Veggie Burgers

Finally. Finally I made a veggie burger!

The key to this veggie burger is to sear it well on a very hot skillet in order to get a nice crust on the outside. The chopped walnuts add a nice texture to the patty and the lemon juice really brighten up all the flavors.

I'm really excited about this veggie burger, so I'll get right to it!

I started by cooking the garbanzo beans. I'm trying to use as few canned items as possible but you may certainly use canned beans. Remember if you use fresh garbanzo beans you must soak them overnight. If not, they may never soften.


Any color bell pepper will work for this recipe. I happened to have orange, yellow and red bell peppers on hand because they were on sale this past week at the grocery.


I did not find it necessary to use any eggs in this recipe. The olive oil from saute will help to bind the ingredients. The patty will be a bit delicate but as long as you're not too rough when handling it, you should not have any problems. When you cook this patty, you should only flip it only once. Start with a hot skillet and hot oil, place the patty on the skillet, after about 3-4 minutes flip it and finish searing it on the second side. Don't be tempted to flip it back and forth several times.

2 cups of cooked garbanzo beans.
2 cups of cooked lentils
1 cup of cooked brown rice
1/3 cup of wheat germ
3/4 cup of toasted chopped walnuts
2 cups of diced onion
1 cup of diced bell peppers (any color)
4 large garlic cloves
1/3 cup of finely chopped parsley
Juice of half a lemon
A pinch or two of crushed red peppers
Salt and pepper

In medium-high heat, saute the onions and bell peppers in olive oil until soft. Add the garlic, crushed red peppers and cook for another 3 minutes. Generously season with salt, pepper, any house seasoning of your preference (I used Tony Chachere's) and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the juice of half of a lemon and about half of the parsley. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add the garbanzo beans and lentils. Mash with a potato masher until half of the beans are mashed. If you don't have a potato masher, use the back of a spatula. Add the rice, wheat germ, the rest of the parsley and toss with a spatula until all ingredients are blended. This mixture should be very moist and "mooshy." If for some reason you find that it's too dry, add a little olive oil.

You can make the patties as thick or as thin as you like. I made medium-thick patties and I was able to get 10 patties out of this recipe. These patties can be refrigerated or frozen. It is optional to coat the patties with bread crumbs or wheat germ. You will get a crispier crust with the bread crumbs or wheat germ but as long as you sear the patties well, I don't think it's necessary to coat them.

Make sure your pan and oil are hot before cooking the patty. This way you'll get a nice crust on the outside. Each side should take about 3-4 minutes to cook.

Serve on a toasted bun with condiments and toppings of your choice. I hope you enjoy. My husband and I really enjoyed these!

2 cups diced onion, 1 cup diced bell peppers, 4 garlic cloves, 1/3 cup parsley.

It is optional to crust your patties with bread crumbs or wheat germ.
This recipe should make about 10 patties. 

I topped my veggie patty with avocados, tomatoes and romaine. 

Chimichurri

My favorite part of making chimichurri is the bright herbal fragrance that freshens the entire house. You can smell it from outside!

If you've never had chimichurri, you're in for an intense treat. It's green and herbal, it has lots of heat and bite from the garlic, and a little bit of tang from the lime juice. Traditionally, it's made with red wine vinegar, but I prefer lime juice. Use lemon juice if that's all you have.

My recipe calls for a little dried oregano. I have forgotten to add the oregano before and I didn't miss it. But when I do add it, I notice it's there and I love the flavor it contributes. For the olive oil, I use about half extra virgin, half regular olive oil. I think that using only extra virgin olive oil competes too strongly with the flavor of the parsley and garlic. But that's your call.

All of the ingredients in this recipe can be chopped in a food processor. Personally, I prefer to hand chop everything. It has a different texture when you chop everything by hand. I prefer this texture over the food processor. Plus, I find it relaxing to do all that chopping. I like to sprinkle coarse sea salt on the garlic. The salt helps to puree the garlic as I'm chopping it. 

I like to make chimichurri when we grill. Goes great with almost anything! We slather it heavily and shamelessly over the food! My husband even sneaks a spoon full before the food is served!

1 1/2 bunches of italian flat leaf parsley, leaves only

5 large fat garlic cloves
1 tsp dried oregano

2 pinches of dried red peppers, more if you prefer spicier

2 pinches of cracked black pepper

the juice of 1 1/2 limes
olive oil, to your desired consistency

salt to taste

Mix all the ingredients in a blender (minus the olive oil). Or hand chop everything! Add the olive oil and lime juice at the end, blending with a spoon. I hope you enjoy!

Chimichurri on top of grilled shrimp and grilled veggies, served on warm tortilla.

New Orleans BBQ Shrimp

I don't know why it's called "BBQ" shrimp. There's not a drop of BBQ in this and neither does it taste like BBQ sauce. This is what we have always called it in New Orleans. This dish is so full of flavor, it really doesn't matter what it's called! It's buttery, peppery, bold and aromatic from the worcestershire. It pairs great with an ice cold Abita Amber. Or two... or three....

Like most of my recipes, this one is a combination of several online user recipes and several restaurant recipes. And of course, this is a huge portion! We're big eaters in my family and we love left-overs. Cooking small portions is not an option!

I've cooked this several times and have tweaked the peppers, dry herbs (along with experimenting with fresh herbs) and garlic to my liking. I have also added 3/4 cups of Earth Balance margarine because I really like the taste of this particular brand. If you don't have access to Earth Balance, use your favorite brand of margarine. For the sticks of butter, use REAL butter. Ingredients in the butter should be simple: cream, natural flavors. That's it.

Don't be scared by the 4 sticks of butter. Keep in mind that this recipe covers 3 lbs of shrimp! And we always have lots of buttery juicy goodness left over, even after the shrimp are gone. And you can control just how much butter you're eating based on how much dipping you do!

Quick tip, for the dried herbs: thyme, oregano and rosemary... rub them between your hands before using. This will release some of their natural oils, giving a stronger flavor.

You may use the head-on shrimp if you like. The head does provide extra "shrimp" flavor but I prefer the shrimp without the head. I think the tentacles get rather messy.

As far as how long to cook the shrimp, I always forget to time it. I just know how long to cook them from practice. If you're unsure, ask at the seafood stand/fish market when purchasing the shrimp.

I hope you enjoy this as much as my family and I have. We serve the shrimp on a large serving platter, place it on the middle of the table and we eagerly dig in with our hands (food tastes better when I eat with my hands)! Provide lots of napkins because your hands and face will get messy from the buttery goodness and provide bowls for the shrimp shells. Enjoy!

4 sticks of unsalted butter
3/4 c of Smart Balance Original Buttery Spread
Juice of 4 lemons
2 lemons quartered
2 lemons sliced into thin rounds
3 tsp creole seasoning, I prefer Tony Chachere's
3 tsp fine ground black pepper
3 tsp coarse cracked black pepper
3 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tsp dried oregano
3 tsp dried thyme
3 tsp dried rosemary
5 tsp minced garlic
1 cup worcestershire sauce
3 lbs large uncooked, shell on shrimp, 16/20 count or larger
3/4 c parsley, chopped
bunch of green onions, diced
lots of french bread for dipping

Start with a heated large shallow pan. Melt the Smart Balance margarine. Add garlic. Heat should be set to medium so the garlic does not burn. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Add the first stick of butter, let it melt, and allow to come to a simmer. Add the second stick, allow to melt and allow to come to a simmer. Continue the same with the 3rd and 4th stick of butter.

Add the worcestershire sauce, all the dry seasonings and the lemon juice. Allow to simmer gently for about 4 minutes, constantly stirring. Turn the heat up, add the shrimp. Make sure all of the shrimp are bathing in the butter bath. Stir occasionally.

When shrimp are done, stir in half the parsley, half the green onions, and a few of the lemon quarters and rounds. Turn the heat off and serve in a giant bowl. Top with the rest of the lemons, parsley and green onions.

Salsa, Chimol, Pico de Gallo

Pico de Gallo is how it's known in Mexico and in Houston. In Honduras, we call it Chimol. I call it Salsa. Either way, it's a fresh uncooked condiment that I eat with pretty much anything: breakfast eggs, tacos, on top of black beans, and on top of rice. If there's raw cabbage involved, chimol is mandatory.

My version is loaded with tomatoes. I don't like the texture of refrigerated tomatoes, so I keep mine on the counter. My salsa is very tart from the lime and very spicy from the serrano peppers. You may use jalapenos, and less peppers than what my recipe calls for. This salsa is smoky and fragrant from the cumin that is brought to me from Honduras. When I run out, I buy whole cumin seeds, toast them and grind them... worth the extra steps!

3 medium tomatoes, diced

1 medium red onion, diced fine

2 serrano peppers (seeds and insides included), diced fine

small handful of cilantro, chopped fine

Juice of 1 1/2 to 2 limes 

1 tb of cumin

1/4 tsp black pepper

Salt to taste

Dice the all the ingredients. I like to dice the tomatoes a bit larger and the onions, peppers very small. Add the chopped cilantro, lime juice, cumin, black pepper, and salt. Toss together in a bowl. I hope you enjoy!

Hurricane, also known as a Hurt-a-Cane

Here is my variation of a hurricane.

I was first introduced to a hurricane at Pat O' Briens in New Orleans. I have great memories of drinking the large plastic cups filled with the potent hurricane goodness and loudly singing along to whatever was playing at the piano bar. Good times.

While I do enjoy Pat O'Briens' hurricanes, I do think it's a bit sweet. When researching through recipes, I knew this: I didn't want to use grenadine (and have the artificial cherry-high fructose-corn syrup flavor), but I did want that a bit of a cherry color to remind me of Pat O'Briens.

For this mixture, do use an orange juice that is not from concentrate. I had a little trouble finding the passion fruit juice at first, but found plenty of it in the international food isle at the grocery store. I think that peach juice would be a nice alternative if you can't find the passion fruit juice. And please use fresh lime juice. I don't think anyone still uses the bottled "lime juice" anymore, but hey, just in case...

I have made this in a large pitcher (I used cup measurements instead of ounces), let it marinate overnight with slices of oranges and thin slices of lime. The sliced limes marinating overnight gave it a nice extra bit of tart. 

Be very careful. It's been nick named the "hurt-a-cane" because if you drink to much of this, you will hurt the next day!!

1 oz dark rum

1 oz light rum

2 oz orange juice

2 oz passion fruit juice

1/2 oz lime juice

small splash of cherry juice (from the bottled maraschino cherries)  -- for color

Serve over ice.

Easy Garlic and Lemon Pasta

This is one of my favorite pastas. If it's been one of those busy days and I don't have much time to cook, this is what I make. It's super garlicky, a bit spicy, and very bright from the lemon and parsley. It's simple but full of flavor. And it's always comforting to sit down to a bowl of spaghetti, especially after a busy day.

1 lb of spaghetti
1 28-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, crushed with hands *
1/2 cup of water

6 large garlic cloves, minced
juice of one lemon, plus the zest
handful of parsley, chopped fine
2 pinches of red pepper flakes
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
Olive Oil

Olive oil, pepper, salt

Bring pot of water to a rapid boil for the pasta.

Add olive oil to a large saute pan, enough to coat the bottom. Warm with low to medium/low heat. Once olive oil warms, add the minced garlic. Allow the garlic to flavor the oil for about 3-5 minutes. Garlic should not burn since the oil was heated at a lower temperature.

Tomatoes, lemon, garlic, parsley and pasta. Simple on-hand ingredients.

Add the tomatoes with their juices, water, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes on medium. As you stir, further crush the tomatoes with the back of your spoon.

About 15 minutes into cooking the tomato sauce (pasta water should be boiling now), add pasta to boiling water and cook al dente according to package directions. I like to cook it a minute under the al dente package recommended time.

When the pasta is ready, add a handful of parsley and lemon zest to the tomato sauce. Add the pasta to the sauce. Turn off the heat.

If during the cooking process the sauce thickens too much, add a little starchy pasta water.

* If tomatoes are in season, or if you have tomatoes on hand, use 8 large juicy tomatoes on the vine. Dice them to large chunks and cook as you would above, in place of the canned tomatoes.

Chana Masala

Feeling pretty confident lately. My aloo gobhi (potatoes and cauliflower)  was a hit. My husband loved it. I loved it. And quite honestly, it was better than the aloo gobhi I get at my favorite indian restaurant. With all this confidence in mind, and all these spices at home, I thought it was time to make another dish: Chana Masala... Chickpeas!

I've seen it served with bread. I prefer served over rice. Either way, it's delicious!

2 28-oz cans of chickpeas. Rinsed and drained. 

1 bay leaf

1 green chilli pepper

4 tsp cumin seeds, toasted

3 tb canola oil. Heat oil on medium to medium/high heat and add the above three ingredients to flavor the oil, for about 3 minutes. 

2 medium white onions, diced. Add to the above flavored oil. Saute the onions for about 5-7 minutes, until soft. Then, add the following to the onions:

5 large garlic cloves, minced

1 cinnamon stick

2 tsp garam masala

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

2 tb ground coriander

pinch of cloves

4 tsp paprika

4 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp red hot chilli powder

1/2 tsp salt (more or less, to taste)

Saute for another 3 minutes. Then add the following:

1 15-oz can of whole peeled tomatoes with juices, pureed. 

Juice of one lemon.

2 cups of water (this may seem like a lot but this will reduce and thicken).

Add to the onion saute above. Simmer on medium heat for about 15 minutes. Add the chickpeas and simmer for another 15 minutes. At the end, add a generous handful of cilantro.