cheeseburger in paradise

[thecomfychair]

So I have the house to myself for the next few weeks which means...I CAN TAKE OVER THE KITCHEN, YES. And I am slipping back into that funk where I'm only eating pasta and packaged dinners, which I know I has to stop, so

Comments

[snglesrvngfrend]

OK WHEW. Where do I start!

Well it's a little warm for it but I have an awesome chili recipe that is high fiber/low fat and is equally delicious with ground sirloin or soy crumbles (like Smart Ground or Morningstar or whatnot). You can find it here. I like my chili SPICY so I substitute one tablespoon of chili powder for a tablespoon of chipotle.

Risotto is something that I used to love to make for myself when I was single, because it's a one-pot dish, very filling, can be stretched into multiple meals, and you can pack it with vegetables. There's a great basic risotto recipe here; I've played around with it a lot.

Nice, cool soups are super easy if you have a good blender. One of my favorites is leek and potato. I don't have the link anymore so I'll just Cut and paste the recipe:

6 medium leeks (about 2 1/4 lbs), whites only, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise, cleaned
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth (I've made this with vegetable stock; it's still good)
1 baking potato (8 ounces), peeled and diced
coarse salt
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup snipped fresh chives

1 In a large saucepan, combine the leeks, broth, potato, 2 cups water, and 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the vegetables are very tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

2 Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender, transferring it to a clean bowl as you work. (To prevent splattering, fill the blender only halfway, and allow heat to escape: Remove the cap from the hole in the lid, and cover the lid firmly with a dish towel.) Stir the cream into the pureed soup, and season with salt. Garnish with the chives. Serve immediately.

3 If desired, chill the soup: Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and chill until cold, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days. If necessary, thin with water, and season with salt. Serve the soup in chilled glasses, garnished with chives.

I've also done zucchini soup and carrot soup spiced with curry powder (carrot and curry are ridiculously tasty together). Same basic idea; just cook your veggies until they're soft enough to puree; I usually add some kind of onion while cooking, and cream is good to keep on hand for pumpking up your soup. Once, a friend of mine made a raw soup of a whole bunch of baby carrots and an avocado, which he pureed the living shit out of and thinned with coconut milk. IT WAS DELICIOUS. Very rich but so good for you, and no cooking at all! I'm sure he used some spices too but damn if I remember them.

Tofu is most edible to me when it's buried in a curry. Cube it up (not too thick or it stays too mushy in the middle) and fry it in some oil until it's really nice and golden crisp all around. Then just throw it in your favorite store-bought curry sauce, or mix some curry paste with a can of diced tomatoes or some coconut milk, whatever suits your fancy. Curry is a fridge-cleaner; whatever vegetables you have sitting around in there, just chop em up and throw em in. My favorite vegetable in curry is peas. I LOVE PEAS!

You can make interesting sandwiches and fake burgers with tempeh. It often comes in a block, so I just cut it into patties (they always remind me of Wendy's burgers, because they're square :]) and fry it up like the tofu, but the tempeh I find in my town is not the greatest so I like to cook it a long time to soften it up as much as possible. Whatever sauce you cook it in, it'll soak the flavor right up. I'll just smash up an avocado, spread it on a bun, slap the tempeh on it with a slice of tomato and some onion. Fake burger! The texture is similar sorta to eating a lentil or black bean burger.

HOLY CRAP I TYPED A LOT. I hope at least one of those ideas works for you!

[thecomfychair]

OMG I LOVE YOU FOR THIS. I am so excited for these soups and the chili. And curry is my #1 favorite spice, so I am super excited about the carrot soup. Do you eat a lot of fake meat, out of curiosity? Because I was looking at making the chili for tomorrow, but have yet to find a "burger" crumble that isn't spongy when I cook it.

And I have to say thank you for the tempeh idea, I was getting so tired of black bean burgers and tofu. I made a tempeh burger yesterday and curry tempeh tonight and it was SO yummy (I like the slightly nutty flavor).

[snglesrvngfrend]

We eat a fair amount, especially in recipes that are big on flavor (like the chili and curry) so it's not necessary to have real meat for more flavor. For the chili I usually use Morningstar Grillers crumbles and yeah, they are a bit spongy but the chili is so beany that it works.

I'm glad you like the tempeh! Here's another idea for it, since you like curry: make the tempeh like before, and then add your favorite curry sauce, some pineapple chunks, onion, and mushroom. It makes a really really awesome "burger" where the sweetness of the pineapple mixes great with the spiciness of the curry, and the mushrooms and onion add extra flavor and texture. YUMMO!