Homemade Veggie Burgers

Yummers! Lately I've been trying to take my flexitarianism to a whole new level. *Cough* The truth: I had a few burger/bacon/chicken-filled weeks of complete carnivorism and I am trying to take it down a notch. The hardest part of trying to eat less meat, for me, is making sure I still get enough protein. Luckily, I found a recipe in Everyday Food magazine (amazing amazing - best subscription I have) for these EASY meat-free burgers. And the best part? Low fat, and packed with protein.

I have to be honest, though. Here is what the "burger patty" looked like when I followed the recipe:

Don't you worry. I am a whiz in the kitchen. I put on my culinary thinking cap, rummaged in the cupboard for some bread crumbs, threw in another egg, and....

Success!

Topped with an avocado, sans bun (so yummy it didn't need one!), and served with a side of sweet potato wedges. 

Here is the recipe (adapted from Everyday Food):

Ingredients

1/2 cup bulgur 

1 cup boiling water

1 (15 oz) can of pinto beans, rinsed and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup finely shredded carrot

1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese

1 tbsp finely chopped red onion

2 eggs

1/2 - 3/4 cup bread crumbs

salt & pepper

olive oil

Instructions

Combine bulgar with boiling water and cover until bulgar has absorbed the water (about 30 minutes). Place the bulgar in a fine strainer to drain excess water. Combine with remaining ingredients, seasoning liberally with salt and pepper. Form into 1/2 cup patties, and cook in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat until brown on both sides and cooked through. 

Zucchini and feta couscous salad

Recently I've been getting inspired by We are not Martha's feta salad recipes. I had some Israeli couscous in my cupboard that I've been wanting to try out for-ev-er, so I came up with this yummy, simple salad!

Here's what you need:

1 1/3 cup uncooked couscous

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

1/2 cup diced zucchini

handful of feta cheese

pepper to taste

Toast the couscous in 1T olive oil on medium heat for 5 minutes. Slowly pour in 1 3/4 cup boiling water. Cover and allow to simmer on medium-low heat for 12 minutes. Toss with remaining ingredients.

So easy and so good!

Potato and Rosemary Frittata

A gorgeous, scrumptious, EASY, one-pan-wonder.

Keeping with the Ithaca theme, tonight's dinner came from the Moosewood cookbook. 

The ingredient list...

The easy-peasy steps:

1. Cook with your mom. It's always better that way :)

2. Saute potatoes, onions, and garlic in olive oil (and a little butter!) until soft.

3. Add spices. We used rosemary, picked from the garden!

3. Pour beaten eggs over the potatoes. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover, and allow to cook over medium-low heat until the eggs are cooked through.

4. Stick it under the broiler until golden brown - about 2 or 3 minutes.

5. Cut, and serve. We tripled the recipe to feed the five of us, and even had some left over!

Bon appétit!

Zucchini Patties

I like to think I learned 75% of my cooking abilities from my mom, and 25% at the Cerasaro household. You see, Domenica was not only my best friend growing up, but also THE friend with THE pool. Which means... I spent 95% of my summer days at her house. Me and my blonde hair were all but adopted into her Italian family, and with this came lots of eating and lots of cooking. It was at Domenica's house that I tried my first hamburger (at age 15, I am embarrassed to admit), learned about pepper cookies (oxymoron?), and discovered the beauty of meatballs. 

It is also where I was introduced to Zucchini Patties. Delicious, amazing, can't-eat-just-one zucchini patties. And these little green pancakes have now been a staple in my own household, with the ever-growing batch of zucchini from our garden. Oooooh baby are they good. And easy to make!

Recipe - courtesy of Trace C.

1 medium zucchini, shredded

1 cup flour

2 eggs

1/4 cup grated cheese

Garlic powder

Black pepper

Olive oil

Mix all ingredients. Add spices to taste. Cook patties in olive oil on medium heat until golden brown.

That's my stack! Go make your own!

Stella

Saturday night Mike and I had our date night at Stella in the South End. Usually "date night" means cooking dinner for ourselves at my house, so this was a nice change of pace. We were celebrating the official end of Mike's first-year law school classes - wooohooo! We got a nice seat on the patio (for patio meal numero tres).

We started out with some hummus and bread. 

Due to the Boston water *crisis*, I replaced my water with a pink guava lemonade :)

I ordered the ricotta balls a buffalo mozzarella center - ohhh sooo creamy and cheesy and good.

With a side of asparagus -

grilled to perfection!

Mike got the seafood saffron risotto.

I do NOT like seafood and even I thought this was delish!

Except for this little friend lingering on the side.

Yuck.

We got warm pecan pie with vanilla gelato for dessert

Then we walked FIVE MILES from the South End --> home. So I don't even feel guilty about dessert!

Bottega Fiorentina

Friday night after work I met up with Fina for one of three sequential outdoor patio meals, the first at Bottega Fiorentina on Newbury St. This weather makes it pretty impossible to be inside!! We had the perfect spot for people watching, and, of course, sipping Sangria.

Fina ordered the Butternut Squash Tortellini in a sage butter sauce.

And I got Linguine with pesto

Toooo much pesto for my tastes! 

So I filled up on bread instead.

Definitely recommended for a super cheap, super authentic Italian meal!

Ricotta gnocchi

Tonight I made homemade ricotta gnocchi. I've been wanting to make my own gnocchi forever, but always put it off because I thought it was really complicated and hard. Here's what I learned: it's actually so easy! Well, at least ricotta gnocchi is. I have yet to try making traditional potato gnocchi. Literally, you just combine your ingredients:

16 ounce container ricotta cheese, strained

1 egg

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 - 1 cup flour

That's it!

Okay, okay, it's slightly more complicated than that. But honestly, the hardest part was smooshing the dough into gnocchi form. Here is the full recipe:

Easy Ricotta Gnocchi
Serves 4

1 (16-ounce) container of whole-milk ricotta
1 large egg
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan or pecorino cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 - 1 cup flour

Set a strainer line with three coffee filters or paper towels over a bowl. Add the ricotta and let the cheese drain for about an hour. (This can be done several days in advance.)

In a large bowl, mix the strained ricotta, egg, cheese, and 3/4 cup of the flour until all ingredients are incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Check the dough by rolling a bit in your hand. It should be a bit tacky. If it clings to your fingers like bubble gum, incorporate more flour one tablespoon at a time until you reach a tacky, workable consistency. Refrigerate for another 15 minutes.

Before shaping, put a large pot of water on the stove to bring to a boil. Sprinkle a baking sheet with flour and set it close to your work space.

Sprinkle your hands and work surface with a little flour. Break off a tennis-ball sized piece of the dough and roll it into a thick log about 3/4-inch thick.

Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the log into 3/4" pieces. You can leave them as little 'pillows' or shape them into the traditional grooved gnocchi by rolling them off the back of a fork with your thumb.

Transfer this batch to the baking sheet and toss with flour to prevent sticking. Repeat rolling process with the remaining dough.

Add 1 tablespoon of salt to the water and half of the gnocchi. Gently stir the gnocchi to make sure they don't stick. Once they bob to the surface, let them cook an additional 2 minutes. Remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon and transfer to a colander set over a bowl to finish draining.

Repeat with second batch of gnocchi.

Toss the gnocchi with sauce and serve immediately.

It doesn't look quite as delish in the photo, but trust me - they were soooo good. 

Make them, NOW!

Asparagus Swiss Cheese Tart

It's that time of year...asparagus season! Now, let's be honest: I eat asparagus all year long. It's one of my favorite veggies. But, it is exciting to know that it will soon be growing locally, and asparagus displays are already popping up all over grocery stores! Likewise, asparagus recipes are all over food blogs. I got inspired by a recipe from Cupcakes and Cashmere , with three simple ingredients:

Asparagus

Gruyere (or any other swiss cheese, I used Emmenthaler)

Puff pastry dough

Just bake your puff pastry for 8-10 min, top with cheese and asparagus, and pop it back in the oven at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. For a more detailed recipe, check it out at Martha Stewart.

From this:

To this!

Just the right amount for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow! I halved the recipe. Try it out!

Quinoa!

This week, I learned about quinoa. A "perfect" protein. It's a whole grain that is slightly crunchy and has a nutty flavor when you cook it. Quinoa is really versatile and can be cooked with lots of ingredients - I made a "dinner" batch and a sweeter "breakfast" batch. For dinner, I followed a recipe adapted from one I found in Food and Wine magazine, Roasted Squash with Quinoa Salad.

While the quinoa was cooking, I made some dressing to mix in

Olive oil

Red Wine Vinegar

Honey

S&P

Chopped up onions, apples, parsley and garlic. I also threw in pecans and cranberries.

Meanwhile, there was squash roasting in the oven. Yum!

Mix it all up, and there you have it, quinoa salad on top of roasted butternut squash!

And then, breakfast quinoa!

So so good, and really easy!

Boil 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups milk. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, and berries.

Thanks for the recipe, Tracey!

Goodbye, processed foods!

Today, I was eating a Cheez-it.

I started thinking about how Cheez-its are made. Processed flour, processed cheese, salt, one million preservatives. Um, ew?

So I thought I'd try cutting out processed foods for one week. Its kind of like the time I tried out being a vegetarian - so far, so good! As it turns out, lots of foods are processed. I found a list online of "unprocessed foods" : essentially fruits, veggies, proteins, and grains. I can do this for a week, right? But this means no more Goldfish during Rainbow Room snack time!!

Tonight I made Tabbouleh. I slightly followed this Barefoot Contessa recipe:

1 cup cracked bulgur wheat

1-1/2 cups boiling water

1 lemon, juiced (1/4 cup)

¼ cup olive oil

3-1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1 tomato, seeded and diced

      or 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cucumber, unpeeled, seeded and diced

1 onion, diced/ 1 cup minced scallions (white & green)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbs. red wine vinegar

½  cup fresh mint leaves, chopped

½ cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 

Pour boiling water over bulgur wheat and add the lemon juice, olive oil, and 1-1/2 tsp. salt. Stir, cover with plastic wrap, and let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour. 

In separate bowl, combine tomato, cucumber, onion, garlic.   Toss with bulgur wheat.  Add mint, parsley and pepper.  Mix well.
Chill, covered, at least 1 hour before serving. Flavor improves if it sets a few hours. Taste before serving; add more lemon or S & P if desired. 

**I didn't use mint or tomatoes and I added some feta**

Mm, mm, unprocessed goodness.

French onion soup

Yum, yum, yummy! This weekend Mike made french onion soup, and I got to be the photographer - nice little reversal of roles. I am proud to say that we didn't really follow any recipe, we (mostly Mike) made things up as we went.

My personal chef!

Start out with a LOT of onions (2lbs)

Carmelize.

Add broth & spices - we used salt&pepper, cinnamon, fresh rosemary. Simmer.

Make some easy homemade bread.

Assemble your toppers.

Stick it under the broiler.

Devour.