In case you’re wondering, the exclamation point in the title was extremely necessary. This was the first time I made bean burgers and, despite a huge bump in the road, they turned out wonderful with the help of a little improvisation.

The recipe I was using, which I transcribed by hand from a cookbook at Meg’s house in Brooklyn!, called for four shallots. I piled all the ingredients into my food processor, with shallots on top, and started pulsing the mixture… But the shallots just stayed put. Eventually I took half the mixture out, processed it, and then the other half… But the shallots didn’t chop. Eventually I became ravenously hungry and depressed that my bean burgers looked more like a bean dip, so I picked out all the large pieces of shallot and left it at that.

To resolve the goopy over-processed problem I doubled the bread crumbs. The consistency of these patties is great, even though nothing like the recipe had intended. I overcooked each side to get a nice, flaky, charred-bean skin around it.

So! Here’s the recipe as I made it. I’m sure the original recipe is fantastic, but I’ll never know! I like this one too much, now.

Ingredients
1 can Kidney beans, drained
1 can Black beans, drained
1 can Cannellini beans, drained
8 oz. Breadcrumbs
1 heaping tsp Chili powder
2 stalks Celery, halved and chopped
1-2 Shallots, minced finely
Cilantro, to taste, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
- In a food processor, combine all ingredients except for half the breadcrumbs. Blend until creamy. Place in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for 20 minutes, or until chilled.

- Add the rest of the bread crumbs and mix by hand. If you wish, you can reserve some of the beans from being creamed, and add them in now, too. Form into 4-8 patties, flatten between the palms of your hand, and store in the refrigerator inside an airtight container until ready for use.

- To cook: heat 2 Tbsp. oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Pat flour onto each side of the burgers and fry for 5-6 minutes on each side, or until it becomes dark and crispy.

- Serve on a toasted bun with all your favorite fix’ns! These burgers are vegan, but I couldn’t resist a sprinkling of feta on mine! :x I also enjoy eggless canola mayonnaise, mustard, avocado, cilantro, black pepper and an unnatural amount of fresh lime juice.

Blueberry Bonanza Bars have been at the top of my to-bake list ever since I bought the Cookie cookbook. When I worked as a barista I made a much more crude version of them for the dessert shelves and, despite the crust coming from a box, they were absolutely delicious. I don’t really care for blueberries, though, so while at the grocery store I decided to buy some raspberry jam– my absolute fave.

But, while standing in the middle of the aisle, debating what brand to buy, I remembered that I have a monster sized jar of mango preserves in my refrigerator. Like, 48 oz. huge. I couldn’t justify buying yet more jam when I’ve barely put a dent in what I already had, so with my head hung low I dragged my feet to the registers.

I’m such a stubborn brat that I almost made something entirely different when I got home, simply because I couldn’t have exactly what I wanted. It’s a good thing I saw things through, though, because these bars turned out wonderful! They have a subtle but sweet flavor, and they were very easy to make despite the baking time.

The recipe for the bars is right here, which I followed pretty closely. The only substitutions I used were 2 servings of Ener-G Egg Replacer, 1 1/2 sticks of Earth Balance, and 1 1/2+ cups of mango preserves.

Here is the recipe for Almond-Coconut Granola, with vegan substitutions:

Ingredients
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) Earth Balance
1/4 cup Agave nectar
1/2 cup packed Brown sugar
2 Tbsp Water
3 cups Rolled oats
2/3+ cups Sliced almonds
1/2+ cup Shredded coconut, sweetened

Directions
- In a small sauce pan, melt butter and agave nectar over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Add brown sugar and keep stirring until it dissolves. Add water, stir and remove from heat. In a medium sized bowl, combine the oats, almonds and coconut. Pour sugar sauce over the mixture and stir until evenly coated.

- This granola is pretty scrumptious to keep hanging around by itself, so if you want to make it without the granola bars, simply bake it at 375 F on a rimmed baking sheet for about 25-30 minutes, or until the oats begin to turn golden. Store in an airtight container and nibble as needed :)

Coming home from a weekend of guiltless face stuffing it was kind of hard for me to even think about food, let alone the thought of preparing it myself. It’s incredible how much crap I managed to put in my body during those few days– we are definitely due up for a vegan-detox. Uhm… Nevermind the donut holes and apple strudel we had for dessert last night! :x

I decided to crack open ol’ faithful (which is apparently available on Google Books!) and try something I hadn’t done before… Preferrably something easy. The original recipe for Booker T’s Southwest Tempeh Chili doesn’t look incredibly difficult, but I veered so far away from the recipe that I can’t really comment on it. I mostly used its flavors and spices as my base because– awful vegetarian confession here– I’m not too hot for tempeh. When it’s good it is so good, but when it isn’t good it’s just money down the hole. So I decided to replace and add ingredients fit to our tastes. The results were fabulous and it was as easy as opening cans and dumping them into the soup pot!

Ingredients
4 cups Vegetable broth
1 cup Yellow onion, chopped
1-2 stalks Celery, halved and chopped
1 Jalapeno, seeded and minced
2 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-size pieces
1 can Stewed tomatoes, diced
1-2 cans Refried beans
1 can Black beans, drained
1 can Corn, drained
2 Tbsp Tomato paste
3 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Lime juice
1 Tbsp Chili powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Garlic powder
1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped

2 medium Russet potatoes
6 oz. Plain soy yogurt
Lime juice

Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 F. Rinse Russet potatoes, stab with a knife and wrap in aluminum foil. Place in the center rack of the oven and bake until fluffy.

- While potatoes are baking, bring vegetable stock to a slow boil in a large pot. Add onion, celery, jalapeno and sweet potatoes. Cook for 20-30 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.

- Add stewed tomatoes and tomato paste and let cook for 5 minutes. Depending on how thick or thin you prefer your chili, add 1 or 2 cans of refried beans. I only added one in anticipation of the chili losing water in the refrigerator overnight. Stir occasionally, making sure the refried beans fully dissolve in the broth.

- Next, add soy sauce, lime juice, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and cilantro. You may use fresh garlic if you’d like. I didn’t have any on hand, so I used a can of stewed tomatoes that had garlic in it. Quick fix! After stirring those ingredients into the pot, you may now add the black beans and corn.

- Let sit on the stove top without a lid over medium heat until baked potatoes are finished cooking. Meanwhile, in a small bowl prepare sour creme by combining soy yogurt with lime juice and cilantro to taste.

- Once everything’s finished cooking, serve chili on top of baked potatoes, with a dollop of sour creme. I confess to adding a few pads of butter and some salt to my potato fluff prior to dousing it with chili, then stirring it all together into one gnarly looking (but delicious tasting!) mess.

Enjoy! :)

Last night I arrived back in Arcata after the longest (and best!) weekend of my life. We went on a huge family trip to Disneyland for one day, and I’m shocked to report that we managed to ride all the rides– well, the important ones, anyway– even with park hopper tickets in hand! After everyone had their fills we had a grand total of 14 hours of fun… And 500+ photos for me to sort through and edit!

I have no clue how I’m going to manage getting these done in a reasonable amount of time. What’s even worse is that Amanda sent me a link to these adorable amigurumi made by Flickr user artoo1121. There’s everything from Lord of the Rings, to Futurama, to Firefly– and of course Star Wars! Some of the costumes are extremely well crafted, and I just can’t take my eyes off this Zoidberg!

They have an Etsy shop as well as a blog. I can’t tell you how tempted I am to put in some custom orders, but ever since my mother took up crocheting the last thing I need is even more amigurumi.

Who am I trying to kid? You can never have too much amigurumi! :D

Chris is an official college graduate now, and when the semester was winding down I knew I had to get him a gift. He’s not one for overly fanciful things, or even things in general, so shopping can be a bit trying. When the only ideas he could give me were for silly books I knew I had to start thinking outside of the box. And then I remembered: Think Geek!

I hadn’t been to the shop in ages, but if there’s anything Chris loves it’s Rubik’s cubes, and I would’ve bet my life they’d have some sort of alternative cube. I seriously wasn’t ready for this, though. Behold: the Irregular IQ Cube!

This thing is insane. I thought it’d give Chris something to tickle his brain with now that school’s out forever, not to mention the fact that he has mastered the normal cube to the point where it must be a bit of a bore now. He’s perplexed and determined all the same– a sign that I picked the right gift. There’s one more nerdy part to his brain-tickler graduation gift, but it hasn’t arrived yet so my lips are sealed!

Of course, I couldn’t leave with just that. I hadn’t been to Think Geek in so long, I forgot what amazing things they have to offer the repressed nerd in us all. Honestly, I could empty my whole bank account in one fell swoop. I managed to only buy myself one thing, the Atomic Tupperware set. They’re fantastic! Dishwasher / Microwave safe, and they nest for easy storage. My kinda tupperware!

Holding back didn’t do a whole lot of good, because the next time I go back I know I’m just gonna burst! I built up quite a shopping list…

I would’ve easily dropped $40 on a “What the Frak?” hoodie, had the smalls been in stock.

And, while we’re on the subject of the best SciFi television show ever, my dream home will have these sprinkled along the walls, framed and matted of course!

With the Equal Measure cup, I can satisfy both my geeky and foodie desires. Two birds, one stone!

Needs no explanation. Every home should have one of these.

And then, of course, the t-shirts. Sweet Jesus, the t-shirts!

Like I said: my whole bank account!