Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burgers

Another meatless meal, not that we are trying to cut down on eating meat, we just enjoy many vegetarian meals. I try to incorporate many grains and veggies in our meals....even if I have to sneak it in there. We didn't eat these as burgers, but you could. Actually I couldn't find my can of organic black beans so I used pinto beans instead. I asked my daughter if she wanted me to make it with garbanzo beans or pinto beans an she chose garbanzo so I used pinto...haha just kidding. She wanted the pinto beans, but I think they were a little too soft for this recipe. They were good and full of flavor, they just might not work on a bun like the black bean patties would. I used Japanese sweet potato which is white flesh and slightly dry, but plenty sweet in my opinion.


Black Bean Patties

ingredients:
1/2 onion (I used shallots) chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
3 shiitake fresh mushrooms chopped (or baby bella)
1 handful fresh basil or cilantro
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon savory
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sriracha, or any hot sauce to your liking
1 can of black beans (I used pinto)
1/2 sweet potato diced and cooked (boiled)
3 tablespoons ricotta cheese (optional...I had some I wanted to use)
1/2 green chili (I used serrono chili)
1/2 cup panko bead crumbs (or cooked quinoa and oats)
1 egg slightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste

First saute onions mushrooms and garlic, in some olive oil. I used a food processor to make these, but I think it would work just as well...maybe even better if you just mash the potatoes and beans instead of pulsing in the processor.

I pulsed the onion, mushroom, garlic mix with the basil or cilantro, then added the beans...pulse a few times, then the potatoes and ricotta, pulse some more. Try not to over process...you can even leave some beans out if you'd like some left whole.

In a bowl whisk the egg, then mix in the remaining ingredients. Mix it all together and form into patties. If it seems too moist add some more crumbs until it holds together nicely.

Cook 6-7 minutes per side or you could bake them at 375 degree F oven for about 25 minutes until golden or browned the way you like it.
What I like about these is you can add so many different ingredients to adjust them for your family. Like you could add corn, bulgar or other grains, more hot spice or less, flax, sesame or other seeds...a little dijon or curry paste?
I like them a little moist, but then I don't eat them on a bun either...

..but they were good with some chipotle powder mixed with Greek yogurt. My daughter (the sour cream eater) said I really liked this sauce on these! My husband got home late and when I told him what I had made for dinner...he wasn't so sure about them, but he ate his fair share! Next time I will leave a little more texture in there and not use a food processor.

My husband finally brought the tall ladder home...so tall it's a little scary...

..so I could pick some mangoes, all the ones that were lower are already picked. The problem with this variety of mango is they don't change color when they are ripe, you pretty much have to squeeze to tell. Otherwise they sit in a bowl for a few days. Just when I was ready to make the climb...a storm rolled in with thunder....just where I wanted to be when the lightning came.
Funny these both were from that tree, I have quite a few large mangoes and many smaller ones too. I wonder why?

I have to figure out something to make with the mangoes...I usually just eat them! I'm not big on eating fruit with meat, but any ideas what I can do with all these mangoes?...and yes I've given many away and the squirrels are still eating too!

This is linked to My Sweet and Savory Meatless Mondays

Cuban Sandwich

Around here in SW Florida, Tampa and Miami as well you can get a Cuban sandwich (we call it a Cuban) most anywhere. It is so easy to find a good authentic, traditional Cuban, you really don't have to make it yourself...but as a food blogger and someone who likes to make it myself I did. When I was at the Sweetbay Supermarket they had some roasted pork on sale in the deli, so I picked some up along with a couple of loaves of Cuban bread.

The traditional Cuban is:

• a loaf of Cuban bread


• thin sliced roast pork


• thin sliced ham


• thin sliced swiss cheese


• sliced dill pickles

Some will use yellow mustard, but never use a panini press as a Cuban doesn't have grill marks, and is cut diagonally across... if you don't have a sandwich press you can use a brick wrapped in foil or...

..like I used a small baking stone (upside down on the sandwich) with a tiny skillet...get it?... "tiny skillet" I have to squeeze that in when I can, hehe!

You don't want the skillet too hot or it might burn or crisp too much, some use butter, but I didn't. You want the cheese just melted and the bread slightly hard or firm. A tip that I got from 3 Guys From Miami is to let the meat and cheese come to room temperature so the cheese melts perfectly and the meat is warm...especially for those who like a lot of meat.

I don't use a lot of meat on mine, so I won't rough up the roof of my mouth when eating it... I hate when that happens, it kind of ruins my day.

Don't tell anyone, but I used Genoa salami instead of ham (I'm not a ham fan) ...but I never claimed mine to be authentic....everything else though. I did use some organic yellow mustard, my daughter's favorite, that is all she has on her sandwiches no mayo for her.

My mangoes are getting the size they should be, but see how close the tree is to our pool screen, some will drop on top...

I happened to catch one (a squirrel) running down the screen....

...oh yes, with a mango in his mouth...grrrrr...the will leave the half eaten mangoes everywhere...

...but we didn't leave the Cuban half eaten, it was finished, every last crumb!

You all have a wonderful weekend!

Arepa Reina Pepiada ~ Arepa Sandwich with Chicken and Avocado

When we were on spring break I had time to play around with making arepa for breakfast. I have both kinds of masarepa flour, and like them both. I made some with both white and yellow, with and without oil or butter, stove top and baked or both. I will show you one version today, and I'll later post some of the other's. I also got my waffle iron out for the first time (not to make arepas though).

Arepas are a simple bread made from precooked corn flour, and is popular in Columbia, Venezuela, and the rest of Latin America. These corn cakes can be thick, thin, stuffed, topped or made into a sandwich. You can find them on the breakfast table in many Colombian homes. I won't go into the differences of the Colombian and Venezuelan arepas and who was the first to come up with them. I'll just show you one way to make them.


I have both the white and yellow corn masarepa, supposedly you have to have this flour to make an arepa. I found it in our local grocery store in the Latin foods section. If you can't find it in your store I'm sure a Latin market will carry it.

Simply mix 2 cups masarepa flour, 3 cups warm water, and a 2/4 tsp of salt. Mix until well absorbed and the dough is not sticky (I used my hands to mix and you can get a better feel of the dough. Let set for 5 - 10 minutes. Wet your hands before you start and form into a ball, then flatten into a patty, about 3" across and 3/4" thick, if it cracks add some water to smooth it out. Some recipes call for oil or butter, but I found you really don't need this.

Place the arepas on a griddle or skillet heated to medium - high heat. Cook on each side 5 -6 minutes until golden crust forms. Take them from pan and place in a 375 degree oven right on the rack, and bake 15-20 minutes, they will sound hollow when tapped.

(I made some small one for my bento box lunches)

The arepas Reina Pepiada: The Curvy Queen of Arepas was said to be named after a Venezuelan Beauty queen Susana Dujim - she was 1955 Miss World. For fun you might want to read more about this at Venezuelan food and drinks. This is my version of Arepa Reina Pepiada:

4 arepas
3/4 cup shredded cooked chicken
1 ripe avocado

1 shallot chopped
1 clove garlic (roasted and chopped)
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1-2 tomatillos (roasted and diced - optional of course)
3-4 tablespoons mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

I had some tomatillos so I thought I would use them, of course you can omit this. I roasted them and the garlic while the arepas were cooking/baking.

I put some lemon juice on the avocado slices just so they wouldn't turn brown. Shred or chop the chicken and cut everything in uniform size pieces, and mix together.

Slice the arepas in half or cut them almost all the way through so you can stuff them.

Fill them as full as you like...

Ahhh...the simple pleasure...enjoy them for breakfast or like we did with these for lunch

It is the 3rd Saturday time for Cultural Connections over at Our Krazy Kitchen, where I posted this recipe.

Olga's Bread

Every time I visit my family in Grand Rapids there are places I always have to visit to get that food that I can't get in Florida. Olga's Kitchen is one of them. It's Greek inspired and they make their own flat bread, slightly sweet, Olga bread. They have the Original Olga, which has the meat that is in a Gyro, Three Cheese Olga, Veggie Olga, Burger Olga, you name it. Served with Olga sauce (which seems like plain yogurt to me). I searched for copy cat recipes and found a few (they were pretty much the same recipe). Great! I wanted to try it. Well they recipe has you scald the milk, combine yeast, water, sugar & set aside. Then mix the dough, knead, plastic wrap, rise, punch down.....

Okay you get the idea. My first problem is scalding milk, I don't know what I'm doing there. Then I found this easy one on The Recipe Link.
In Reply to: Olga's kitchen bread posted by Julie on May 11, 1999 at 20:20:34:

1 cup milk, 1/4 cup honey,1/4 cup margarine, 1 tsp. salt, 1 pkg. yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, 1 tsp. sugar, 4 cups flour, 1 egg.
edited to add a little better instructions:

In the bread machine I first add:

1 cup milk (use what ever milk you have I've used 2%)

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup butter (I try to get it at room temp, if not cube it or soften a little in microwave)

1 egg (lightly beaten)

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup warm water (in the regular recipe they use the warm water and sugar to activate the yeast separately, I don't find you need to do this, but I still use the sugar and water to get the liquid amount right)

Then I add the dry ingredients and try to keep the salt away from the yeast.

4 cups flour

1 tsp yeast (the yeast I use I get it in bulk baggie and I found 1 tsp seems to work okay, you can use more if you find what works for you.) The last time I made it it didn't raise all the way when the dough setting was over and my machine beeped. I left it in for a little while longer until I finished dinner and it came up fine! You can dust a little more flour in the mixing segment if it is sticking to the side too much, but I leave it still a little sticky. You can make what ever sizes that works for what you want to use it for. Hope this helps.

I used bread machine with the above. After one rise, punch down, divide into 16 pcs. Roll each into a thin circle, about 8 in. in diameter. heat a large dry skillet on med. Use no oil. bake each side about 15 secs. Cool and store in plastic bag. It's my favorite bread.

Yahoo, a bread machine one, now this one I wanted to try what did I have to loose? The only things I changed was butter instead of margarine, and 2 tsp of yeast (I didn't have the packages of yeast). I put the liquids in first,(room temp), flour and yeast on top.

The dough is a little sticky when it came out of the bread machine. I cut it in half after I punched it down. Put half in an oiled bowl. Then divide the rest into 8 pieces, I couldn't really use a rolling pin, I think I need one of those little ones they use to roll out pot stickers or empanadas. Plus it sticks to the rolling pin and I had to keep oiling it. So I use the wooden dough cutter to flatten it, then did the rest with my hands. I couldn't get a perfect round, but I liked the more oblong shape for sandwiches anyway.

I picked it up scraping it up off the beard with the dough cutter. I oiled my cutting board that I used to roil it out on.

I did bake mine a little longer than the 15 seconds, but that's the way I liked it. I guess if you like it softer to roll up you can bake it the recommended time.

The first time I made them it was so hot I was tired of standing over the hot stove so I just made them onto rolls. They were good too.

So I've made them three times already and my family really likes them. They get easier as you get used to shaping them. You can do smaller ones if you want to use it as a top & bottom. Or longer if you want to fold it. This is what I did. They taste good any way. My daughter eats them warm right out of the pan. It is good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner for that matter.

I like them for lunch, I couldn't decide what mustard to use. I put tomato, sprouts, blue cheese, avocado.

Nope, added Bacon, yogurt, sprinkled with paprika, Graham Marsala, sea salt flakes from The Meadows.

I swapped the blue cheese for goat cheese.

Lots of cheese. Yum.. What would you use to make your Olga bread sandwich? Wade added green olives to his. I want to make the three cheese one next and warm it up! Maybe pizza!