For Vegetarians Only.

I'm going to talk about the "V" word.
"Vegetarian."
It's a nasty word and I try not to use it, but I'm trying to accommodate my boys now.
I am creating vegetarian dishes for my little Hawthornelets.

As I've mentioned, I now have a vegetarian in the household. Two of them this week.  Rosie wonders where she went wrong, but there's always hope for a turn-around.

So far, I've made hummus and a multi-bean chili.  Yesterday, I made a really good black bean, yellow rice, and corn burrito with minced jalapeno, diced squash, zucchini, red, orange, yellow, and green peppers, and red onion and some Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies.  I got a thumbs-up on that one.  I tried one myself, but I needed Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese on mine, and ran it under the broiler, then added sour cream and salsa.

Today, God help me, I'm going with a black bean burger, adapted from Minimalist Baker.

 

Black Bean Burger - For You Die-Hard Vegans

Makes 8

1 large sweet potato, cooked and mashed

1 cup black beans, cooked

1 cup rice, cooked

1/2 cup ground pecans

1 scallion, minced

2 slices tofu (about 1 x 3 x 1/2")

kosher salt

pepper

smoked paprika

oregano

cumin

garlic powder

onion powder

Coarsely process half the beans  Add to mixing bowl with rest of beans.  Add sweet potatoes, rice, pecan meal, scallions, and tofu.  Add a pinch of each seasoning.  Mash and mix to combine.  Form into patties.

When I was mixing and mashing, I seriously thought about pouring maybe 1/4 cup ketchup in the mix, but then I had the image of sweet potato and ketchup and it was not a good image.  I think on hindsight, that kick of ketchup might have helped.  It certainly couldn't hurt.

I had to avoid the urge to put an egg in the mix.  And, of course, no cheese anywhere.
This goes against every grain and fiber in my body.  This "burger" could have used cheese and egg.

Heat oil in skillet.  (I used olive oil.)  I coated the patties in panko and fried about 3 minutes on each side, until lightly browned.

 Mash up half the black beans.

 Add in rice and sweet potato.

 Add in pecan meal.

 Scallions.

 I decided, on a lark, to add tofu.

 Form into patties.

 Well, they don't look so bad...

 Press panko on each side.

 

 Fry.

Both Boys liked this.

What can I say?

It needed something like a ton of ketchup for me to actually chew and swallow a bite.

Please do not worry about Rosie.  She hasn't gone over to the dark side. 
I will never be a vegetarian; however, if I'm hungry enough, I could probably eat a vegetarian.




Gimme some 80/20 USDA Choice Angus.

Now this reminds me of a funny story.  (Probably had to be there, but I'll tell you anyhoos.)  Neecy Hawthorne was living with us.  All of us Hawthornes were lazing around on a Saturday afternoon and then we noticed a commercial on TV.  TV was on a local channel at the time.  A restaurant was touting their tequila black bean burgers.  We all took this as a sign from God.  Neecy knew the restaurant owner and chefs since she was a highly successful advertising executive at the time, so we three piled into the Jeep and traveled to south Nags Head to procure the recipe, after dropping in at the ABC store to pick up some rot-gut tequila.  We finally got home with the tequila and the recipe.  The two of them were supposed to make the bean burgers.  Not me.  I sat back on the sofa, sipping tequila, and finished reading the last 172 pages of Anne Rivers Siddons' Outer Banks.

The next morning, I woke up on the sofa, never having had any tequila black bean burgers.

And I had to reread the last 172 pages of Anne Rivers Siddons' Outer Banks.