What do I serve at a cookout for my vegetarian friends? Veggie burgers of course. I found this recipe in an old Cook's Illustrated magazine from 2005 and I never really had a good excuse to make them. I knew that Ben and the kids wouldn't really be jumping for joy at the sound of veggie burgers so I just held onto the recipe until I had some good company to share are appreciate my meatless burgers. We hosted a cookout a few weekends ago and I served both veggie and beef burgers, believe it or not, the veggie burgers were a hit. These burgers do require a bit a effort but I made mine a day in advance so that I didn't have to worry about them on the day of the cookout. Also, the recipe makes 12 large burgers so you can store any leftovers in your freezer. Veggie Burgers 3/4 cup dried brown lentils 2 1/2 teaspoons teaspoons salt 3/4 cup bulgur wheat 2 Tablespoons oil 2 medium onions, chopped fine 1 celery rib, chopped fine 1 leek, chopped fine (white and light green parts only) 2 medium garlic cloves, minced 1 pound white mushrooms, sliced about 1/4" thick 1 cup raw unsalted cashews 2 cups panko 1/3 cup mayonnaise (I used light mayo) 12 burger buns
Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a skillet. Add onions, celery, leek and garlic. Cook about 10 minutes.
Heat 1 more Tablespoon oil in skillet and add mushrooms. Cook 12 minutes. Spread onto baking sheet to cool.
Stir in mayonnaise.
Grill patties at a low temperature. (I set my Big Green Egg at 275.) Grill without moving for 5-10 minutes and turn carefully. These patties do take a delicate hand when moving on the grill to keep them from falling apart. The Big Green Egg did it again - it gave my veggie burgers a nice flavor. I served my burgers on whole wheat buns. I like to dress mine up to with as many vegetables as I can fit on top. This time, I opted for lettuce, tomato and avocado. These burgers were really good. After our cookout, we all headed down to the pool and spent the afternoon in the sun. When it was time to head home, we all agreed to meet back at our house for dinner - a repeat of the cookout lunch. (Gotta love friends who like leftovers.) I think that I'm going to have to make another batch of these to keep in my freezer. Even though I'm not a vegetarian - I really prefer these burgers to beef burgers.
Ciao!
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Olive Garden Salad Dressing Salad ¼ cup olive oil bag of American blend lettuce 2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar ¼ red onion, thinly sliced 3 Tablespoons miracle whip 4 pepperoncini 1 Tablespoon lemon juice 1 tomato, quartered 2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese 2 Tablespoons olives, sliced ¼ teaspoon garlic salt ½ cup croutons ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning 1 Tablespoon grated Parmesan 1-2 Tablespoons water Combine dressing ingredients in a blender. (I used my small smoothie blender.) Once the dressing is ready, all that's left to do is to throw together this super simple salad. A salad that features iceberg lettuce and croutons - appeals to even my finicky teenagers. I recommend making a double batch of this dressing - it will go fast.
Ciao! We were getting ready to leave on vacation and I had a basket full of apples that needed to be used up before we left. I was trying to decide between apple pie and apple sauce but then I came across this recipe for apple dumplings in my stack of "recipes to try." I thought this would be the perfect dessert to serve at our summer cookout. I pulled this recipe out of a Southern Living magazine in October of 2009. (Which is strange because I've never had a subscription to Southern Living. Watch your magazines because apparently, I am now tearing recipes out of other people's magazines.) I doubled the recipe to make 12 dumplings instead of 6. Apple Dumplings 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 2 Tablespoons butter 2 1/4 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2/3 cup shortening 6 small rome apples, peeled and cored 1/2 cup milk 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in shortening. (My baking assistant did a fabulous job with this - don't you think?) Cover and chill. Stir milk into flour mixture.
Sprinkle with pecans. I drastically underestimated the amount of time involved in making these individual desserts to a crowd. In retrospect, I think I should have stuck to making an apple pie. Don't get me wrong, these dumplings were delicious - they were just a lot of work. I served them warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and everyone seemed to enjoy them.
The only complaint that I had is that the syrup never really got thick and "syrupy". I boiled it for a really long time and it still never really came together like I thought it should. Perhaps to proportions are wrong and it doesn't need 1 1/2 cup of water. I think when I make these again, for a smaller crowd, I will try adding just a cup or even 3/4 cup water to make the syrup. Ciao! We spent a week on the beach in North Carolina earlier this month so I thought I would share some of our pictures from our trip with all of you. Beach week is one of the only times that I make a conscious effort to try and get a good family picture. There were a lot of laughs during this ocean side photo session - and we ended up with a few good pictures too. We spent lots of time with our toes in the ocean that week. I decided to get up really early one morning so that I could catch the early morning sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean It was well worth the 5:30 wake up call. Ahhh, the beach... We arrived home on a Friday evening and jumped right back into the swing of things. There was no time for easing into our hectic schedule, there were ACT tests to be taken and birthday parties to attend. Saturday morning I headed to the grocery store without any idea of what I intended to cook. (A rare event for me.) We had been out of the house for a week so I knew that we needed to replace the things that we used before we left for the beach like milk, bread and produce. I didn't have time to sit down and create a menu or make a proper grocery list so I decided to "wing it." I picked up all of the necessary staples and I also got a package of boneless chicken breasts. When I got home with my groceries and I still didn't have any idea how I was going to prepare the chicken so I logged onto my "go to" website for chicken recipes - WilliamsSonoma.com. I found a recipe for Lemon Garlic Chicken Skewers and I used that as inspiration for my version of these lemony chicken skewers. Lemon Chicken Skewers Zest of 1 lemon 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 1/4 cup honey 1/3 cup olive oil 4 tsp. salt 3 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes 2 lemons, sliced into rings and quartered Combine lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, olive oil and salt and whisk to combine. Add the chicken, cover, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Thread chicken onto skewers alternating with lemon slices.
I served my quick chicken skewers with fresh green beans and jasmine rice. The dinner was a big hit. It's never easy to come home from vacation to a house with no groceries but this simple chicken dinner made it just a little easier. Grilled chicken with lemon has never tasted to good.
Ciao! The first time that I had these Frozen Fruit Cups, I was on vacation with my family at the beach. My aunt mixed up the fruit and spooned it into Dixie cups before freezing them overnight. Sometime in the last afternoon on the following day while we were all melting from the blistering sun, she offered us this deliciously refreshing fruit snack. Since then, I have made it over and over for my family. It's elegant enough that I have served it to guests for brunch and simple enough that I made it for my kids to take to the pool. Either way, it's delicious and super refreshing on a hot summer day. The trick is to eat it while it's still a little bit slushy and not to wait until it's completely defrosted.
Cover and freeze 8 hours. Remove from freezer 1 – 1 ¼ hours before serving. I used to love to eat these fruit slushies after a long run on a hot day. They are a perfect post-workout snack to refuel and refresh your body. Even though I don't run anymore, I still eat them after my crazy Insanity workouts. |
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