Chickpea Burgers

My friend Lauren made these chickpea burgers recently and they were so good that I wanted to make them myself. They're good to have on hand for lunch or dinner.

These have spices in them that give them an Indian style kick. They taste great with some toppings: tomatoes, feta, tzatziki and cucumbers - and are good in pitas.

Chickpea Burgers

Ingredients

2 15oz cans chickpeas
4 eggs
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lemon, zested and juiced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil (for onions, plus more to fry burgers)
1 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)
1/4 cup rolled outs
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (or 1 teaspoon for an extra kick)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1. Drain chickpeas and add them to a food processor with the eggs. Pulse to combine, but don't puree - let the mixture remain a little chunky.

2.  Sauté the chopped onion in olive oil over medium-high heat until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and spices and mix together well, cooking for about another minute.

3. Let the spice mixture cool briefly, then add to the chickpea/egg mixture. Stir in the lemon zest and juice, oats, bread crumbs and parsley. Let the mixture stand for about 10-15 minutes.

4. Form the mix into 10-12 "burger" patties.  Cook in olive oil over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes per side until cooked through.

Patties: 

I love those sandwich thins:

Pear and Cranberry Crisp

Martha, Martha, Martha.... she confused me by instructing to discard any unripe cranberries that floated to the top of a bowl of water when you rinse the cranberries.  I thought this meant to discard any that floated, but all of mine floated, but they all float on those cranberry juice commercials when the guys are knee high in cranberries, so I just used them all anyway.  I think she just meant to discard any unripe ones in general. Unnecessary anxiety, Martha.

Anyway... this was easy and tasty.  I used 8 pears, not the suggested 4-6, to get 6 cups of chopped pears because I am not yet an expert pear corer.  I also bought vanilla ice cream to go with this, but forgot to bring it out at my potluck. Sorry friends!

Pear and Cranberry Tart 
From: Martha Stewart


Ingredients

4 to 6 firm pears (6 cups), cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups cranberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chilled (1 stick) butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light-brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup rolled oats
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Peel and cut 6-8 firm pears into small pieces, 6 cups total. In a large bowl, toss pears with 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice. Add cranberries and 1/3 cup sugar and mix together.

3. To make the crisp topping: In a food processor, pulse 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled butter until clumps form. Add 1/4 cup each granulated and light-brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 cup rolled oats, and a pinch of salt. Pulse again until large, moist clumps form.

4. Transfer to a baking dish (I used a 13x9) and sprinkle with topping (you can also use ramekins to make individual servings). The topping will be moist, so spread it out over the fruit as best you can. Bake until fruit is tender and topping is golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly before eating.  

Crans! Man, they are tart:

 Crans + Pears:

While I was making this, this guy showed up at my bird feeder! A parakeet! What! Someone's pet must have gotten away, but this little guy seems to be doing fine; he was showing those sparrows who was boss.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

These oatmeal raisin cookies are the best ones I've ever had and the first ones I've ever made. I can't take much credit, since I followed the recipe straight through, but I did want to share it because they were super easy to make and also super easy to devour. I had to give half of them away because they were just staring at me at all hours of the day.

This recipe made about 15 cookies because it is halved, so if you need to make cookies to bring somewhere, I'd double it. I really liked the walnuts in the cookies, so next time I make them, I'm going to put more in.

I kind of want to experiment with using something like a banana instead of butter to make these cookies a wee bit more appropriate for me to eat for breakfast, but I don't really know much about substituting other ingredients for fats. Anyone?

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
From: Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the creamed mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts.

3. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes or so.

4. Eat at least one spoonful if dough. (I mean, if you want, but you should).

5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on your oven. They should be golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them cool for a few minutes before eating them all.


I'm estimating when I say the recipe makes 15 cookies, because I really made only 12. I probably ate about 3 cookies worth of these guys. No parents, no rules.