Oat Burgers

Hey! Four posts in four days! This is a great start in the new year, eh?

I've been cooking as much as I can the last two days because I start student-teaching tomorrow. Basically, I'm back in high school. For the next 12 weeks, I will be at the local high school with a math teacher, whom I am so glad to be working with. He is really passionate about getting his students to understand the material. He is also really enthusiastic about working with me. I worked with him before for my Practicum hours and instead of leaving me in the back of the classroom just to observe (which other Practicum teachers have done), he included me in the classes. I've heard that he has had a very high success rate with his students, so I can't wait.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have to cook during the week while I'm student-teaching so these frequent posts may be short-lived, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. In order to prepare for my lunch for this week, I made these Oat Burgers. Easy to make and filling so that no students can hear my stomach growling during class. You can probably mix the flavors up a bit too. Try other veggies instead of just mushrooms alone or different spices and herbs.



I've always had difficulty flipping these things, but today, it wasn't too bad. What I did was first spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. I poured the mixture into the prepared pan and then put it in the oven to bake the first time. To flip, I sprayed a piece of parchment paper (long enough to cover the baking pan) with cooking spray, put the sprayed side down over the baking pan, flipped it. Then just put the paper into the baking pan with the burgers and bake again.



Oat Burgers
From Fat Free

- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 oz mushrooms, diced
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp basil
- 4 1/2 cups oatmeal

1. Bring all ingredients except oatmeal to a boil.
2. Lower heat and add oatmeal. Cook until all water is absorbed.
3. Add mixture to a greased baking pan and bake at 350F for 25 minutes.
4. Cut mixture into 8 squares and flip. Bake for 20 more minutes.

Lentil Curry

It's been too long since I've had curry. I would have made it before, but not everyone likes the smell of curry so I thought I'd save it for when I'd be home, where the smell is welcome at any time. I probably came across this recipe the same time I found the recipe for Lentil Burritos. I was, at one time, obsessed with using lentils as a substitute for everything.

The flavors are not too complex here. It depends mostly on the type of curry powder you use. Mine is pretty mild, so I might try adding more the next time I make this. I also have some garam masala that I might consider adding. Vegetables can be anything you like or anything you need to get rid of. I had nothing but celery and onion in the fridge, so that was all I put in today. It's also quite an easy recipe. Once you have your ingredients ready, all you have to do is throw things in the pot and let everything simmer! This is Number... Oh, I lost count. Just another from my Go-To Vegetarian Recipe Collection.




I love eating the curry and rice mixed together as above. The contrasting textures of chewy brown rice and mushy lentils is fun to eat for me.

Lentil Curry [Makes 4 servings]

- 1 cup dry lentils
- 3 cups water
- 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 1/2 cup carrots, diced
- 1/2 large bell pepper, diced
- 1 cup celery
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tbsp curry powder

1. In a saucepan, add lentils and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Add tomatoes, onion, carrots, bell pepper, celery, garlic powder, and curry powder. Simmer again for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve.

Sweet and Sour Tofu

The end of the semester can be a tough time. I would love to write entries every day, but the free time that I used to cook has been sucked up by the work of my classes. It's the last week of class, though, and I have only two finals, one of which I'm not very worried about, so pretty soon, I'll have lots of time. For now, here's a short and quick recipe I'd like to share.

Number four from my Go-To Vegetarian Recipe Collection. This is my mom's recipe, adapted for tofu. We always eat Sweet and Sour Sauce with fried pork, but I don't get along with fried foods anymore. I asked my mom to cook along with me because she never measures anything and I measure almost everything so I needed to learn how many tablespoons or teaspoons of this and that go into this dish. Together, we came up with these measurements. My mom made it a bit different from the way she would make it when she uses fried pork, but it still has the same sweet and sour taste. Of course, you can take out the tofu and use any meat of your choice. I like to fry my tofu just to give it more shape and flavor. The sauce is also not as thick as other Sweet and Sour sauces might be, but you can add more cornstarch than the recipe calls for if you'd prefer that. I used potato flour this time instead of cornstarch because it was just sitting in my fridge, but I'd stick with cornstarch next time. The potato flour added somewhat of an unwanted color to my sauce.



Sweet and Sour Tofu [Makes 2 servings]

- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 package tofu
- 1 small onion, sliced
- 1 bell pepper, julienned
- 1/4 cup carrots, julienned or sliced
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 2 tsp cornstarch

1. Heat oil in skillet to medium heat. Take the tofu out of the package and squeeze as much water out with paper towels. Cut into equal size pieces and fry until golden brown on each side. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan, add onion, bell pepper, and carrots and cook until tender.
3. Add soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, water, and fried tofu and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let it cook for 5 minutes or so.
4. Meanwhile, dissolve cornstarch in 1 tbsp cold water and slowly add to saucepan. Bring to a boil and let the cornstarch cook for 1 minute.

Split Pea Soup

Can you tell it's getting cold around here? Soup, soup, and soup. The weather in town has been a bit inconsistent as always, but it's now mostly cold and super windy and a mist of fog blankets the town late at night. I'm also just getting over a cold, so hot and steamy soup makes me feel better.

The first time I made Split Pea Soup, my dad thought I was making curry. As the soup was simmering, it left off a smell that did remind me of curry, but I told him they were just dried peas and I added nothing else but vegetables, broth, and a bay leaf. But it gave me an idea: why not add some curry powder? Since I'm not using ham in the broth as traditional recipes do, it definitely makes the flavor of the soup more exciting. Thanks Dad!

Number three from my Go-To Vegetarian Recipe Collection is filling and especially great with some crusty bread to clean up the bowl. Here's another idea: try putting in Cheez-Its. I love the strong cheddar flavor mixed with the soup. Real cheddar would probably be better, but I do love the crunch, crunch, crunch of crackers. This soup is so easy to cook, too. You just chop all the vegetables up, place all ingredients in a pot, and let it simmer while you do other errands.



Split Pea Soup

- 1 1/4 cups dried green split peas
- 3/4 cup carrots, chopped
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cups water
- 1 to 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp salt

1. Put all ingredients in pot in order, split peas first.
2. Cook for about an hour.

Tomato Bread Soup

This layout is temporary, just until I find what I like which will probably take me a while. I don't have Photoshop, but every computer at my school has it, so I'm gonna try to do something when I go back! That's in a month, so hopefully I'll have a semi-permanent layout up right after that.

Here is another from my Go-To Vegetarian Recipe Collection. I remember seeing this recipe and thought it should be a great one. First off, I love bread. And in a soup?! I mean, I eat bread with soup all the time so why not just combine them? I love tomatoes too. Especially when they are fresh and firm and sometimes sprinkled with sugar.

Up until now, I've been making this recipe another way. It reads that I should blend the tomatoes after cooking them until they are mushy. I didn't have access to a blender before, so I just diced the tomatoes into small pieces so that when they are mushy, I can squish them to look as if they had been blended or just eat it. With no blending, the soup has a clear broth with juices from the tomatoes. It was delicious and refreshing.

But since now, I do have access to a wonderful blender (Hamilton Beach Wave Maker!), I decided to follow the original instructions. While the clear broth was refreshing, I always prefer a nice thick, creamy soup. Blending the tomatoes gave this soup just that texture and I loved it. I added one cup less of water so it'll be thicker. This is really my favorite to make when I see tomatoes on sale!



Quality tomatoes are what will make this soup great. The Wegman's around here was having a sale on local Jersey tomatoes so I went for those. These were so easy to cut through and firm and sweet even without the sugar. Tomatoes I've bought from other markets never yield to my knife. For the bread, you can use any kind. I usually use whole wheat sandwich bread, but a nice crusty baguette or even Italian bread would be even better. I promise this is good, especially if you're a tomato fan.

Tomato Bread Soup [Makes 3 servings]
Adapted from Tasty Palettes

- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 lb tomatoes, chopped
- Salt, to taste
- Parsley
- 1 cup water
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cups bread, cubed

1. In a saucepan, cook the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes under tender. Add the chopped tomatoes and salt and cook until mushy.
2. Take away from heat and throw in a handful of fresh parsley (or dried parsley flakes is what I used). Blend the mixture with an immersion blender or in a regular blender.
3. Pour back into saucepan and add the water. Bring to a boil. If you want to use the bay leaf, you can add it at this point. I like just a slight taste so I take it out after a minute. Lower heat to medium and add the bread cubes. Let the bread soak the juices and fall apart. Add more water if necessary.
4. Serve, garnished with grated cheese, black pepper, etc.

Lentil Burritos

The summer before my junior year of college, I decided I should have some go-to recipes that I can turn to whenever I have nothing else in mind. Since I was moving into a house with a real kitchen(!), I would be able to cook unlike when I had lived in a dorm. After experimenting with lots of different recipes, I did come up with a collection and they will all probably end up on this blog eventually. All of the recipes are vegetarian, as I was one up until May of this year.

The first one I'd like to share is Lentil Burritos. I don't have the link to the original recipe anymore, but I know I found this on Recipezaar. I would like to call this my favorite, but now that I think through the collection, I'm remembering other tasty ones, so let's just say I would put this in my Top 5. Or 10?

Lentils are pretty amazing. Since they work well with many different spices and herbs, they can be used in a lot of recipes. It keeps me feeling full and satisfied for a long time, too. What I love especially about this burrito recipe is that it can have many different flavors. It just depends on what kind of salsa you use. I've used Newman's Own Mango Salsa and it tasted great. It still tastes great with regular Tostitos's Salsa since that's what I always have in my fridge.

The recipe makes 4 cups of the burrito filling. I put about 1/2 cup in each tortilla and two burritos is enough for me as a meal. The rest is put into a container in the fridge or freezer so I can eat it in the following weeks whenever I'm feeling lazy in the kitchen and want to whip up a meal quickly.



My mise en place is missing a few ingredients...

Lentil Burritos [Makes 4 cups]

- 1 cup onions, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 cup lentils, soaked overnight
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 1/2 cups broth or water
- 8 oz salsa (or less. Or more. Your choice!)
- 8 tortillas

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, saute onions and garlic until tender.
2. Add lentils, chili powder, cumin, and oregano. Stir for 1 minute.
3. Add broth or water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 20 minutes or until lentils are tender.
4. Uncover and cook for about 6 more minutes until mixture is thickened. Mash lentils slightly and stir in salsa.




Besides tortillas, you could eat the burrito filling with sandwich bread, rolls, or grains. Burritos work best for me when I take it to school for lunch.

Zucchini Bean Enchiladas

Mmm, Mexican food. I could eat it every day. But, as today proved, it takes such a long time to make! I didn't have to go to work until 12:30 pm today, which means I should be out the door by 12 pm. I wanted to bake something for my parents because the last two things I baked weren't that yummy, but I also wanted to make myself some enchiladas. I should have started cooking/baking a bit earlier, but I forgot how long it takes to make and assemble the enchiladas. I was in such a hurry to prep, assemble, bake, clean, eat and get ready that I was sweating! But I was out of the house on time and the rain even cleared up before I started driving. Thank goodness!

Of course, by using pre-made sauce and beans, the prep time could be shortened by a lot, but I think the food tastes even better when you make it yourself.

I've used this enchilada recipe set for a while and it satisfies my Mexican cravings when I can't go out to a restaurant. I know zucchini seems pretty random, but it's what I had in the fridge when I first made this, so I've just been going with it ever since. It's pretty good in the filling because the zucchini has a bit of a crunch to it which is a nice addition to the refried beans. I took a shortcut with the beans, by the way, and used canned pinto beans. I used to cook dried beans, but got too lazy! I can't remember where any of these recipes come from, except the sauce definitely comes from Recipezaar. I should try some other sauce recipes too, but I think I'm good for now.

Enchilada Sauce

- 2 1/2 tbsp chili powder
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 8 oz tomato sauce

1. Mix together dry ingredients and add a bit of water to make a thin paste. To saucepan, add paste and the water and cook over medium heat until thickened.
2. Add the tomato sauce and cook for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Refried Beans

- 1 small onion, diced
- 15 oz canned pinto beans, drained and rinsed, but save the liquid!
- 2 tbsp green chiles [I omitted these this time]
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1. Cook onion over medium heat. Meanwhile, mash the beans.
2. Once onion is done, add the mashed beans, chiles, chili powder, cumin, oregano, and garlic powder. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add a bit of the reserved liquid from the beans if the mixture gets too thick.

Now for the actual enchilada recipe!



Zucchini Bean Enchiladas [Makes 6 enchiladas]

- 1 recipe Refried Beans [above]
- 1 recipe Enchilada Sauce [above]
- 6 tortillas
- 1 cup zucchini, julienned

1. In a baking pan, spread a bit enchilada sauce on the bottom.
2. Take a tortilla and spread sauce all over. Place refried beans and zucchini on top of tortilla and roll up. Place into prepared baking pan. Repeat process with the rest of the tortillas.
3. Pour remainder of sauce all over the enchiladas in the baking pan.
4. Bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes.