Summer in Paris

Whoops, typo I meant Pairs.

It’s Hot time, summer in the city which means lots of salads, vegetables and fruits are fresh and yummy. Perhaps you also want to eat more vegetables to lose that bikini weight. Then, these pairs are for you.

Learn to think like a vegetarian. People often ask me, “If you don’t eat meat, what do you eat?” Then they look at me and realize I don’t miss too many meals.  You may have decided to leave meat out of a meal or two, or all. Since you cannot replace something with nothing here are seven pairings that you can incorporate into your summer menus for variety, flavor and nutrition.

Think outside of the butcher box.

Lime and Salad

Limes are high in vitamin C and a mild anti-inflammatory. They help freshen flavors and can replace salt. Squeeze a lime wedge over a fresh lettuce salad and it will pop.  You won’t need as much dressing, saving calories

Cantaloupe and Avocado

This is a powerful pair. High in vitamins A and C and mildly anti-inflammatory. Avocado has lots of good fat.

Slice the melon into cubes and serve with slices of avocado.  Ration 3 parts melon to 1 part avocado. The creamy avocado complements the cool moist melon. This makes a great breakfast, snack or dessert

Tomato  and watermelon

You likely know both these fruits are good for you. They’re full of vitamins, moisture and fiber. Both are ripe at the same time of year.  Buy them fresh, from a Farm stand if possible.  Luscious juicy tomatoes are a delight with luscious juicy watermelon.  Cube both and serve in equal amounts. So cool and refreshing, a great salad or appetizer.

Tomato and mozzarella

AKA Caprese.  Fresh slices of red ripe tomatoes, alternated with thin slices of fresh mozzarella. Salt lightly, sprinkle with olive oil and strips of fresh basil. Not exactly low in calories, but the olive oil is a good fat (MUFA) and fresh mozzarella is a healthy cheese.

You must use fresh mozzarella, the kind wrapped in a ball or floating in water. Lower in salts and fats. Not the pizza topping stuff grated or sliced in baggies. Fresh mozzarella is creamy and has mild flavor.

Eat this as a salad or put onto a pizza crust and bake. Then it becomes margherita pizza. Or toast bread in olive oil, lay a  couple slices of fresh mozzarella on top, cover with tomato slices and shred fresh basil over the top.   This is my go-to lunch this week.

Eggs and Olives

These two round beauties will kick up main dish salads. I use them for flavor and texture, not nutrition.  Although eggs do provide some protein.

Use the eggs hard-boiled. I finally have found a fool-proof way to cook them. More than once on a summer day I put eggs on the stove to boil then went outside for a while. Time passed and I got engrossed in gardening or talking to neighbors or splashing in the pool.  Later as I came inside there was a terrible sulphur smell, the pan had boiled dry and the kitchen was full of exploded eggs.  (Can you relate?)

Here’s how I boil them now.  I place 2-4 eggs in a sauce pan, cover with water and put on to boil. I stay in the kitchen until they are boiling well. Turn off the heat, Put a lid onto the pan and set the timer to 10 minutes. If you actually hear the timer when it dings, drain the eggs under cold running water until eggs are cool then put into refrigerator to cool them fully.  The worse that can happen if you forget about the eggs and run to the store or take a walk, will be the eggs are overcooked, but not exploded.

Olives.  For salad additions I prefer the green ones to the black. They provide more of a bite and salt to the salad.

Chopped up, both eggs and olives can be added to any main dish salad. They add flavor to potato salads, tuna macaroni salad, pasta salads.

Peas and mushrooms

I once read that together these create a complete protein.  Not sure if that is accurate, but they do pair well. Together they enhance warm and cold dishes.

I am talking about the actual peas, You can use snap pea or snow peas but a bag of frozen peas is a must have for anyone who wants to eat more vegetables. Inexpensive, they wait for you until you want them.

Thaw the peas and drain; add to lettuce or other cold salads.

Same with raw mushrooms.  Do not rinse mushrooms, this will make them rubbery. To clean, wipe them with a slightly damp paper towel.  Use the inexpensive, easy to find white button mushrooms from super markets.

Sautee mushrooms to add them to hot dishes, especially rice. Peas don’t really need to cook, just toss them into the hot dish at the end of cooking time. Try them in pasta dishes or together as a side dish

Beans and cheese

Here is a good way to add protein, fiber and dairy to your vegetarian diet. You probably already love the taste of a yummy a bean burrito with cheese.

Garbanzo beans, kidney beans, cannellini beans, red beans, white beans, black beans, whichever you prefer.  Per cup canned beans have 215 to 300 calories, about 50% of daily fiber and 12 to 19 grams of protein. And they are inexpensive, flavorful and filling.

Serve beans out of the can and drained. Toss beans into any vegetable salad. They will add texture, flavor and nutrition.  Sprinkle some grated cheese over the salad and serve. Break up tortilla chips over the top for added texture. Or, let the kids use the chips as a tool instead of a fork.

You can serve this as a main dish for lunch or a side dish with supper.

Non Cow Burger

Giving up meat means missing some of your favorites, like cow burgers. (What? they’re not made of ham.)  So, I was asked to suggest a recipe for a veggie burger, Lots of places serve them, Lots of stores sell them. Soy, tofu, runny beans, really? No wonder people don’t want to go vegetarian.

However I remember my first bite of a veggie burger.  You always remember your first. . . No, really,  The first bite of anything is always the best. Think of a dish you had somewhere, it was GREAT..  But the next time you tried it, it was good or great but not GREAT!. At one time you loved your new shoes when you first wore them, but after time, you found other shoes you like better, for a while.

Greek lamb chops.  When my son and daughter, Toby and Casie, and I went to My Big Fat Greek Restaurant in Tempe AZ a few years ago,  they ordered a tray-o-meat.  (I think I had a salad).  They enjoyed the carnivore spectacular, but when they tasted the lamb chops their eyes rolled back into their heads. They both went quiet (unusual in our family) and sucked on the meat, Sucked on the bones, liked their fingers.  I think they managed to suck the marrow out of the bones.  They took home  a doggie bag of the bare bones.

Anyway, we’ve had them there again. They were still good,  but they weren’t roll-your-eyes into your head amazing. The grandkids have had similar lamb chop epiphanies, but I was telling you  about my first  Veggie Burger.  The Mall of America had recently opened. Toby, his wife Robin and I stopped for lunch. The menu listed a Veggie Burger. (They were new, Mall of America was New, Al Gore hadn’t even invented the Internet yet.)

Trusting  that there really was no  cow meat in the burger, or pig meat or ham or chicken, I took my first bite.  Toby and Robin stared in amazement as they had not seen such a sight as me eating a “hamburger” . Had I stood on a ledge of a  skyscraper there could not have been more fear in their eyes. I do get violently ill when I unknowingly consume an ounce of meat. And we had a 12 hour drive back to Michigan.

But miracle of miracles, it tasted like a cow burger to me. It had been a long time since I really tasted cow meat.  I enjoyed it thoroughly and didn’t get sick on the ride home.  But, no other veggie burger ever tasted so good again.

Here’s my first  attempt at a veggie burger. Casie tasted the finished product tonight.  In another blog I’ll tell you about her aversion to cooked vegetables.  Without telling her what it was, she took a bite. (Good to know adult children can still trust Mom. . . sometimes)  She said it was okay, tasted like meatloaf, not her favorite,  But hey it tasted kinda meaty. If you try it, you’ll be able to eat burgers along with your meat-eating friends.

I am giving it 8 stars, I’ll try some other combinations and let you know how many stars I give them.

Here’s Round #1 of of the veggie burger quest.

Step one, the base

1 cup cooked lentils mashed with a fork or potato masher.

To prepare, rinse ½ cup dry lentils, pick out funky looking lentils. Cover with 2” water, Boil about 20 minutes and drain. .   Otherwise, you can mash up a cup of drained garbanzo beans, black beans, or any other kind of cooked  legume beans. (Not green beans, silly )  I like the lentils because their taste is mild and I’ve had a bag of them sitting in the cabinet for about 8 months.

Grate or mince one small carrot and grate, or mince one small onion. You can also mince and sauté peppers, garlic, summer squash, and/or celery if your goal is consume more veggies.   Saute in olive oil or butter and cook down until soft  about 5-8 minutes. Empty pan, The reason to sauté them first: they will be less obvious in the burger, not crunchy and add moisture  if they are cooked first.

Reheat the pan, put 2-3 teaspoons olive oil (extra virgin, of course, this is so you’ll remember your first) add 4 ounces of sliced mushrooms.  Cook until the oil is absorbed and mushrooms are soft. Dump onto cutting board and chop into small bits. I like the mushrooms because of all vegetables they most resemble the taste of meat.

Once the sauteed vegetables, lentils/beans, and mushrooms are cooled, combine in a bowl. This is your base mixture.

Step two, the binder.

Now you need to add something so  you don’t just have a bowl of mush.

Add 1 cup of fresh bread crumbs. Take a heel of bread, put it into a blender or food processor* and pulse until you get crumbs.  Wonder why I don’t use the dry bread crumbs?  They’re too dry. Yes, you want the bread to soak up liquids but the dried crumbs are too dry, Trust me, If Casie can blindly try my veggie burger,you can trust me about the fresh bread crumbs.

Sunflower seeds.  I also ground up about 2 Tbls

Mix crumbs and seeds into base

Step 3. Flavor 

Unlike with a raw ground beef, you can taste as you go along.

Use whatever spices you like, I used thyme, basil, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder. ½ to 1 teaspoon of each.  Other options: steak seasonings, Essence, Whatever you like to put into cow burgers.

Sauce, This will help moisten. I used 2 Tbls of A1, since it’s what people put on perfectly good steak. You can use Worcheshire sauce, BBQ sauce,  your favorite meat marinade, whatever you like.   Add the sauce bit by bit.  It’s easy to put in but a bugger to take out. 

Now, taste the mixture.  Add salt and pepper, I thought it needed a lot of salt. You can add whatever flavors you like, cayenne, curry, hot peppers, five spice, Add what you like, You won’t hurt my feelings. When you get to the hmmmm, not bad stage,  beat an egg and stir into mixture.  This will help keep the burger from falling apart when you cook it   But, not yet

The consistency should be like cookie dough.  You should be able to squeeze a handful into a ball that doesn’t collapse. If they are too mushy you can amend with dry or fresh bread crumbs.

Form 3-4 patties.  Put a piece of wax paper onto a plate (Am I getting too controlling?) place the patties on the wax paper and put into refrigerator for at least an hour.

Time to Cook!

Place fry pan over heat, or use a grill, Add 2 Tbls olive or canola oil, Heat it up a bit.  If you get the pan hot before putting in burgers, this will help prevent sticking.  This tip also applies to cow burgers, meat, fish, anything, even grilled cheese sandwiches.

Put the patties into the pan. You don’t need to cook them, just heat them through and get the insides nice and warm,  When one side gets a good char,flip it over.  Cook on side 2.  I highly recommend making these  cheese burgers. You need a bit of fat for more flavor.  You can use cow cheese, plastic cheese or veggie cheese. See, I’m not always a control freak. Adding a bit of salt as you cook never hurt anything, I suggest you do so here.

Speaking of salt.  Do not salt the beans when you cook them, they’ll get tough. Do not salt mushroom while cooking, They will get soggy.

Showtime.

Serve the veggie patties like you would cow patties, It’ll help trick your mind. Toast the bun, add pickles, mustard, lettuce, That’s what I like, you put on what you like.

Carnivore Note

Chances are the carnivores at your table will want cow burgers. Like after all this work they still want something different!   I cook my veggie burgers before contaminating the pan with meat.  But if you can tolerate meat grease, cook them together in the same pan, or after the cow burgers are done, You’ll get some of the yummy  flavor.

If you just have to have a cow burger, but want to eat less meat.  Mix the veggie burger mixture with some of the ground beef, chicken, ham. Then fry as normal.

That’s it. Let me know what you think.

*I’ll explain more about food processors in my next blog when I tell you about veggie burgers with oatmeal.