Tasty Tuesday!

Roasted Beet and Tofu Burgers

     This will be the first Tasty Tuesday post made during my trip to Guyana. Well...I'm actually making this post from the comfort of my Baltimore kitchen a week in advance but you know what I mean. This week I bring you beet and tofu burgers. I know...sounds weird but try it! I promise you will become a fan.

     I've always been a fan of beets but never really knew what to do with them. Being from the south, I only consumed beets of the pickled variety or cut them up into salads. After reading a little about beets (yes, I take time out of my day to read about beets) I found out just how versatile they are. Beets can be processed into table sugar, used a performance enhancer for athletes and race horses, and can be used a natural coloring agent in food, among other things The coloring agent part explains why I ended up with pink hands making this. Sorry for not taking more pictures by the way but I like the color of my camera the way it is..

     I came across this recipe on the blog Fat Free Vegan and I knew I had to give it a shot. I will have to warn you now that this is not a quick recipe that you can whip up right after work and I modified it a little from the original. This takes a bit of time but you can make the patties in advance. Beets are a hearty vegetable so will probably still be in season for a little while longer. Take advantage while you can because very soon the only seasonal vegetable will be turnips!

• 2-3 medium sized beets
• 1 onion (or 3 small)
• 1 head of garlic (that's head, not clove)
• 1 package of tofu
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon of chili powder

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. Trim the beets using a vegetable peeler if you have one and remove the stems and leaves. Remove the excess skin from the onions, and trim the top off of a head of garlic. Wrap each item in foil, place on a baking sheet, and put in the oven for about an hour. Once the time is up remove them from the oven and allow them to cool.
2. While they are cooling, crumble the tofu and add the reaming ingredients. Finely chop the onions, remove the garlic cloves, and mash the beets into the tofu creating a "ground beef" like consistency. This is the part where your hands will turn pink. 
3. Shape the mixture into patties (whatever size you like), place on a baking sheet, and bake for 30 minutes. 
4. Create your favorite burger with whatever condiments you have on hand.

The only picture I took before my hands turned pink

Take care of yourself and each other...

And Away I Go...

     Not too long from now I will be boarding a plane and traveling to Guyana. Without getting into too many details I'll be taking part in an expedition to discover, catalog, and hopefully one day protect the biodiversity of the Guyanese rainforest. How did I end up with this job? I'm still trying to figure that one out. This is just the next step in what has been a very long journey. I'm looking forward to this new chapter. 

     I've already written a few pre-scheduled blog posts that will be up at random times over the next few weeks. Keep checking back in for those. Don't expect anything insightful or terribly interesting while I am gone. This is going to be my chance to get away from technology for a bit. It will be nice to take a breather. I've become too dependent on my laptop and cell phone. I need to take a moment to center myself. I think we all need moments like that from time to time. I've always tried to use travel as an excuse to get away from technology and to reconnect with people and places. I've never understood people who don't take the time to travel even though they have very few obligations like a job or a family but I also stopped trying to understand people's actions (or lack thereof) in general. I wonder and find great interest in what other people are thinking but I know that I will never fully understand them and they will never fully understand me. I guess that's why we have to keep the lines of communication open. We may not be able to understand each other completely but hopefully we'll get close enough. So, I encourage you to travel. See other places. Experience new things. Live life the way other's live it. You may find out that you like their lifestyle. Their habits may become your habits and before you know it, you've grown as a human being. It's funny how easy it happens. Look around every once in a while. You could be missing some very interesting things.

What are some of your favorite travel stories. Share them with me.

Take care of yourself and each other...  

      

  

Tasty Tuesday!

Baba ghanoush

     This week, I bring you a really simple recipe. Baba ghanoush! If you aren't familiar with baba ghanoush you are really missing out. Baba ghanoush is very similar to hummus so if you are a fan of hummus you will like this recipe. If you want a simple hummus recipe check out my previous "Tasty Tuesday" post here. 

     I had a few eggplants left in the Towson University Urban Farm that needed to be harvested before our first frost so I brought some home. The original plan was to make a nice eggplant Parmesan but that's old and played out. Even though I've had baba ghanoush plenty of times in restaurants I never made it myself and it is super easy. So, if you have a spare eggplant laying around give this recipe a try. The recipe says "serves 8" but I ended up eating it all in two sittings. This mess is addictive!

• 1 large eggplant
• 1 can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained
• garlic (as much as you like. I used 3 cloves)
• 1/4 cup of lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons of tahini
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• salt (to taste)

1. Cut the eggplant in half and roast in a 400 degree oven (skin side down) until a fork easily punctures the thickest part.
2. Allow the eggplant to cool. Using a fork or spoon, scoop out the inside of the eggplant into a blender or food processor. Do not use the skin.
3. Combine the eggplant with the remaining ingredients, except for the oil, and blend until smooth.
4. Once the mixture is combined slowly incorporate the olive oil.

Take care of yourself and each other...

I'm a Reader...

     A few weeks ago a very good friend of mine sent me a couple of books in the mail. It's so awesome having a friend that works at a bookstore. Anyway, for reasons I don't fully understand she sent me a book entitled, "The Cow in the Parking Lot: A Zen Approach to Overcoming Anger."

     Oh shit! Do I have an anger problem? Am I completely ignorant of this? And, is it so apparent to others that a very close friend decided that I needed a book on how to over come it? After my near existential melt down I just decided to chalk up my package to being just a very kind gift without any deeper meaning. But...I could be wrong.

     I will admit that I am known in certain small circles for my temper. But, I've always seen most of my angry outbursts as being justified. Yes, I get angry when people are rude. Yes, I get angry when my roommates are messy. Yes, I get angry when I am hassled by campus police when I am at work. Everyone gets angry! But...is anger ever justified? Enter....the book!

     I didn't know what to expect when I started reading this book while on a recent trip to NYC. I don't consider myself a spiritual person by any means so I've never bothered to read a book about Buddhism or let alone Buddhist approaches to dealing with anger issues. However, besides a brief mention of Zen meditation in an early chapter there was very little "spirituality". Spiritual teachings weren't the purpose of the book! Instead, the "The Cow in the Parking Lot" was more of an exercise in finding the true cause of anger, the cost of either choosing to act out (with an explosion of expletives), or the benefits of trying to understand the many facets of anger itself.

     Think of it this way. The book begins with a scenario. You're rushed, you're trying to find a parking space in a busy lot, and then all of a sudden some jerk driving a type of car that you hate pulls in and takes the parking spot you were patiently waiting for. Are you angry? You bet you are! But, look at it this way. What if, instead of some jerk in a Hummer it was a wandering cow that walked into the parking spot and sat down. Are you mad now? Most likely not. Now you're just in a funny and absurd situation and will have a good story for later. 

     Now, of course this is a simplification of things. Cows most likely mean no harm which may be the exact opposite of the idiot that took your parking spot. But...was he/she truly being malicious? Were they really out to ruin your day? Did they even see you sitting there waiting patiently? How do you know what they were thinking? The point is...you don't. So why assume that the person was out to offend you? It isn't worth your time and, to make matters worse, the stress you are now feeling because of a lost parking spot damages your health. So, now you are allowing someone to actually harm you without making physical contact. Why bother?    

     Anger is simply having a current need going unfulfilled. That's really all it is. So, is losing a parking spot worth the angry outburst and high blood pressure. Probably not. 

Now, the book gives great advice as to how to deal with situations that may cause anger and I'm not going to go into them here. This post is long enough. But, I'll end here with a few notable quotes. True, they don't have much to do with anger but this book touched on a wide variety of subjects that all are rooted in finding true happiness and peace. 

We refuse to take the risk of changing jobs or relationships because we cling to these things when we are emotionally upset. By being unwilling to disturb the habitual order of our lives or to endure emotional pain, we allow ourselves to stay stuck in a situation where our demands are not met on an ongoing basis, leading to anger.

The fact that we "think" we know what will make us happy leaves us with a closed mind, pursuing our mythology rather than being content with where we are right now.

All things in the Universe are deeply interconnected in a complex we of cause and effect. This means that everything that has ever happened and is happening anywhere in the universe affects the present moment. Everything, extending from the big bang through the first amoeba dog-padding across the slime, the dinosaurs, the extintion of the dinosaurs, Columbus (or whoever) discovering America to what you did yesterday and in the last minute plus the butterfly's wings flapping in Brazil, the first drops of dew settling on Mars, and what your adversary's great great grandfather did centuries ago are all interacting to create the present moment. So, when we judge the hand we've been dealt as unfair or unacceptable, we are, in effect, taking on the whole Universe. The odds of our winning this battle are not good.  

Take care of yourself and each other...

Tasty Tuesday!

Tomato Soup with Basil and Farro

     I've missed you guys! I haven't posted in 2 weeks! I refuse to chalk up my lack of blog posts to laziness because I have been busier than ever trying to work through this Master's thesis. There is light at the end of the tunnel! I tried posting a new recipe last week but for some reason I could not load pictures and who wants a recipe with no pictures? No one! That's who. So, I apologize for my lack of posts but I have a lot of posts ready to go. Keep checking back in.
 
     This week I am posting yet another soup recipe. Tired of soup? Well you shouldn't be. Soup is pretty boss especially during this recent cold snap. I don't remember the last time (if ever) I experienced snow in October but last week we got a fresh dusting. Growing up in the south, cold weather was my sworn enemy. To me, anything below 50 degree was unfit for human beings but over the past few years I have learned to embrace cold weather. I really love waking up early and going for a walk when the air is cold and crisp. Then, when the weather is really cold and there is enough snow on the ground I trek around and pretend that I am "Jeremiah Johnson".

     But...I'll never be as badass as Jeremiah (or Robert Redford for that matter). I could make soup for him though! I've got that going for me....which is nice. This week I wanted to work through the last of my tomatoes and I found a recipe using an ingredient I had never heard of before called farro. If you aren't familiar with farro it is essentially wheat left in whole grain form. Farro is usually ground to make wheat flour but it is excellent to cook with when left whole. So, if you can find farro in your area (look for Bob's Red Mill brand or any place that sells bulk food) give this recipe a try. If you can't find farro, leave it out. This recipe makes a great tomato soup that can stand on its own. I hope you dig it.

• 1 1/2 cups of farro
• 3 large springs of basil, leaves and stems separated
• Olive oil
• Garlic, minced (I used 4 cloves)
• 1 large leek, trimmed, cut in half length-wise, and diced. The white and light green part only.
• 4-6 large tomatoes, cored, and cut into wedges. I'm guessing I used about 3 pounds worth
• Black pepper

1. Bring 8 cups of water and 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt to a boil. Lower to medium heat, add the farro and basil stems. Cook until the farro is tender but still has a fair bit of bite. Drain, but reserve some of the liquid.
2. Heat some oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the garlic. Add the leek and allow all items to cook until soft.
3. Add the tomatoes, a little more salt (to taste), and 1 cup of the reserved cooking liquid. Bring to a simmer and cook until the tomatoes have fallen apart. (about half an hour).
4. Ladle the tomato mixture into a blender and puree. Add about half the farro to the blender and lightly pulse until the grans have broken down and the soup is chunky. Add the tomato mixture back to the pot and then add the remaining whole farro.
5. If the soup seems too thick add a little more of the reserved cooking liquid to obtain your desired consistency.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Farro!

The trimmed leek and minced garlic

The last of my tomatoes...I'm sad to see them go.

After adding the tomatoes wedges, allow the mixture to cook.

Take care of yourself and each other...