White Bean Burgers with Sautéed Mushrooms and Three Spice Potatoes

I got it into my head earlier in the week that I wanted to make some sort of white (cannellini) bean burger. I wasn't very successful at finding a recipe, so I decided to just make something up as I went along. Unfortunately I don't have a recipe to share with ya'll, as I didn't write down any measurements as I went, but this included one 15 oz. can of drained cannellini beans, two sprigs worth of fresh rosemary, dried thyme, salt and pepper, all purpose flour, ground seitan, and breadcrumbs. If you can't tell by the last three ingredients, my mashed up beans were kind of wet and I was having a hard time getting a mixture that was firm enough with just the flour. After adding somewhere around 1/2 cup of flour, I was worried that they were going to have too much of a flour-y taste, so I switched to the seitan and just a bit of breadcrumbs. I cooked these in a lightly-oiled cast iron skillet over medium heat.

The three spice potatoes are a test recipe for lolo at VeganYumYum. Who doesn't love roasted potatoes? Okay, so I know a number of people who don't like potatoes at all, but I don't understand those people. The spice combination on these was probably an odd match for the Tuscan-inspired white bean burgers, but I wanted to test the potato recipe and I also really wanted to make the white bean burgers. What's a girl to do?

Seitan Black Bean Burgers

This black bean burger is another test recipe for lolo at VeganYumYum. The burger should have corn in it, too, but I goofed and just assumed that I had some in the freezer. In the future I should probably verify that I have the ingredients on-hand before I start making a recipe. Even without the corn, though, these were very good burgers. They were a little more like a typical burger than the usual veggie burger recipe I use (from Vegan with a Vengeance). While my boyfriend and I agree that we still prefer the VWAV recipe, we will definitely make this one again as well. It was so fast to make (minus the time I spent making the seitan), and the burgers hold together well, making them perfect for traveling. I served the burgers with leftover hashbrowns/home fries, if you're wondering what else is on the plate.

Breaded Tofu with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

This dinner was actually "quickly" put together because I hadn't planned what to make and it was already dinnertime when we got back from seeing Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Saturday. I say "quickly" because who chooses to make mashed potatoes from scratch when trying to make dinner in a hurry? I don't like using tofu when it hasn't been pressed, so I sliced it and pressed the slices while the potatoes were boiling. I then dipped the tofu slices in a mixture of soy sauce, broth powder, water, and nutritional yeast and coated it in some seasoned flour (all purpose flour, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, and onion powder). I let that dry for a few minutes, then dipped the tofu in the broth again and then coated it in bread crumbs. I fried the tofu for a few minutes on each side. For something I put together on the fly, it turned out really well and I plan on making it again (perhaps baking it when I have more time to spend on it).
For the mashed potatoes, we cut peeled potatoes into chunks and boiled them for 15 minutes (or until soft). We drained the potatoes, then mashed them with a couple of tablespoons of Earth Balance Whipped, then stirred in plain soymilk until the consistency was right. I'm not sure how much soymilk we wound up using, as my boyfriend was in charge of making the potatoes while I was coating the tofu.
Sadly we are all out of the home-canned green beans, so we used some organic canned ones from the grocery store. They are still good, but not as good as the home-canned ones. We prepare the beans by heating them on the stove with a bit of salt, lots of freshly ground black pepper, and some liquid smoke. Mmmm....

Italian-Marinated Tofu and Portobella Mushrooms Over Saffron Risotto

I have learned an awesome (and FAST) way to make risotto....in my pressure cooker! The tofu and portobella mushrooms are marinated in the Italian marinade from Vegan with a Vengeance. I followed the baking instructions for the tofu and sautéed the portobellas in a cast iron skillet while the tofu was finishing up in the oven. The incredibly simple risotto recipe follows.

Saffron Risotto with Red Bell Pepper

2 TB olive oil
1 yellow or white onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 c arborio rice
1 ts salt
pinch of saffron
3 1/2 c vegetable broth
ground black pepper, to taste

Heat olive oil in pressure cooker over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and red bell pepper and sauté, stirring occasionally, for two minutes. Add rice and stir to coat with the oil. Stir in salt, saffron, and vegetable broth. Lock lid in place and bring pressure cooker up to high pressure over high heat. Once pressure cooker has come to high pressure, reduce heat until it is just high enough to maintain high pressure (for me this is between medium and medium-high) and cook for five minutes. Release pressure with a quick-release method. Stir in black pepper to taste and serve.

Hurry Up Alfredo

Last night I served the leftover seitan nuggets with another lolo test recipe, Hurry Up Alfredo (so named because the dish hardly takes any more time than it takes to cook the pasta). The sautéed mushrooms weren't part of the recipe, but we both love mushrooms so much, so I tend to add them wherever they work. This was good, and I don't even normally like cream sauces. I'm not usually a fan of really rich food, but this was creamy without being too rich for me.

100th Post! And lolo is McAwesome.

This is another test recipe for lolo at veganyumyum (check out her latest post about her upcoming cookbook!). These are seitan nuggets, also known as almond fried seitan (and yes, to make up for the fried portion of dinner, we had two vegetables). These were so good! I served them with a mustard sauce I like to make, which is equal parts vegan mayonnaise and dijon mustard mixed with a bit of agave nectar and hot sauce. lolo thinks they make a pretty good McNugget substitute and I agree, although you might want to take that with a grain of salt, since I haven't had McDonald's in the past decade. I used the Vegan with a Vengeance seitan recipe for these.

Since we sadly do not own a grill, we roasted the corn in the oven. We found directions online which said to remove the silk, then wrap it in foil and roast at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 8-10 minutes. That wasn't nearly long enough! It took more like 30 minutes, and probably could have used a few more minutes. It was very good, though. I love fresh corn. I can't wait to try making it on a grill, but we won't be getting one until we move into a house.