Food Magic - Quesadillas and Veggie Sliders
Yesterday I finally got around to give the kitchen a though post semester cleaning now that we’ve had a couple cooler days, so spent some time experimenting with some new food choices for our mixed family’s needs (mixed as in meat eaters, a vegetarian, and a mom with IBS thrown in just to complicate things further). I had forgotten how much fun making scratch meals was for me, like doing magic spells in the form of healthy and tasty food for my family…messy spells. Might explain why food is mentioned so much in my stories. :)
Quesadillas and Veggie Sliders
Quesadillas: I’d gotten a quesadilla maker recently that I found on sale, and so decided to try it out. Friday night, using some brown rice cooked in veggie broth leftovers from the night before and mixed shredded cheese, I made my first quesadillas. The family seemed to like them, though I thought they turned out a bit dry. Maybe more cheese less rice next time?
The next day I experimented with peanut butter and blackberry jam, and with the first try ended up with a huge mess that my daughter said tasted great. The second try I placed the peanut butter and jam more to the center of the tortilla so it had room to melt and spread and the end result was far less messy. My son came home and tried one, agreeing with his sister that it was a success. :) These might make a god alternative to the raisin bread/peanut butter sandwiches I make for the kids lunches when they do their youth core stuff at the farm (Growing Power - urban farm coop/education center).
Veggie sliders: I also got a slider maker a ways back and decided to play around with possible recipes for veggie slider burgers. Here’s the recipe I created after looking over several variations online. The measurements are at times less than exact, this is due to the magic/dabbling method I mentioned before that I often use when cooking. The end consistency should be good for patty making, especially if you are making them in a skillet rather then in a slider maker.
Veggie Slider Burgers
4 T. olive oil
½ cup onion, chopped finely
½ cup red pepper, chopped finely
½ cup yellow pepper, chopped finely
¼ cup mushrooms, , chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
3 cups black beans, soaked overnight and drained (or canned 15 ounces)
3 cups chickpeas, (or canned 15 ounces)
¼ cup black olives, chopped
3 cups rolled oats
2 T. ground flax seed
¼ cup egg whites (or 4 eggs)
Seasoning - (about 1 teaspoon each)
Mrs Dash chipotle pepper salt, paprika, cumin, celery salt, garlic salt, sage.
Directions:
1) Make sure the veggies are all finely chopped, I find a food processor works well for this, just make sure the piece are very small since the burgers are as well.
2) Sauté the peppers, onions, garlic, and mushrooms in the olive oil you don’t have to cook them all the way, you’ll do that later in the slider maker.
3) Toss the beans, and chickpeas in the food processor and pulse a few times. You don’t want to squish the beans just cut them up a bit. Add bean mix to large bowl.
4) Chop oats a bit in the food processor before mixing them with the flax seed and adding that to the bowl with the bean mix.
5) Add the sautéed veggies, the olives, and the spices to the bowl and mix the contents well.
6) Now add the eggs and mix completely. The mix should be able to be formed easy into so balls
7) Drop the balls into the slots of your slider maker (or form into patties and sauté in olive oil)
Note about seasoning… I mention above the spices used are about 1 teaspoon each, but that’s just a guess. Often I don’t measure spices, I just play until it smells/tastes right. If you want to play too just add the spices you want and cook up a trial slider. Remember, when you play add the least you think will be good…you can always add more if it’s not enough…if it’s too much that’s harder.
You can put these on little buns, serve them with noodles or rice, whatever you want. This makes big batches that can be cooked up to 24+ sliders (depending on their size) which can be eaten, bagged and refrigerated to be reheated later, or even frozen. We discovered these are very good reheated.
Have fun playing and enjoy!
Quesadillas and Veggie Sliders
Quesadillas: I’d gotten a quesadilla maker recently that I found on sale, and so decided to try it out. Friday night, using some brown rice cooked in veggie broth leftovers from the night before and mixed shredded cheese, I made my first quesadillas. The family seemed to like them, though I thought they turned out a bit dry. Maybe more cheese less rice next time?
The next day I experimented with peanut butter and blackberry jam, and with the first try ended up with a huge mess that my daughter said tasted great. The second try I placed the peanut butter and jam more to the center of the tortilla so it had room to melt and spread and the end result was far less messy. My son came home and tried one, agreeing with his sister that it was a success. :) These might make a god alternative to the raisin bread/peanut butter sandwiches I make for the kids lunches when they do their youth core stuff at the farm (Growing Power - urban farm coop/education center).
Veggie sliders: I also got a slider maker a ways back and decided to play around with possible recipes for veggie slider burgers. Here’s the recipe I created after looking over several variations online. The measurements are at times less than exact, this is due to the magic/dabbling method I mentioned before that I often use when cooking. The end consistency should be good for patty making, especially if you are making them in a skillet rather then in a slider maker.
Veggie Slider Burgers
4 T. olive oil
½ cup onion, chopped finely
½ cup red pepper, chopped finely
½ cup yellow pepper, chopped finely
¼ cup mushrooms, , chopped finely
4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
3 cups black beans, soaked overnight and drained (or canned 15 ounces)
3 cups chickpeas, (or canned 15 ounces)
¼ cup black olives, chopped
3 cups rolled oats
2 T. ground flax seed
¼ cup egg whites (or 4 eggs)
Seasoning - (about 1 teaspoon each)
Mrs Dash chipotle pepper salt, paprika, cumin, celery salt, garlic salt, sage.
Directions:
1) Make sure the veggies are all finely chopped, I find a food processor works well for this, just make sure the piece are very small since the burgers are as well.
2) Sauté the peppers, onions, garlic, and mushrooms in the olive oil you don’t have to cook them all the way, you’ll do that later in the slider maker.
3) Toss the beans, and chickpeas in the food processor and pulse a few times. You don’t want to squish the beans just cut them up a bit. Add bean mix to large bowl.
4) Chop oats a bit in the food processor before mixing them with the flax seed and adding that to the bowl with the bean mix.
5) Add the sautéed veggies, the olives, and the spices to the bowl and mix the contents well.
6) Now add the eggs and mix completely. The mix should be able to be formed easy into so balls
7) Drop the balls into the slots of your slider maker (or form into patties and sauté in olive oil)
Note about seasoning… I mention above the spices used are about 1 teaspoon each, but that’s just a guess. Often I don’t measure spices, I just play until it smells/tastes right. If you want to play too just add the spices you want and cook up a trial slider. Remember, when you play add the least you think will be good…you can always add more if it’s not enough…if it’s too much that’s harder.
You can put these on little buns, serve them with noodles or rice, whatever you want. This makes big batches that can be cooked up to 24+ sliders (depending on their size) which can be eaten, bagged and refrigerated to be reheated later, or even frozen. We discovered these are very good reheated.
Have fun playing and enjoy!