Veggie Patties

My love of burgers is no joke. Grill them, fry them, fast food, gourmet, or homemade, I will cherish it and enjoy every bite. I'm still on my quest to use up everything in the fridge before we go to the beach and seriously trying to cut back on the fatty foods during this final week before heading south. Don't let the bacon fool you, I still enjoy my vegetables and I have nothing against veggie burgers except for the name, it's not a burger, it's a patty. Burger implies some form of ground meat, no? Back me up here, people. I digress, my main issue with most veggie patties you buy prepackaged is that they always really odd things mixed in (anyone care for some disodium guanylate or methyl cellulose?). I also really don't like it when they have rice, but that's a separate story. I decided to use up the last of the zucchini as the main component of my patties, the only rule I set for myself was that I wasn't allowed to open any new food items or packages, only use things taking up space, I think this proves that when it comes to foods like this, you can improvise any which way you please and anything goes.  

Veggie Patties

- 2 finely grated zucchinis 

- a handful of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

- a handful of frozen peas, thawed but not squeezed

- 5 mushroom sliced into thin sticks

- 3 eggs

- a handful (literally, hand in bag and grab) of shredded mozzarella cheese

- couple spoons of flour

I was really hoping to shred some carrots in there and throw in a handful of corn, but my dad pickled all the carrots and the only corn we had was an unopened frozen bag. I was also too lazy to cut any onions. I mixed all the ingredients together and seasoned with the following: salt, pepper, paprika, and cinnamon. I then fried them in a little bit of olive oil. Originally, I didn't put in any flour, but the first few wouldn't hold together so I mixed in a few spoons to thicken it up and they held together beautifully. I also cooked some bacon in the oven while I was doing this. I had to. Bacon makes me happy. I used a little bit of fat free sour cream instead of mayonnaise, added some sliced tomato and hot sauce, and made myself a fantastic sandwich. 

Zucchini Bread

Writing this post made me realize my cousins, brother, and I REALLY need to work on getting better at taking pictures together. 

This is over a year old! We're terrible!

When we were younger, my cousins (one boy and one girl) used to spend weekends a lot at our house. We don't have a lot of family here in the states so our parents wanted to make sure we had a close relationship with the few we did. I was the baby, the boys in the middle, and my cousin Nanna (in the pic with me), was the oldest. Not huge gap though, just four years between the oldest and the youngest. I honestly don't remember what the boys would usually do, but play Nintendo is a pretty good bet. Nanna would often come with cookbooks from the library and we set about making a mess of the kitchen. For some reason, I remember making Snickerdoodles a lot with her. Anyways, it's safe to say that all those weekends baking with Nanna got me hooked and I've loved baking ever since.

I'm still trying to clean out the refrigerator, especially since the family vacation is coming up and I really don't want to have to throw a million things away before we go or come back home to stinky stuff. There are still a bunch of random vegetables I'm working through and the most abundant of all is zucchini. I was looking for something I could make and then freeze to take with us on the trip and that is also somewhat healthy, because let's face it, my control is nil and I can hear my bikinis cussing me out. So, helllloooooo zucchini bread! 

Zucchini Bread

3 cups flour (I used 50/50 mix of whole wheat and all purpose, from what I've been reading, either/or of each is fine)

2 cups sugar (again, a 50/50 mix of brown sugar and white sugar)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda 

cinnamon 

ground cloves (next time I make this, I would definitely also add some nutmeg)

1 cup oil (my indecisiveness took the best of me, again, 50/50 of olive oil and canola oil)

3 cups finely grated zucchini

Mix mix mix. Bake at 350 for half an hour-ish until a toothpick comes out clean.

Bacon Cheeseburger Egg Rolls

One time someone asked me what my favorite food is and without hesitation I replied "bacon cheeseburgers". Judging by their reaction, that's not a normal reply. But it's true. I really do love bacon cheeseburgers. I tend to order them everywhere when I go out to dinner. Don't get me wrong, I love trying new things, and I'll eat everything and anything at least once, but there's just something so comforting about beef and pork joined together by cheese. I know Tucker Max hopes they serve beer in hell, and since I'm a glutton, I hope it comes with a bacon cheeseburger. 

Do you guys remember these? I had dreams about them, they looked so good. I love food that comes wrapped up or in transportable form. So convenient. I tweaked the idea just a tad and made something so delicious my eyes rolled. I'm trying to build suspense here, so I'm going to post the pictures in steps. 

I've recently become obsessed with cooking bacon in the oven. Yes, I am pouring the bacon grease into a pot, it has flavor I don't want to waste. 

All my components. I just cooked the beef with some onion in the bacon grease (get over it). 

Oh, yes, I did.

BACON CHEESEBURGER EGG ROLLS

I only had 3 slices of bacon left and that was only enough for 4 egg rolls. So the remaining 2 were rolled up with extra cheese. Incredible. Perfect for an appetizer or movie night when you want a snack that doesn't require two hands or even looking at. Just pick up and eat!!! Now if you excuse me, I need to go throw away my bikinis and buy a muumuu. 

White Chocolate Strawberry Egg Rolls

This behavior really needs to stop. I'm going to the beach in two weeks and I don't plan on taking much more than sundresses and bikinis with me.

So the fact I'll fill egg roll wrappers (same basic story as the won ton wrapper) with white chocolate chips and strawberries and eat them with ice cream is creating a personal conflict of interest. 

Strawberry Banana Cobbler

On my quest to clean up the fridge I stumbled upon 2 eggs chilling in an 18 egg carton, 2 half sticks of butter, and some strawberries that no one was going to eat on their own anymore. Hmmm... glance over at fruit basket. Bananas. Strawberry Banana....??? Another awesome combination. I've also been wanting to make a cobbler for a while since I've never made one before and this blog is starting to become an excuse to make new things. I read a bunch of different recipes and came up with what I think is a pretty generic cobbler topping. I would say the only thing that stands out from mine is that I used more butter (go figure) than all those that I read and I added vanilla. I also forgot to measure stuff, I need to work on getting better at that. 

Anyways, I now present to you: Strawberry Banana Cobbler

Fruit Layer

I shouldn't even bother writing this part out, but here it goes anyway: a bowls worth of slightly wrinkly strawberries and two bananas, all sliced and mixed together with a few spoons of sugar and a few spoons of flour to keep it from all getting super soggy

Cobbler Topping

1 cup flour (the one thing I remember to measure)

1 stick of butter, cut into little pieces 

couple spoons of sugar 

a teaspoon-ish of baking power

a blob of milk (I used skim, don't think it matters, my guess it was around a 1/4 cup)

one egg (ugh still have one lingering in the fridge!)

a plop of vanilla 

Butter a baking dish really well and pour in the fruit mixture evenly. Mix all the cobbler topping ingredients together to make a dough, it will be very sticky. Place the dough in chunks over the fruit filling and bake at 350 until the golden, about 30 minutes.

Sooooooooooo yummy, just make sure to save some for your big brother so when he comes over he doesn't complain that he never gets to eat the stuff you're making and posting on your blog.  

"Mexican Pizza"

Do you ever get that accumulation of odds and ends in the refrigerator? The half can of something, the crumbly ends of that other thing, the open bag of cheese? Drives me bananas. I try to make what I eat so I can avoid that (except for the treats, I love treats, treats can linger all they want). Living with my parents, creates a smidge of a conflict with this. I drive my mom nuts because I'll throw stuff away to avoid leftovers or give them away when we have people over. Every so often I'll take some pity on those poor leftover tidbits and attempt to throw them together to make something for dinner. A while ago, John posted his recipe for Mexican lasagna on Epic Portions, and it made me drool. I've been wanting to make it for a long time, but I've just been putting it off. I still need to get my act together and make it for real. I had to mention it though, because that's where I got the idea for "Mexican pizza"

My leftover tidbits were some bacon, cheese, beans, jalapenos, beans, half a tomato, and half an onion.

Bottom layer: beans, corn, cheese, jalapenos, and bacon

Top layer: onions, tomatoes, cheese

I don't know what possessed me to cook it in the oven. It took longer than I was hoping for (I scarfed down leftover spaghetti while I waited) but it still came out delicious. I think next time I would put it in the toaster oven. Some sour cream and hot sauce, I was in heaven. 

Nutella Strawberry Won Tons

Oh, Monday. I can't complain though, I had an awesome weekend. Sadly, I had to miss the engagement party of a good and longtime friend because I went to the wedding of another super good friend, but I had the most amazing time. I was about to type out all the details, but the point is I didn't do any cooking this weekend, just a whole lot of eating.

Sssshhhh, I recycled the purple dress I wore to another friends wedding a few months ago. 

Good thing I have pics of things I've made in the past to share! A while ago I decided I wanted to learn how to make won tons, so I bought a pack of won ton wrappers, made normal won tons, and called it a day. Did you know won ton wrappers come in packs of 60? That's a LOT. So there I was, with a bunch of won ton wrappers and no clue what to fill them with. Until the light bulb went off. 

Recognize that little white jar? Nutella, oh baby. 

Strawberries + Nutella = Crack.

Just spread some Nutella on the wrappers.

Add some cut strawberries. 

Fold then fry. I don't own a deep fryer, so I just use a normal frying pan, and it works great. I imagine you could fill a saucepan or whatever with oil and deep fry, but then you have to pour it all out when you're done and blah blah blah. Just do what crinkles your socks. 

Soooooooooooo good!!!