Tuesday, October 21, 2008

bustin' out some burgers

Patience, everyone, patience.  I want you to know just as much as you want to know!  Oh, I also forgot to tell you that Michael says thanks for all the birthday well-wishing.  He had a truly fantabulous birthday, indeed.

After baking for 3 hours, I had a strange air of confidence around me.  Everything had turned out so well, and it all went so smoothly...  that I thought to myself, 'Self, you can make anything tonight!  Everything you touch turns to gold!'  ha.  Well, I was planning on making a lovely soup, but ended up not having time before Michael got out of work.  So I decided to make up some burgers.  Like, from scratch.  Also, with no recipe.  And honestly, they aren't bad!  The texture leaves a little to be desired, so I'll wait until I have the recipe down pat before I tell you how I did it, although I will tell you my basic ingredients:

okara (leftover from making the soymilk last week)
chili hot beans
wheat gluten
onions
peppers
jalepenos
garlic
nutritional yeast

And this is what they ended up looking like:
not a bad lookin' burger...oh yes, and there were tots.  many, many tots.

I baked them at 450F for about 45 minutes, which made them nice and crispy (ok, just a little burned, maybe) on the outsides, but they were still mushy on the inside!  I need to figure out my bean:gluten ratio.  I used a whole can of beans, which made waaaaay too many burgers:
there's 4 more on another sheet that you can't see

The flavor was tasty and all in all, for winging it, I think I did ok.  There's no real opinion from Michael because he came home from work super sick and a kinda vomitous.  So he only had tots...
glorious, glorious tots

Although, he did just have one for lunch and said that they were pretty good, but really spicy.  Maybe next time I won't use 3 jalepenos, huh?  Anyway, obviously, the tots were the star of this show, with the burgers a distant second place.  

Today, I am feeling quite craptastic myself, so we're having a brothy soup for dinner.  Michael's making it for me and there is an Asian twist involved, so make sure you come back for that one tomorrow.  Oh, and don't worry, package buddy, all baked goods were packed up and ready to go last night before any sickness came into the house.  All is well.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tater tots were my very favorite thing ever in the world when I was younger. My grandma used to make me tater tot casserole and I thought I was in heaven!
I think that your burgers turned out pretty darn well, especially sans recipe!

Kelly said...

I love that feeling when you're confident in the kitchen and feel like you could turn out anything. Way to go on the improvising. Those look tasty.

Anonymous said...

I want tots so bad! I haven't seen them in Blighty since the 80's though. *Sigh*
I hope you didn't catch The Plague from my blog! ;o)
Feel better dudes xx

Virginia said...

ya know, i always just throw my okara away, and i make soymilk every other day...i probably should use it, but i never have an immediate use for it so down the garbage disposal it goes..

i just bought tots for the first time in forever last week, haven't used them yet, but i might cook them up tonight with boca burgers! probably not as good as your homemade burgers but ah well!

Anonymous said...

Yum! Tater tots are the best:D By the way, how do you make soymilk?

miss v said...

hats off to you for making homemade burgers! that michael is one lucky vegan!

Georgia said...

oh yummy - I love home made burgers - still trying to perfect a few recipes. Its so cute that you guys call them tater tots - I think we just call them potato nuggets - how boring!!

Oh your burgers look super yummy - I should get round to making some rolls and burgers again soon. You have inspired me

aTxVegn said...

Tater tots! I haven't had those in forever. The burgers sound spicy good to me, even with 3 jalapenos.

Anonymous said...

don't you dare fall ill! the hot-hot-hotness of the jalapenos should make sure that you don't.

Jen Treehugger said...

3 Jalepenos!!
My kinda gal!
They should give any buggy germs the heave ho.

jessy said...

3 jalapenos = a lot of hotness. yummy, yummy hotness! mmmmmm! very cool on using your okara from the soymilk. that's some good stuff - good for you! yay!

i think your bean burgers look delicious! crispy on the outside and mmmmmm, mmmmmmm! beans are some of my favorites to use in veggie burgers. i still have yet to branch out on what kind i've been using, but some day - fo 'sho.

and about the tots: last friday dan & i went out to dinner with some friends and they royally screwed up our order. it was awful. they blamed the pizza be'n all messed up because of "the no cheese request messed the cooks up". whatever. so because we ate pizza crust for dinner we stopped at the grocery store on the way home to get some actual food to eat (there wasn't much in the house as we shop on saturday for foods). guess what we had for dinner that evening? tots! w00t! just tots & ketchup. and they were glorious and wonderful and scrumptious & yay! tots are my fav. i need to learn how to make them myself, but i kinda don't wanna 'cause then i feel like they wouldn't be as fun. that's half the fun of tots - take 'em out of the bag & bake - then scarf down. mmmmmmmm!

i cannot wait for your perfected burger recipe, and i want to hear more about this soup. yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! and do not get the vomitous - it's icky and = no fun. sadface!

feel better!

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

mmmmmmm burgers!