Nicole Wilker » recipe

Black Bean Burgers

nwilker — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 14:47:26 +0000

Last summer when we began hanging with some vegetarian friends and the hubby decided he liked black bean burgers as much as a regular meat patty, I attempted to create/find a recipe that worked (I ended up using 3 different cooking lights and taking what i liked out of all 3). They were tasty, but did not survive their time on the grill cause they would sag between the rods and lose all their crunchy outsides when hubby flipped them, so the gauntlet was thrown for this this summer to be better!

Alas unless you have a ton of artificial flavors and what not, i don’t think you can cook black bean burgers on grill without foil. (maybe pre-cook in the frying pan and then freeze, or more bread crumbs which in my stance ruins the healthiness) But we did like how this version turned out and of course I only have a picture of pre-cooked, not post cooked (but there are 3 in the freezer, so hopefully i remember to take a picture next time!

Ingredients

Preparation

In a food processor combine – 3/4 cup black, 3/4 cup pinto, feta, jalapenos, cumin, oregano, sea salt, season salt, cayenne, 1/2 the red pepper flakes, and the egg whites – pulse until consistency desired. Add corn, pulse again.

In a bowl combine – rest of cheese, panko, rest of beans (fork mooshed), red pepper flakes. Add in bean mixture, stir till consistency desired. Make 8 patties a little over 1/4 cup of mixture each.

Make into 6-8 separate patties.
Freeze until ready to use – cook in frying pan or on grill (on foil).

African Sweet Potato Soup

nwilker — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:24:08 +0000

OMG – found this recipe the day prior to some wonderful organic sweet potatoes showing up at my door. Have i told you how much I love Door to Door Organics! Every other week i have them drop off a box of wonders! This box also had fava beans… You expand your veggie/cooking comfort zone!

African Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

1 small onion – chopped
2 garlic cloves – minced
1 teaspoon canola oil
28 ounces chicken broth (2 cans)
14 ounces water (1 can)
1 sweet potato – peeled and cubed
1 small potato – peeled and cubed
1 can diced tomato
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cayenne
¼ cup peanut butter

Preparation:

Saute onion and garlic in oil.
Once softened and aromatic, Add chicken broth and water
Add potatoes
Add diced tomatoes with juice
Add spices and peanut butter
Simmer till soup is consistency desired. (I let it boil for 15, then simmer for another 30-90)

Sweet Potato Casserole

nwilker — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 02:26:57 +0000

I decided to make this, because I had enjoyed at thanksgiving…

I did not realize it could actually stop your arteries… It was super yummy, but i killed me to actually pour a whole stick of butter onto the casserole!

I found the recipe on myrecipes.com – i usually only go for cooking light, but i branched out…

I ended up not using the milk, and i split the results into 2 bread pans and baked it that way, so it would fit in my crock pot to keep warm!

Ingredients

3 large sweet potatoes
2 sticks (1/2 lb.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
Salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar

Preparation

In a large saucepot, cover sweet potatoes with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil until sweet potatoes are tender and easily pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Using tongs, remove potatoes from water and set aside to cool. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, peel and mash them in a large bowl.

Cut 1 stick of butter into equal pieces and place in bowl with warm mashed sweet potatoes. Add sugar, salt and vanilla extract and mix together well. Whisk in eggs and stir until mixture is well-combined and smooth. Stir in milk, 1 Tbsp. at a time, just until mixture is moist and no longer stiff (you may not use all of milk).

Preheat oven to 350°F and mist a 7-by-11-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Pour sweet potato mixture into baking dish and spread evenly. Melt second stick of butter. In a bowl, mix together nuts, flour and brown sugar. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture completely over potatoes and drizzle top all over with melted butter.

Bake until topping is browned and crispy and sweet potato mixture is cooked through, 35 to 40 minutes. Serve hot.

Grilled Eggpland and Yogurt Dip

nwilker — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:06:17 +0000

I needed to find a gluten free vegetarian appetizer that i could make with what I had in the house… arg…

But then I came across this recipe and with some modifications made an amazing yummy dip!!!

The recipe calls for roasting the eggplant, I had already cubed and fried mine up for something else, so i used it in that fashion.

Grilled Eggplant and Yogurt Dip

Ingredients

1 eggplants
1 medium minced fresh onion, divided
3 minced garlic cloves, divided
1 1/2 cups plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint (or parsley)

Preparation

1. Prepare Eggplant: peel eggplant, slice in 1/4 – 1/2 inch slices. Place on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and let sit for 30-60 minutes. Flip over, sprinkle with salt again and let sit for another 30-60 minutes. Pat dry and wipe off the salt. Cut each slice in little cubes.

2. Spray frying pan with non stick spray. “Fry” the eggplant till it has a char, spraying and stirring as needed. Set aside to cool or cool over night.

3. Spray frying pan with non-stick spray. Add 2/3 of the diced onion and garlic to the pan. Stir the onion and garlic till complete.

4. Meanwhile, mix the remaining onion and garlic with the yogurt; then season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne.

5. Once the eggplant, onion and garlic is cool a bit, mix with the yogurt dressing. Chill if time allows, or just serve at room temperature; garnish with mint or parsley.

It had a great flavor and made a ton!! Yummy as a sandwich filler!

Instant Chai Tea

nwilker — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 15:40:31 +0000

I made this for my sister, MIL and SIL for Christmas. I put it with bags of black tea because i couldn’t find the instant unsweetened tea, until right after i packed the box and shipped off the presents! I found the recipe on Busy Cooks It makes a ton, so get a big bowl!!! And i could never find vanilla powder in the store and on line it was more money than I wanted to spend, but using liquid vanilla is fine, just let it try before putting everything in the blender!

I also limited the sugar, figuring more could be added later, but couldn’t be taken out.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
2 cups powdered non-dairy creamer
2 tsp. vanilla powder (see bottom for options)
2-1/2 cups sugar (i used stevia or splenda from the bag – less than 2 cups)
1-1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea (leave this out and add the mixture to a cup of black tea or earl gray)
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground cardamom

Preparation:

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. In a blender or food processor bowl, place 1 cup at a time, and process until mixture is blended and the particles are fine.Add 2 heaping serving tablespoons Chai tea mixture to a mug of boiling water and stir to mix well.

*If you can’t find vanilla powder, mix 2 tsp. vanilla extract with some of the sugar until blended and dry. Then process with remaining ingredients in blender or food processor.

Mocha Fudge

nwilker — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:56:07 +0000

Mocha Fudge

This was a Sunset recipe that i gutted due to what I have in my house. But it turned out tasty and could be very bad to my “bottom” line! I’m sure the recipe creator is rolling in their grave since I removed the whole essence of the fudge, but we like it!

Time: 30 minutes, plus at least 2 hours to chill. There are few treats in this world better than a smooth, chocolaty, decadent morsel of fudge, and this recipe is one of the best we’ve tried.

Yield: Makes 36 pieces (1 in. square)

Ingredients

1 pound bittersweet chocolate, chopped 2 cups chocolate chips
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 3/4 cup margarine, at room temperature
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
2 cups chopped toasted almonds

Preparation

1. Line a 9- by 13-in. pan with foil, letting foil hang over edges. Set aside. In a bowl, combine chocolate, butter, and espresso.

2. In an 8- to 10-qt. pan (i’d suggest bigger than 10), combine sugar, corn syrup, and milk, then bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring often with a wooden spoon to prevent boiling over, until mixture reaches 235° on a candy thermometer, about 15 minutes. (use the thermometer! more like 20-30 min)

3. Remove pan from heat and pour chocolate mixture into hot milk. Stir until smooth. Pour fudge into prepared pan, smoothing top with spoon. Chill at least 2 hours.

4. Invert fudge onto a cutting board and peel off foil. Cut fudge into 1-in. squares.

Make ahead: Up to 1 week, chilled airtight, or up to 2 months, frozen.

Cayenne Beer Brittle

nwilker — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:02:45 +0000

This is a conglomerate of 2 or 3 different recipes!

I like how it turned out. Up or remove the heat to your taste!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup corn syrup

1 cup beer

1 tbl butter

1 tbl Cayenne peppter

1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preparation:

Line a jelly roll pan with a silpat

Combine sugar, corn syrup, beer , cayenne and butter in a heavy sauce pan.

Cook over medium heat, stirring until sugar disssolves.

Cook 30 minutes or until a candy thermometer registers 275. (use the thermometer)

Stir in the peanuts.

Remove from heat, stir in baking soda and salt. Mixture will thicken, bubble and turn opaque

Quickly pour mixture onto prepared pan. Spread to a 1/4 inch thickness using a wooden spoon coated with cooking spray (or just use the one you used to stir everything with!).

Cool completely.

Break brittle into bite sized peices.

(while still setting the brittle can be scored for more even breakage once hard)

Other options:

Chardonnay Brittle – replace beer with wine, remove cayenne, add 1 tsp vanilla

Mocha Chips ‘n’ Bits

nwilker — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:08:45 +0000

Mocha Chips ‘n’ Bits – another gem from my Great American Cookie Cookbook!

Could be made with or without the coconut.

Some people might be seeing these under their Christmas tree this year!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter flavor shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tbl milk

1 tbl instant coffee

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/3 cup flour

1 1/2 tbl unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk chocolate chips

3/4 cup coconut

Preparation:

1. Heat oven to 375. Place sheets of foil on countertop for cooking cookies

2. Combine shortening, granulated sugar, brown sugar, milk, instant coffee and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until blended. Beat in eggs.

3. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Mix into creamed mixtre until “just” blended. Stir in chips and cocnut. Drip rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.

4. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to foil to cool.

Yields: 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Getting the oven to 180

nwilker — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:05:39 +0000

I enjoy cooking and baking etc, but have shied away from bread because it always says to let it rise for 2-5 hours at 180 degrees.

Well, i don’t know about you, but my oven does not allow me to set it to 180, so how the heck and i supposed to do this stupid rising business. So forget it, no bread in this house!

Flash forward to lunch with my friend deb. I had some biscuits and beer bread for lunch with her and we got to talking about baking bread.

I went into my normal rant of how the heck am i supposed to find a place to let this stupid dough “rise” for hours at 180…

She says – Oh, easy. (WHAT? easy, well get on with it, how is this accomplished?)

Preheat the oven to 200.

Let it sit there for 10 minutes.

Shut it off.

Whala – you have 180

Well dagnabit, couldn’t all my cookbooks mention that little ditty?

Bread is on the adenda this weekend!

Potato, Sausage and Kale soup

nwilker — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:28:57 +0000

I had kale and sausage soup at my friend Stina’s house last year around this time, made with fresh kale from her garden and i’ve thought of it since. I finally saw some kale on sale and decided i needed to see if i could do as good a job. Wow! It turned out fabulous! I’m so excited!

Potato, Sausage and Kale soup

Ingredients

Directions

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, and garlic; sauté 1 minute. Remove casings from sausage; add sausage to pan. Cook 5 minutes or until sausage is lightly browned, stirring to crumble. Add potato, 5 cups water, and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 8 minutes. Gradually add kale; cook 10 minutes or until tender. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and beans; cook 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Number of Servings: 10