Black Bean Burgers

Black Bean Burgers

Two 14.5-ounce cans 50% less sodium black beans
1 cup finely-ground oats (3.8 ounces)*
1/4 cup finely chopped red onions (1.4 ounces)
2 stalks green onions, finely chopped (1 ounce)
1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped (1.7 ounces)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (0.4 ounce)
1 large egg, slightly beaten (about 1.8 to 1.9 ounces)
1 tablespoon chili powder (blend) or ground ancho or chipotle chili powder
2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1-1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano, crushed
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon hot sauce (optional)

*To make your own finely-ground oats, place rolled or quick-cooking oats in your food processor. Process until finely grind (flour).

Place beans in a colander to drain well, but do not rinse. Transfer beans to a very large mixing bowl. Using a potato masher, mash the beans until they are mostly mashed, but still have some whole beans visible. 

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well until thoroughly combined. 

Shape into four patties, about 3/4-inch thickness, weighing approximately 7.5 ounces per patty. Place patties on waxed paper or parchment paper. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook.

Heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat (7.0 on induction cook top). When pan is very hot, add 1-2 tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil to the pan (you can use 50% olive oil and 50% butter, if desire). Place bean patties in the skillet and cook the first side for 5 minutes. Turn each patty over and cook the second side for additional 5 minutes. If you like, you can add a slice of cheese during the last minute of cooking. (I like to turn off the heat and place the cheese slices on top, cover and let residual heat melt them enough for the corners of the cheese to drape over the edge.)

You can serve the patties as a burger on 100% whole-wheat buns with Vegenaise (or mayonnaise), Dijon mustard, Mexican Cabbage Slaw, Pickled Red Onions, pickled jalapeno peppers, avocado slices (or guacamole) or simply do traditional burger style with Vegenaise (or mayonnaise), ketchup, mustard, lettuce, onions, pickles and tomatoes,

Yield 4 patties

Roasted Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza

Roasted Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

Appliance Recommendation: Emile Henry Flame Top Pizza Stone. I replaced my old rectangular heavy, grease-stained baking stone with Emile Henry Flame Top Pizza Stone. I highly recommend this pizza stone. I have already used it several times and I am very satisfied. It's lightweight, easy to use and easy to clean. My pizza bakes up more crispier than my old baking stone. You preheat the stone the same way you would preheat a regular baking stone. You do not need to treat, grease or spray the stone before sliding your pizza on the stone. The pizza stone has handles making it easy to remove the hot stone from the oven with the baked pizza on top and using the stone as a serving platter. You can actually cut your pizza directly on the stone and it will not scratch the smooth "micro-crazed" finish. However, I still prefer to cut my pizza on a wooden peel because the pizza tends to slide around the smooth glazed finish while cutting. After I'm done cutting the pizza, I slide the pizza back onto the hot stone to keep the pizza hot. For the cleanup, I soak my stone in hot soapy water to loosen any hard baked-on foods. I have even used a scouring pad and Bar Keepers Cleanser to get stubborn stains off and it looks brand new again, although, it is dishwasher safe. This pizza stone costs $49.99 and is well worth the investment.

Roasted Vegetable and Ricotta Pizza

1 pound refrigerated fresh whole wheat pizza dough (i.e., Safeway brand White Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough)

2 cups sliced cremini mushrooms, about 1/4-inch thick slices (5.0 ounces)

1 cup sliced zucchini, about 1/4-inch thick slices (8.0 ounces)

1 medium red bell pepper, sliced into 1/4-inch thick slices (5.5 ounces)

1 medium red onion, cut into 1/4-inch thick slices on the grain (4.5 ounces)

1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence

1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 large garlic cloves, minced (0.3 ounce)

1/2 cup tomato puree (4.5 ounces)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon pesto sauce (0.2 ounce)

1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal

Whole wheat pastry flour for dusting

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (4 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/3 cup part-skim ricotta cheese (2.8 ounces)

2 tablespoon small fresh basil leaves (optional)

Remove pizza dough from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for 30 to 60 minutes before using.

Position two oven racks: first rack on the center position of the oven and the seond rack on bottom third oposition f the oven. Place baking stone on the bottom third oven rack. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Roasting the vegetables: In a very large mixing bowl, combine the mushroom, zucchini, red bell pepper, onion, 1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil, Herbes de Provence, 1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper. Toss vegetables until thoroughly combined and transfer to a shallow rimmed baking pan in a single layer. Place in the oven on the center oven rack and bake for 15 minutes. When done, remove from oven and toss in the minced garlic. Set aside. (Vegetables can be roasted a day in advance, cool and refrigerated until needed.)

Immediately lower oven temperature to 450 degrees. Transfer baking stone to the center oven rack.

Pizza sauce: In a small bowl, combine the tomato puree, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper and the pesto sauce. Stir to combine and set aside.

Assembling the pizza: Have ready a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal. Set aside.

Generously dust a large wooden board with the whole wheat pastry flour. Unwrap the pizza dough and lay on the wooden board. Dust all sides of dough with the flour and flatten one side of  the dough with your finger tips into a flat disk. Turn dough over and gently slide around to get more flour on the underside of dough. Flatten the second side of dough with your finger tips into a slightly larger disk. With a floured rolling pin, gently roll out pizza dough a few times just to flatten pizza dough more. Pick up dough and stretch the dough by holding the dough by the edge and stretch, turn, stretch, turn until you reach full circle. Place the dough on the knuckles of both hands (fingers turn in and don't forget to remove your jewelry). Stretch the dough by pulling your knuckles of both hands apart; then turn the dough, either right or left to rotate the dough, stretch and turn, stretch and turn until you reach full circle. It is also easier to stretch when the dough is slightly angled vertically than horizontally so that the weight of the dough can help with the stretching. Repeat the knuckle stretching until you get about 13 inches in diameter. For better clarification of stretching the pizza dough, you can watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72oe_j-0gwE

Place pizza dough on the pizza peel dusted with corn meal. Shake the pizza peel to make sure pizza dough is not sticking to the peel. Constantly shake the pizza every now and then to make sure the pizza will not stick to the peel (Shake). Make a little dam around the edges of the dough to prevent any oil/liquid dripping off the edge of the pizza. (Shake) Brush 1 teaspoon of olive oil on the pizza dough. Spread the pizza sauce on the dough leaving a 1/2-inch border. S(hake) Sprinkle half of the mozzarella cheese (2 ounces) on top of the sauce. Spread the roasted vegetables evenly on top of the cheese. (Shake) Sprinkle the vegetables with crushed red pepper and sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese (2 ounces) on top. (Shake) Dollop with ricotta cheese. (Shake) Slide the pizza onto preheated pizza stone. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until crust is golden brown, rotating pizza to halfway of baking time. Remove from oven and sprinkle with basil leaves, if desired. Slice pizza into 8 wedges and serve.

Yields 4 servings

Semi-Home Made Chicken Sausages and Pepperoni Pizza

Semi-Homemade Chicken Sausages and Pepperoni Pizza

A new item at Safeway: fresh 16-ounce package of WHITE WHOLE WHEAT pizza dough (5 grams of fiber per serving). Regular price is $1.99 per package, but watch for some good sales coming up. The pizza dough are displayed in the Deli section of Safeway. This dough is easy to work with and bakes nicely. Easy to follow directions on the package. All I needed to do is to purchase the toppings:

Trader Giotto's Pizza Sauce (purchased at Trader Joe's)
Pepperoni (purchased at Trader Joe's under a brand name)
Part-skimmed shredded Mozzarella cheese
Mild Italian-style chicken or turkey sausages, casings removed
Thinly sliced cremini mushrooms
Sliced black olives
Frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and diced, sprinkled with some sea salt and a little olive oil
Fresh minced garlic

Place pizza stone on an oven rack position in the center of the oven. Preheat oven at 450 degrees for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove pizza dough from the refrigerator and let the dough sit out in its packaging at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes (30 minutes if kitchen is warmer and 60 minutes if kitchen is cooler).

Meanwhile, set out a large wooden cutting board, rolling pin, pizza peel, some whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour), and corn meal. Have ready all the topping ingredients set out on the counter ready to go. Sprinkle a little corn meal on the pizza peel and set aside.

Generously dust your cutting board with flour. Unwrap pizza dough and lay on the cutting board. Dust both sides of dough with the flour and flatten first side of dough with your finger tips. Turn dough over and gently slide around to get more flour on the underside of dough. Flatten the second side of dough with your finger tips. With floured rolling pin, gently roll out pizza dough a few times just to flatten pizza dough more. Pick up dough and stretch the dough by holding the dough by the edge and stretch, turn, stretch, turn until you reach full circle. Place the dough on the knuckles of both hands (fingers turn in and don't forget to remove your jewelry). Stretch the dough by pulling your knuckles of both hands apart; then turn the dough, either right or left to rotate the dough, stretch and turn, stretch and turn until you reach full circle. It is also easier to stretch when the dough is slightly angled vertically than horizontally so that the weight of the dough can help with the stretching. Repeat the knuckle stretching until you get about 12 inches in diameter. For better clarification, you can watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72oe_j-0gwE

Place pizza dough on the pizza peel dusted with corn meal. Shake the pizza peel to make sure pizza dough is not sticking. Make a little dam around the edges of the dough to prevent any oil/liquid dripping off the edge of the pizza. Give pizza another shake to make sure pizza is not sticking to the peel.

Now top pizza with the pizza sauce, Mozzarella cheese, artichoke hearts, olives, mushrooms, chicken sausages, pepperoni, and some minced garlic. (I did not precook the sausages or mushrooms. When placing the chicken sausages on the pizza, just break up the sausages into very small pieces using your fingers and drop it on the pizza, like in the pizzeria. The mushrooms should be thinly sliced.) After toppings are placed on the pizza dough, it's ready to go in to the oven. Carefully shake pizza peel and slide the pizza on top of the pizza stone. Bake for 13 minutes turning pizza halfway of baking time. (Turn pizza by sliding the pizza back on the peel and turn the pizza 90 degrees and slide back on the pizza stone.)

When done, remove pizza from the oven with the peel and transfer pizza onto a pizza pan or pizza rack. Let pizza rest about 5 minutes before slicing. Slice into 8 wedges.

I made two pizza so there will be some extra slices for someone's lunch. One 12-inch size pizza will serve 2 to 3 adults.

Chicken-Mushroom-Spinach Quesadillas

Chicken-Mushroom-Spinach Quesadillas
Adapted from Ellie Krieger

I happen to have an entire rotisserie chicken in my refrigerator. Quesadillas are one of the good ways to use up leftover cooked chicken meat. If you happen to run out of tortillas before the filling is used up, the filling will taste great with orzo pasta, brown rice, or stuff in a pita bread. This recipe also works with leftover turkey meat.

1 pound Cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt and a separate 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large red onion, finely chopped, about 2 cups (7.0 ounces)
3 large cloves garlic, finely minced (0.6 ounce)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground ancho chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground chipotle chili powder (optional)
2 teaspoons dried oregano
4 cups packed baby spinach leaves (6 ounces)
Two cooked, skinless and boneless chicken breast halves, diced into bite-size pieces, about 4 cups (13.7 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Handful of cilantro, chopped (0.5 to 0.6 ounce)
Two 16-ounce package Guerrero brand 100% whole-wheat flour tortillas (7-inch size)
One 8-ounce package 2% reduced fat shredded Mexican-Style Four Cheese
Trader Joe's brand Double Roasted Salsa or any salsa of your choice
Homemade guacamole

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat until hot, but not smoking. Add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the skillet. Add the mushrooms and continue to cook on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until browned and all liquid released have evaporated, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt and transfer to a dish. Set aside.

Using the same skillet, add another tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet. Add the onions and garlic. Continue to cook on medium-high heat until onions starts to turn brown. Reduce heat to medium and add the cumin, chili powder, and oregano. Continue to cook and stir for about 10 seconds or until fragrant. Add the spinach and chicken breast and continue to cook, stirring frequently until spinach is wilted, about 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the mushroom, salt and gound black pepper. Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro. Set aside. You can prepare up to this point. Let the filling cool completely, transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until ready to use.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat with about 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Meanwhile, lay 1 tortilla on a flat work surface and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cheese. Evenly distribute a heaping 1/2 cup of filling on top of cheese. Sprinkle with another 2 tablespoons cheese. Top with another tortilla. Repeat to make more quesadillas.

When skillet is hot, carefully transfer one quesadilla to the skillet. Cook on first side for about 2 to 3 minutes or until lightly browned. You can cover the tortilla with a lid just big enough to cover the quesadilla by itself (not necessary to have the lid fit perfectly to cover the skillet). Carefully turn the quesadilla over to cook the other side, adding another teaspoon of olive oil. Cook for another 2 to 3 minutes or until lightly browned (do not need to cover with a lid on the second side). Transfer to a flat plate or a cutting board. Repeat cooking process to cook the other quesadillas.

Cut quesadillas into fourths and serve with guacamole and salsa. Accompanied quesadillas with Mexican Red Cabbage Slaw posted here.

Yield 7 quesadillas

Tuna Salad

Tuna Salad

Two 6-ounce cans solid white tuna in spring water, drained very well
1 large shallot, finely chopped (1.0 ounce)
1 stalk celery, finely chopped (2.2 ounces)
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed and pat dry, then coarsely chopped
(0.8 ounce)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon dijon mustard (0.2 ounce)
1/2 cup Best Foods brand light mayonnaise OR Veganaise Brand Dressing and Sandwhich Spread (4.0 ounces)

Place tuna in a large bowl, Flake tuna to break up large pieces.

Add the shallots, celery, capers, garlic powder, onion powder, and dill weed to the tuna. With a fork, toss mixture until combined.

Add dijon mustard and mayonnaise (or Veganaise) to the tuna mixture. Mix with the fork until thoroughly combined.

Refrigerate in an airtight container.

Yield approximately 2 cups

Martha Stewart's Favorite Egg Salad

Martha Stewart's Favorite Egg Salad

This recipe is adapted from Martha Stewart. I have my own version of a good egg salad sandwich, but have not been making it lately because I'm watching my cholesterol. My sister-in-law made Martha Stewart's version egg salad and it is now my favorite egg salad as well. Martha starts out with 10 hard-cooked eggs. She discards 8 of the egg yolks and replace it with one whole avocado. What a great idea! The avocado gives the richness and the creaminess to the egg salad after most of the egg yolks are discarded.

Avocado is a much healthier alternative to the egg yolks with essential nutrients, such as fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. Martha still keeps 2 of the egg yolks for flavor. I have already made this twice and really love it. The egg salad will keep for a few days without the avocado going brown which is another amazing thing. I like to eat this for breakfast, just toasting one multi-grain bread (5 grams of fiber) and spreading a portion of the egg salad on top and eat it like an open-face sandwich. So satisfying and delicious!

The next time I make this egg salad recipe again, I'm thinking of adding some fresh chopped chives and tarragon. I'm sure that will be good too.

10 hard-cooked egg whites (from large-size eggs)
2 hard-cooked egg yolks (from large-size eggs)
Half of a large-size avocado, mashed
Half of a large-size avocado, diced
3 tablespoons Best Foods brand light mayonnaise OR Veganaise Brand Dressing and Sandwich Spread (1.5 ounces)
1 tablespoon fresh-squeezed lemon juice (0.5 ounce)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (0.2 ounce)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
In a large bowl, roughly chopped egg whites and egg yolks using a pastry cutter or two knives. Lightly toss in the mashed and diced avocado.

In a separate small bowl, combined the mayonnaise, lemon juice, mustard, salt and pepper until well blended, using a fork. Add the mayonnaise mixture to the egg mixture and gently toss everything together until combined, using a spatula.

Transfer to an airtight container and keep refrigerated.

Yield 6 servings, approximately 145 calories per serving (excluding bread)