Tofu Veggie Burgers

So I had a pack of tofu in the fridge which was about to expire, and I though, what to do? Hmm...tofu burgers! I grabbed some ingredients, threw them together in my wonderful food proccessor. Added eggs. Made the burgers, let them cool in the fridge, fried them and voila, DELICIOUS and healthy burgers!
Ingredients:

-a packet of tofu
-3 pieces of garlic
-1/2 onion
-1/2 green pepper
-2 carrots
-2 zucchini
-2 eggs
-hot paprika
-salt
-fresh parsley
-oil for frying.


If you have a food processor, then this is super easy. If you don't you will have to cut/grate where I used one. Throw the tofu, onion, garlic, pepper and parsley in the food processor and chop up ingredients. Remove the knife attachment and add the grating attachment. Grate the carrots and zucchini. Pour everything in a bowl and add the salt and paprika. Mix in 2 eggs. Form hamburgers and put them on an oiled tray and allow to cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Put 1/4 inch of oil (I used olive but you can use vegetable or sunflower) in a pan and heat up. Fry the burgers on medium/low heat until brown on each side. Make sure to not fry the burgers too high or they will cook on the outside, and be raw in the middle.







Enjoy on a hamburger bun or your favourite toasted bread with lettuce, tomato, avocado, etc. and your favourite sauce like ketchup, spicy mustard and mayonnaise!

Coming Soon! Vegetarian Burgers with potato and sweet potato fries!

Just as soon as I can get this recipe out it'll be up. For now, you can look at the pic and drool! This is delish!!!!

VEGETARIAN BURGERS WITH DUAL COLORED FRIES

Lately I just haven't been a fan of fish, and some of you may not know, but I don't eat any other kind of meat. I was really craving a good ole American meal, so I decided that I needed to make vegetarian burgers. I've never made these before. So I researched online, seeing what different ingredients are used to make vegetarian burgers, and according to what I saw and what I had in my fridge, I came up with this delicious recipe! I can hardly wait to make these Veggie Burgers again!

Ingredients for Vegetarian Burgers:

-1 large can of white beans
-125g of mushrooms (a small package)
-1 red onion
-2 spring onions
-1/2 red pepper
-2 pieces of garlic
-1 whole grated carrot
-3 handfuls of fresh parsley
-bread crumbs
-1 egg
-2 tsp. paprika
-1 tsp. hot paprika
-1 tsp. cumin
-1/2 tsp. oregano
-a sprinkle of sesame seeds
-a pinch of ground ginger
-a pinch of cayenne
-a pinch of black pepper
-salt to taste
-olive oil


Ingredients for Fries:

-3 red potatoes
-1 large sweet potato
-vegetable oil (for frying)

First, wash all of the vegetables. Dice up the red onion and mushrooms and stick them in a pan with 2-3 tbsp. of olive oil,. Sprinkle with salt and saute on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Next, dice the red pepper and add and continue to saute the vegetables. Then slice up the spring onion and garlic. When the mushrooms, red onion and red pepper have reduced add the spring onion and garlic, sprinkle more salt and stir. When the juices in the vegetables have evaporated quite a bit in about 10 minutes, turn off and set to the side.

In a big bowl, mash up the rinsed white beans with a fork or potato masher. Add all of the spices. Rinse and dice up the fresh parsley and add to the beans. Peel the carrot, grate it and add that and the sauteed vegetables to the bean mixture. Break an egg into the beans and mix, sprinkle the seasame seeds in. Add three handfuls of bread crumbs, or the amount necessary to make the mixture stick together easily.

On a plate, drizzle some olive oil and rub around with a paper towel. This will prevent the veggie burgers from sticking. Next, scoop up a hand of the mixture and form into a burger. Place on the plate and repeat until all of the mixture is used. Put in the fridge and allow to chill for about an hour.

In the meantime, peel the potatoes, slice them into little sticks and set them aside in a bowl with water so that they won't turn brown and stay crisp. A little before the hour has passed, drain the potatoes well and begin frying the potatoes in abundant vegetable oil on medium heat. The sweet potato fries cook faster, so be careful to keep an eye on them. When the fries are light brown, place them on kitchen towel to soak up some of the oil when done, and cover to keep them warm. Don't worry if they get cold, you can stick them in the microwave for a few seconds to heat them up when it's time to eat. And don't forget to sprinkle them with some salt!

After chilled, remove the burgers from the fridge. Pour 3 tbsp. of olive oil into a pan and cook the burgers on medium heat, browning them well on each side.

Serve American style, on a toasted bun with ketchup and/or mayonnaise and a slice of spinach (or lettuce), tomato and red onion.

Even if you are a big meat eater, I encourage you to try out this recipe. It's guaranteed to please your palate!

Eat up! And keep on creating wonderful new inventions in the kitchen!

Atun Encebollado----------Tuna with Onions

This is a super easy typical Spanish recipe!

What you need:

-2 thick slices of raw red tuna steak
-2 medium sized onions
-2 laurel leaves
-20 black pepper corn seeds
-1/2 cup of white/rose wine
-salt
-3 tbsp. olive oil

Pour olive oil into saucer and allow to heat on low. Add the sliced onions and sautee for 5 minutes. Then add the 20 peppercorn seeds, 2 laurel leaves and sprinkle salt on top the onions. Cut the tuna up into cubes and place them in the pan, covering the tuna with the sauteed onions. Add the 1/2 cup of wine and cover and cook on low for 15-20 minutes.

Eat as is, or serve over rice or accompanied by a nice bread.

Keep on cooking!

Sweet Potato Pie

With Thanksgiving having just passed, and the Holidays right around the corner, I thought I'd blog my sweet potato pie recipe. The origin of this recipe is my mom. What's great about cooking is that you can take someone's recipe, tweak it and make it your own! But this is definitely my mother's Sweet Potato Pie recipe!

Ingredients:

-Pre-made or homemade pie dough
-Dried beans or chick peas
-4-5 eggs
-2 sweet potatoes
-molasses
-1/2 tbsp. ginger powder
-1/2 tsp. nutmeg
-1 tbsp. cinnamon
-1 tbsp. vanilla
-1 1/2 cans of evaporate milk or heavy cream

Stick the sweet potatoes in the microwave until done, you can test this by sticking a fork into the potato. If it goes in easily, it's done. If you haven't got a microwave, peel and boil the sweet potatoes until done. In a blender or food processor mix the eggs, add the evaporated milk/heavy cream, peeled sweet potatoes, 3-4 spoons of sugar which is optional depending on how sweet you want it and 4-6 tbsps. of molasses depending on how sweet you want it, you can try the batter and adjust accordingly (side note* my brother and I used to love the sweet potato pie mixture so much that we'd joke about just drinking it and sometimes my mother had to separate us from the batter to have the pie actually make it to the oven). While mixing these ingredients, you should put the bean filled pie crust in the pre-heated oven at 175 C/345 F for 10 minutes. Remove the beans when done and save them, they are still perfectly fine for later use! When the pie mixture is fully blended and tastes good, pour it into the pie crust and stick it in the oven for about 45 minutes, or until you can stick a toothpick in it and it comes out clean. Allow the pie to cool before putting it in the fridge. Cool it in the fridge for several hours before serving.

Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. It's delicious and nutritious and a family fav!

Enjoy and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Coming Soon...

SWEET POTATO PIE!!!!!!





I hope that your preparations for Thanksgiving are going well. I wish you safe travels and regardless of if you are with people or not, a day of reflection on the greatness in your lives and this is what you should indeed be thankful for. I am thankful for your following!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Smoked Salmon Surprise Pockets

What do you do when you have some empanada dough leftover and you just don't know what to do with it? Make a Surprise Pocket! Okay, I'll admit it, I had no idea what I was going to do with the leftover dough I had in the fridge, but what is cooking, but experimenting in the kitchen? Sometimes you end up with a great invention like these, Smoked Salmon Surprise Pockets!

Ingredients:

-100g Smoked Salmon (OR sliced sandwich ham/turkey)
-4 tbsp. fine cheese for pasta
-1/2 stick butter
-3/4 cup of milk
-3-4 onions
-1 egg
-3-4 spoons of brown sugar
-1/4 cup of vinegar
-olive oil
-pre-made dough
-pinch of all spice
-salt

This is such an easy recipe! The hardest part is caramelizing the onions. To caramelize the onions, cut an onion julienne. Pour abundant olive oil in a pan, add the onions and saute on low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the juice in the onions evaporate. Add 3-4 spoons of sugar and stir. Continue sauteing on low until the sugar caramelizes. Add 1/4 cup of vinegar and continue sauteing and stirring until the vinegar evaporates. Once the onions are greatly reduced and take on a brown colour, refer to the picture if you aren't sure how they should look, they are done.

Next, prepare the bechamel sauce. First melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and saute for a few minutes to cook the flour. Add the milk little by little whisking. You don't want to add it all at once because you want to get the right consistency. So add a little milk, whisk and if it's too thick, add more milk. Continue whisking and adding milk until you get the thickness that you want. Then add a pint of salt and all spice, mix it in and set the bechamel to the side to cool a bit.

Preheat the oven on high. Now you are ready to set up the Surprise Pockets. Place the dough on a plate, add a spoon of cooled bechamel to the center of the dough, spread out leaving some room around the edges so it's easy to fold the pockets later. Next, add some previously cut up smoked salmon (or sandwich meat. I actually ran out of smoked salmon so made the last 3 with slice ham and my husband couldn't decide which he preferred!), and then top with some caramelized onions. There are various ways that you can fold the dough to make the pockets. Brush egg around the outside and either fold all the sides into the center,trying to overlap the ends so that they seal. You can also bring two ends together and then the fold last end to the center to make a triangular pocket. Experiment. It doesn't really matter how you fold these because it'll taste the same!

Place the finished pockets on a tray that is lined with parchment paper. Brush the pockets with egg yolk so that they shine when done and place the tray in the pre-heated oven, turning the temperature down to around 180C/350F. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until the pockets look brown. Midway through the baking process you can open up the oven and brush one more layer of egg yolk for extra shine!
When done place on a pretty plate and serve! You can eat these on their own or with a side salad or vegetable.

Enjoy and have fun in the kitchen. It's the biggest party place in my house!