Fantastically spicy black bean burgers!

Took me: about 45 minutes total in the kitchen

I am AlWAYS on the lookout for new vegetarian recipes, and I saw a recipe for black bean burgers recently on my favorite website, foodgawker.com. I had to tweak it a little bit before it suited my fancy. Okay, I tweaked it a lot...actually I combined two recipes to make this one. But in my opinion they turned out just fine. The guacamole gave some balance to the spiciness, and I'd recommend it even if you aren't a big avocado fan. Have these with a side of tortilla chips and you have a wonderful summer-y meal. By the way, this recipe will make a lot more than what is shown! Consider making a half batch if you're cooking for less than four people.
You need:
1 small onion
1 small pepper, any color (actually come to think of it, I'd avoid using green
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup corn
2 eggs
1 can of black beans
1 cup cooked lentils
1 cup bread crumbs (I used Italian seasoned ones and they came out fantastic, though I'm sure regular bread crumbs would work just fine as well)
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons Tabasco (more or less depending on taste...keep in mind that I like my food SPICY)
Tortilla chips (or french fries...or sweet potato fries...or dog food...or really whatever suits your fancy)
Buns of choice (I used whole wheat for mine and toast for my mothers)
Slices of tomato, lettuce or other burger-y items of your choosing

Easy guacamole for topping:
2 medium to large avocados
2 tablespoons salsa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
Place avocado in a small bowl and smash it up a bit with a spoon or fork. Add everything else and smoosh until well combined. You could add some diced tomato if you'd like, but a smoother texture is usually better in my opinion.

Okay, enough parentheses and side notes. I'll cut to the chase. Here's what you need to do:
Dice your onion, garlic, and bell pepper then saute in a small sauce pan (heat about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in it first) Then rinse your lentils and beans in a strainer, and set them aside for now.

Combine your beans, lentils, sauteed vegetables, corn, and cilantro in a food processor until combined, but still chunky. Add your eggs, salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne and Tabasco. Keep adding breadcrumbs until you have a good, thick consistency and everything is sticking together (hopefully your beans are still a little chunky, it gives some texture to the burgers).

(note that this picture was from about halfway through the mixing process...you definitely don't want your finished product to be this chunky)

 Form 3/4 of an inch thick patties. Heat another greased skillet or sauce pan over a medium flame, and flour both your hands and the burgers, then place onto the pan. Cook for about 5-7 minutes on each side, then flip and do another 5-7 on the other. Toast your buns while you're waiting. Once the burgers are cooked, place them onto the buns and add a generous dollop of guacamole. Add lettuce, tomato, etc until you can't wait a second more to eat it! Serve with fries or tortilla chips.

By the way, please excuse my pathetic excuse for photography on this particular recipe. I was particularly ravenous this night and was more interested in devouring the finished product than documenting the process.

Orange Olive Oil Cakes

Took me: 25 minutes total in the kitchen

Whipped up these babies tonight because I felt like baking, but we had no butter. They turned out much better than I thought they would, and there was the perfect amount! My recipe was very sloppy, but here are what I think the best measurements would be: 

1 and 1/2 large oranges

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup of AP flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup buttermilk

2 small-medium eggs

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Whipped cream (optional)

Preheat oven to: 350 degrees farenheit. First things first, zest your orange. Don't make the same mistake I did and peel it first. Put your zest in a small bowl and mix with the sugar. Use your fingers or a spatula to make sure its evenly distributed. Set this aside. The next thing you need to do is supreme the orange (don't know how? It's hard to explain, but this video shows you the exact steps). Once you've done that, cut each wedge out of its protective membrane and drop it in a bowl. Use your fingers to break the wedges up into little pieces (but don't crush them up too much). Set this aside too. Take the other half orange and squeeze the juice into a glass measuring cup (but save 2 tablespoons). Add the buttermilk and pour the mixture into a medium bowl. Whisk in the eggs and the olive oil. In yet another bowl, stir together your flours, baking soda, and salt. Stir this mixture into the wet one, then fold in the orange chunks with a spatula. Grease two 3"x5" bread pans and pour mixture in. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. While you're waiting for it to bake, take the 2 tablespoons of orange juice that you saved and mix it with 2 tablespoons honey (less if you don't like your baked goods super sweet). If you're having trouble getting the honey to dissolve in the orange juice, put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Pour this over the cakes when they come out of the oven, and powder both with confectioners sugar. Serve with whipped cream or plain. 

The BEST vegetarian sandwich...ever!

Took me: 5 minutes in the kitchen, total

Over the past four years that I've been a vegetarian, I've found that it is incredibly hard to find a good vegetarian sandwich when you eat out. Unless of course you're at a sandwich shop. But I think even Subway's offerings of vegetarian sandwiches is pathetic. I saw a Seventeen Magazine years ago that had a picture of a sandwich similar to this, but never tried making one until now. It uses pesto instead of other condiments to give it an extremely satisfying, unique taste.

What you need: 

1-2 tablespoons of pesto sauce

2 slices dark rye bread

a handful of cherry tomatoes (regular tomatoes work, but I prefer cherry tomatoes for their crispiness)

Several leaves of lettuce

Pinch or clover sprouts

four slices cheese (here I used cheddar and pepper jack, but it tastes great with swiss and american too!)

Three slices avocado

6 thin slices of cucumber

Toast your bread for a few minutes. Do it longer than you would to heat it up, but less time than you would if you were making actual toast. Take it out and spread the pesto onto one slice. On the other slice, lay down your avocado slices and spread them over the toast with a butter knife. I think they taste better this way than simply laying on the sandwich. Then layer on your cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, and lettuce. Top with a pinch of the sprouts then place the other slice of bread over the top. Cut it in half, get yourself a glass of ice water, relax and enjoy.

Zesty Yam Fries

Took me: 20 minutes total in the kitchen

Every time I've gone to Trader Joe's, I've seen their Sweet Potato Fries and passed them up. They just never really seemed worth trying to me, when I knew that I always would have regular french fries to fall back on. However, I've spent the last month trying to drop the 20 pounds of winter-weight I put on this year, so when I saw a picture of these on Tumblr, I realized I had to make them. Healthier and more unique tasting than Ore-Ida bake at home's, both my family and I were very impressed by these zesty yam fries. (Technically they're made from sweet potatoes, but I've gone my whole life assuming that if they're orange they're yams. For an interesting article clearing this up, click here)

You Need:
1 large yam (or orange sweet potato?!), peeled
1 egg white
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/8 teaspoon (or less, depending on tolerance for spice) cayenne petter

First off, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Everything else can be done while it's preheating. The hardest part of this recipe is cutting the yam - which isn't actually too hard at all, just don't forget to peel it first. I found the best way to get a nice crunchy fry is to first cut the yam in half (they tend to break if you try to make them too long). Then cut each half in half lengthwise. Then cut each of those halves (now quarters) in half again...then cut those halves of halves of halves in half...I think you get the idea. Once you have a bunch of halves (no pun intended) here is what you HAVE to do (pun intended): whisk the egg white (not too much, just enough so it is a little frothy) and pour it into a shallow, 8x8 casserole dish. Then take your yam sticks and place them into the dish. Work them around with your hands until all sides of all your fries are nice and slimy. Then sprinkle the mixed spices around in there until there's an even coat of those as well. Now take the fries and put them on a cookie sheet so that they aren't overlapping eachother. Bake them for 20-25 minutes. Let them cool, then munch on them alone or with ketchup. I promise that you will be pleasantly surprised

Greek salad with Orzo

Took me: 40 minutes total in the kitchen

I'm a vegetarian. But I hate salad. I just don't find anything about eating lettuce appealing. Pretty much the only exception I'm willing to make is for Greek salad. It's still not my favorite thing, but with enough feta cheese it becomes bearable. So as you'd imagine, I was overjoyed when I found a way to cheat! I could still have all the things I love about a Greek salad without any of that nasty lettuce stuff! The secret is orzo. The Greek Orzo Salad you see here was inspired by this recipe. My version is a little lighter on the taste-buds, and absolutely the perfect thing to make on a nice spring evening. It was super quick and easy too!

Greek Orzo Salad

2 cups Orzo

1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into halves

3/4 cup traditional, crumbled Feta Cheese

3/4 cup Kalamata olives, cut into halves

1/2 cup peeled, diced cucumbers

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. If you're like me, and suffer from the compulsive desire to watch a pot boil, you can entertain yourself by cutting up all the veggies. You'll have to do it eventually anyways. Add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the water, and stir in the orzo. While you wait for that, it's time to make your dressing. You're going to need:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon Deli-style mustard

2 tablespoons chopped basil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

Mix the lemon zest, lemon juice, and mustard until well-combined. Whisk in the 1/4 cup olive oil, then stir in the basil until everything is evenly distributed.
Once the orzo has cooked to your taste (I only boiled mine for 8 minutes, but I like it al dente), drain it and rinse with cool water. Place it in a pretty bowl and toss with the cucumber, tomatoes, olives, and feta. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and mix until everything is covered. Serve with cold drinks and be thankful that spring time is here!

I had forgotten that a simple meal of spaghetti and red sauce could look this beautiful and taste this satisfying! Salad, steamed broccoli and asparagus, last night's leftover artichoke, linguine, and Trader Joe's marinara sauce. Sometimes simple meals are the best meals. Thanks dad for cooking!

Apple Pie 'Calzones'

Took me: about 2 hours total in the kitchen

     Recently I've been in a dilemma that has kept me from baking to my hearts desire: my mother and I are both on diets. So now, instead of having four people to devour whatever I make, it's down to just my dad and brother. I had an itch last night to make something sweet though, so I asked my best friend what I could bake for her. She said she wanted apple pie. I knew I'd have to deliver whatever I made to her at school, and the idea of bringing a whole pie seemed messy. So instead I made these apple pie 'calzones', which I can just drop into a paper bag.  I know in reality they're called hand pies, but that name makes them sound grubby to me, so I'm gonna stick with calzones. 

You're gonna wanna make the crust right off the bat. I just used this lovely, boring, age old crust recipe: 

1 teaspoon of salt

3 cups flour

1 egg

1/4 of a cup water

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vinegar

Mix the salt, the flour and the butter. Blend the egg, water, and vinegar in a separate bowl, then add it to the saltflourbutter mixture. My mixer isn't working at all, so I after a bit of stirring, I just threw it down and combined it using my hands. It turned out fine.

Pop that baby in the fridge and let it chill out while you do all the hard work

This is when things start really getting messy.

First off, peel four medium sized to small apples, whatever kind you like best for baking. (I used two Braeburns and two Granny Smiths) There are five in the picture, but don't use five. You will be up to your knees in diced apples...

Cut them all up into a million little tiny pieces. You're gonna want to make them really small, even littler than what you see in this picture

Measure out the following in a small bowl:

1/2 cup of sugar

1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon flour

Stir that all together then toss with the apple chunks until it has been evenly distributed. Set this whole operation aside. 

Now comes a fork in the road: if you have 2 cookie sheets, take your crust out of the fridge and roll the whole thing out (to about 1/5 of an inch thick). If you are like me, and only own 1 cookie sheet, only roll out half of your crust - leave the other half in the fridge for later!

Once you've got the crust nice and thin, choose something circlular to cut it out with. I've seen other recipes say to use a biscuit cutter, or top of a glass to do this, but I prefer mine bigger. I found a bowl whose mouth was about the size of a CD, and pressed it down onto the dough to make perfect circles. Place the circles of crust down on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and place them BACK into the fridge.

NOW IS THE TIME TO PREHEAT YOUR OVEN! It needs to be 375 degrees farenheit. 

While the oven is preheating, make yourself an egg wash. To do so whisk together and egg and 1 tablespoon of milk in a small bowl. Fill another small bowl with water and set them both aside.

I just left my dough in the fridge until my oven got up to 375 (but if you're oven is really slow, I wouldn't leave the crust in any longer than 10 minutes) Once you take your crust out, place two tablespoons of the cinnamon-apple mixture on one half of each circle. Brush water over the edge of 1/2 of the circle, then fold over the other side like you're making a taco (or calzone...or hand cake...) Press a fork down on the edges to seal. Don't forget to cut a small slip in the top, or your yummy pastry will end up exploded on the walls of your oven. 

If you had 2 cookie sheets and cut circles out of all your dough in the first place, put all the calzones in the oven now. If you only had one cookie sheet, put them in the oven and begin rolling out your second wad of dough now. The calzones need to be baked for about 20-25 minutes, depending on how well you like your crust done. Take them out of the oven when they've baked to a golden perfection, allow them to cool for several minutes on a rack,then dig in.