can be molded into "garden burgers" and cooked in a skillet. These were delicious, but one time I was rushed and didn't have time to shape the burgers. I had some tortillas on hand and I haven't made these the traditional way since! This recipe is quick and easy and is packed with fiber.


Garden Burger Wraps

1 1/4 cups vegetable broth or water
1 small onion
1 1/2 cups cooked garbonzo beans (or 1 can)
1 cup dry bulgur
1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots blend
1 teaspoon taco spice
Tortillas or other wrap

Directions:

1. Add broth and onion to a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.
2. Once it is boiling, add garbonzo beans, bulgur, frozen peas and carrots and taco spice.
3. Cover and reduce heat to low for 15 minutes. When you come back, it will look like this:



This is the step where you could toss this mixture into a food processor and mold into burgers for the skillet or grill, but I take the easy way now and grab a tortilla. I add a little mustard to mine (I'm strange like that) but they are plenty good plain too.



Just so you don't worry that I have joined the low-carb craze with these tortillas let me assure you that I haven't. I choose these tortillas because of the ingredients: Oat fiber, whole wheat flour, wheat gluten, soy protein, and wheat bran. A word of warning: these wraps are high in fiber - 6g per wrap. If you aren't used to that much fiber and you eat a lot of these... there may be some ... consequences. Luckily it only takes your body about a week to adjust to a higher fiber diet, so until then my advice is: You might want to open some windows.

Cooking with Collard Greens

Zoey is up and helping in the kitchen tonight! Here she checks the freshness of the collard greens I brought home. This is my second time cooking with collard greens in my attempt to try foods that I thought were only for pet rabbits.

I didn't taste the collard greens raw after being traumatized by a similar incident with Kale. Instead I chopped it up and steamed it a bit before adding it to my dish. Success!

I found the recipe for "Spicy White Bean and Sweet Potato Soup with Collard Greens" in Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, which my mom gave me as I was learning to master the art of slow cooking. I was a little slow-cooker shy after my first few attempts which lead to mushy bland vegetables. This cookbook has helped inspire some new ideas for me and as you can see, the soup with collard greens turned out great! I served it over some slow-cooked pearl barley.

This slow cooker actually came from a mad dash on a freezing morning after Thanksgiving back in Montana. I was just gaining some confidence in the kitchen and I was ready to add a new tool to my expanding collection. So there I was, at 5am standing in a long line with the $9.99 slow cooker clutched to my chest and the woman in front of me asked if it was all I was getting. When I said yes, she looked at me like I was a little crazy and as she read the box aloud to herself she said "Oh, you can put it in the dishwasher, I guess that is worth getting up before 5am for". I didn't have a dishwasher at the time, and only the price had factored into my consideration, but it is still one of the best kitchen investments I have made. And I always laugh a little every time I use it because I think of that morning and looking back, it was a little bit crazy.

Montana Wheat Berry Chili

What's a Wheat Berry?

I had never heard of them either until we got some from Montana for Christmas last year. The package has a recipe on the back, but the wheat berries required "hydrating" and to be fair with myself, that sounded complicated. I must confess that I haven't made them before tonight because I couldn't imagine anything that I could do to this barley-looking grain to turn it into a "berry". So, I put them away in the cupboard for braver days.

Well, there is no time to be braver with cooking than when I am studying for exams. This is my time of year when even cleaning out my closet seems like a fun activity that must happen before any studying can possibly take place. With the excitement of a new blog to share my experience with this mystical "berry", I reached for the bag.

Alright, I can do this. And you can too! I changed the recipe on the back of the package and the results smell delicious.

Montana Wheat Berry Chili

1 cup dried wheat berries (you can buy these in bulk at most stores)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 package "smart ground" vegetarian crumbles
2 cans of diced tomatoes
1 can vegetable broth (or water)
1 can kidney beans (or 1 1/2 cups cooked beans of your choice)
2-3 diced fresh peppers - I used red and yellow
Chili powder, Oregano and cumin to taste

Directions:

In the morning (or night before):
1. Hydrate the wheat berries. (I set 1 cup of dried wheat berries in the slow cooker on low in the morning with 4 cups of water. I was ready to use them about 8 hours later and they turned out great!)



At dinner time:
1. Saute the onion and garlic for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the "smart ground" and cook for 2 more minutes
3. Add the broth, tomatoes, kidney beans and spices. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add the fresh peppers and cook for 10 more minutes. (You could add these earlier, but I like them a little crisp)



This turned out so delicious that I can't wait to have it as leftovers tomorrow!

After we were done eating there was even time to play feather-on-a-stick, one of Zoey's favorite games.

Taco Bake

Zoey and I are studying for an upcoming exam tonight so we were happy to throw together a simple dinner. This is a taco bake casserole that was inspired by another blogger that I found here.

I made a few changes to the basic recipe (including replacing the hamburger meat with "Smart Ground", a vegetarian "meat"). One of my favorite things about this recipe is that it gives me a use for spaghetti squash - a squash that I love in theory, but don't use for anything more creative than throwing some marinara on top. Actually, one time I over-cooked it and it caramelized into a plain delicious dish on its own. But I digress.

Here the spaghetti squash is microwaved first and then scraped into the bottom of the casserole.

Now that the casserole is cooking in the oven, the whole house smells wonderful and I can show you the way that Zoey contributed to this creation.

Hummus Among Us

I love hummus. But, buying the little tubs of it was breaking the bank and I thought, how hard can that be to make?

With my trusty supply of fresh garbonzo beans on hand and a trip to Whole Foods for a jar of "tahini" (which is in the peanut butter isle - not the refrigerated salad dressing isle where I spent about five minutes quietly chanting "I think it should be here somewhere" before someone stepped in to help), I was ready to roll.

Now you too can share in this treat.

Grab your food processor and get ready to have:

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus Among Us

1 cup fresh garbonzo beans (or use 1 can)
2-3 cloves of fresh garlic
1 Tablespoon Tahini
3 Tablespoons Roasted Red Peppers in a jar (see picture above)
1 dash cumin
1 dash of salt (optional)
1 squirt of lemon juice (optional)


1. Place garlic cloves in the food processor and mince.
2. Add the garbonzo beans and tahini. Blend until well mixed.
3. Add about 1/4 cup of water to the mixture to make it smooth.
4. Add roasted red peppers, cumin, salt and lemon juice as desired.
5. Process in the food processor until flavors are well blended.

Hummus is a tasty addition to raw vegetables, pita bread or I sometimes use it as a sandwich filling.

Nutrition information (1/4 of the recipe): Calories: 98, Fat: 2g, Fiber: 3 g, Protein: 5g.
Vitamin A: 13%, Vitamin C: 15%, Iron: 10%, Potassium: 7%, Calcium: 4%

Humble Beginnings

Zoey and I recently discovered the joy of cooking dried beans in the Crockpot. Garbonzo beans are a favorite at our house so we always have them on hand. They taste quite a bit better than the canned variety we were using and to me, they take about as much effort as opening a can.

Take a handful of dried garbonzo beans and soak them at least over night in at least 3 times their size in water. In the morning, rinse them and place them in fresh water in the crock pot on high. Do not add salt or cook them in canned broth (this will not allow them to get soft). After about 6 hours drain the water and enjoy! I have kept them fresh in the refrigerator for about a week and I am testing different theories for freezing them to last longer.