Black Bean Burgers with homemade buns!

 I can't stop thinking about it. I even have a hard time falling asleep. I am just SO excited to participate in the farmers market this year. I never realized how much planning would go into this. Can you just imagine how stressful it is for those selling produce? I'm just making something in an oven they're growing stuff! Sorry, got off track. This post is about burgers... black bean burgers. The entire time my husband eats these he says "This is by far my favorite meal." Well, the are pretty much amazing.

This meal is quite time consuming. It doesn't have to be but I guess I like when its more difficult. I could easily buy canned beans, shredded carrots, hamburger buns, and french fries. But I like to be difficult.

Black Bean Burgers
1 cup dry black beans
2 carrots
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup diced onion
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Soak beans and cook according to package. I usually cook them for about 2.5 hours, the softer the better. Peel carrots, then grate them. Mince garlic and onion. Add cooked beans, carrots, garlic, onion and bread crumbs to bowl. Mash together. I doubled the recipe so we could have leftovers.

Once beans are all mashed form into patties.

Put a little bit of olive oil in a pan. Place patties in pan and brown on both sides.


Hamburger Buns
Adapted from here.

1 cup warm water
1/3 cup oil
2 tbsp oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
about 4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Add water, oil, sugar, salt, 2 cups flour, and yeast into bread machine. Then add 1/2 cup of flour at a time until it forms a ball and is only slightly sticky. Once bread machine is done separate dough into 12 balls.   Turn balls in hands folding edge under to make circle. Press flat between hands. Place on greased cookie sheet. Let buns rise for about 30 minutes. I can't ever get them to rise very much so you may not see them rise much. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

I also like to make french fries with this meal. Peel the russet potatoes, slice into strips. Soak for about 30 minutes. Lay flat on greased cookie sheet, let dry. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

This is the only picture I took of the fries.

Then enjoy the meal!

New Adventure!

I have fallen in love. We've been on and off over the years but we've decided to take the next step.

I feel so dorky writing that. But I think its funny.

I'm in love with baking. I have so many 'fans' that are constantly telling me that I need to open a bakery. Unfortunately that's not in the cards right now. So last night my husband suggested I sell at my local farmers market. Now why didn't I think of that... It's the perfect opportunity!! 

I seriously can't wait!!!

Now I just have to decide what to sell. So far I have decided on cinnamon rolls, chocolate covered pretzels, breads, muffins, and cookies.

I'm pretty sure its all I'm going to be thinking about for the next month.

I can't have a post without pictures. So I'll post pictures of some things I will be selling.

What type of baked goods would you buy at a farmers market?

What the Pho?

Last year I was introduced to pho. I instantly fell in love! As I've mentioned before, I love noodles, all noodles. I had never tried rice noodles until I had pho and I seriously can't get enough. My family likes a restaurant called Pho Saigon in Colorado and my dad just loves to joke about the name. He likes to say they used to be called Pho King but had to change their name because of how it was said. He is very silly.

Anyways, tonight I tried to recreate pho at home. It turned out great. There were left overs for my husbands lunch and even a little left over broth after that. Well my husband liked it so much he had me poor him the broth into a glass so we didn't waste any. He is so silly.

Vegetarian Pho
From here.

Broth
1 small unpeeled onion, quartered
2 unpeeled shallots, halved
8 garlic cloves, halved
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 drop anise extract
4 vegetable bouillon cubes
8 cups water
2 tbsp soy sauce
salt
 
Soup 
rice noodles
green pepper
onions

In a pot add onion, shallots, and garlic. Dry roast, stirring occasionally, until they begin to char. Once they are charred add water, ginger, cinnamon, anise, bouillon cubes, salt and soy sauce. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes. When 25 minutes is up strain into a clean pot and discard solids. Keep warm over low heat.

While broth is simmering, cook noodles according to package. Mine was to sit in boiling hot water for 10 minutes.

Cut green pepper and onion into strips and put on serving plate. We usually just add however much we want. Which also reminds me about the hoisin sauce that I made. I unfortunately don't have a picture of it but my husband goes crazy for it! The recipe is here.

When noodles are done, strain and serve into bowls, pour broth over noodles and add whatever you'd like.

Breadsticks!!

One of my favorite restaurants used to be Pizza Hut. I loved their breadsticks. It seems like my goal lately has been to recreate all of my favorite foods into dairy free versions at home. I found a great recipe online for these breadsticks and while they don't taste the same, they still taste great! Gabe practically begs me to make these anytime we have spaghetti.

Pizza Hut Style Breadsticks
Modified from this recipe.

1 1/3 cups warm water
3 tablespoons olive oil
About 4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp instant yeast

Combine in order into bread machine. Once done roll out with rolling pin and place on greased cookie sheet. Cut into desired sizes.

Topping
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp oregano
butter

Melt the butter and spread on dough, sprinkle with topping and let rise for about an hour. Bake for 12-15 minutes 350 degrees.

Enjoy!

Failure turned great

I learned a very hard lesson yesterday, always check for ingredients before baking. Last time I made that mistake I was 16. At least its not a mistake I make often.

I ran out of white flour. It wasn't that big of a deal, but when you have yeast that has already been proofed then you kind of have to rush. I ended up just using wheat flour for the rest of it.

Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
Recipe from Vegan Yum Yum. (Although I did change a few things)

Yeast Mixture
4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
1 Cup Warm Water

Dough
1 Cup Almond Milk
2/3 Cup Sugar
2/3 Cup Best Life Butter, melted
2 tsp Salt
2 Ener-g Egg Replacer Eggs, prepared, optional
Yeast Mixture, from above
About 4 cups white flour
About 2 cups wheat flour

Dough Filling
1/2 Cup Best Life Butter, melted
1 1/2 Cups Sugar
3 Tbs Cinnamon

Icing
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp almond milk

Combine yeast mixture and set aside to proof.

In bread machine add melted butter, almond milk, salt, egg replacer, and sugar. Once yeast is proofed add to bread machine. Now add the flour until the dough is no longer sticky but not falling apart. Here is where my oops moment comes in. It is supposed to be 6 cups of white flour but I forgot to check to make sure we had all of the flour. Luckily we had wheat flour that I could use. You can bet I'll always check for flour now before baking!

Before flour.

With a little flour.

Now just let it rise.

Once it has risen, roll it out.

Now spread melted butter all over the dough.

Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture.

Now its time to roll it up.

It is going to make 12 rolls. So cut it in half, then cut the halves in half. Which will make 4 sections. Cut each of those sections into 3. The easiest way to cut them is with thread or dental floss, just run underneath it, cross it and pull.

Coat 2- 13X9 pans with butter and place the cinnamon rolls in them. Two rows of three. Cover and let rise overnight in the fridge.

Next Morning

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Right out of the fridge.

Place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. While rolls are baking make icing. Just combine powdered sugar and milk. It will be pretty difficult to stir but it'll get there.

Put icing on cinnamon rolls and enjoy!

They actually turned out great. I was nervous that with the wheat flour they wouldn't taste as good but they were still amazing!!! Definitely worth it.