Monday, September 27, 2010

Veggie Burgers

Finally a food post!  So a week ago or so I found this recipe on how to make garbanzo bean veggie burgers so I made them and they are so good.  And they actually hold up and stick together.  I have made veggie burgers before and they just never stick together or don't taste well or are not filling, but they do all of this.
I took this recipe from Love and Olive Oil



Ultimate Veggie Burger

Makes a lot… halve the recipe for 4 good sized servings.
Recipe from 101 Cookbooks.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups sprouted garbanzo beans (chickpeas) OR canned garbanzos, drained and rinsed ( I just used beans I cooked myself)
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro I despise cilantro right now, so I used arugula instead this time since I had it on hand, you could also use parsley too.
1 onion, chopped
Grated zest of one large lemon ( if you don't have this, don't worry)
1 cup micro sprouts, chopped (try broccoli, onion, or alfalfa sprouts) I have never had this on hand so I didn't add it and they still taste great
1 cup toasted (whole-grain) bread crumbs
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (or clarified butter)
I also added some garlic powder, cayenne pepper, hot sauce and italian seasoning.  I also had a green pepper so I diced it up and added it to the mix.
Directions
If you are using sprouted garbanzos, steam them until just tender, about 10 minutes.
Most of you will be using canned beans, so jump right in and combine the garbanzos, eggs, and salt in a food processor. Puree until the mixture is the consistency of a very thick, slightly chunky hummus. Pour into a mixing bowl and stir in the cilantro, onion, zest, and sprouts.
Add the breadcrumbs, stir, and let sit for a couple of minutes so the crumbs can absorb some of the moisture. The mixture should be moist enough to easily form and hold a patty shape. Add more bread crumbs a bit at a time to firm up the dough if need be. Conversely, a bit of water or more egg can be used to moisten the batter. Form mixture into 12 patties.
Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium low, add 4 patties, cover, and cook for 7 to 10 minutes, until the bottoms begin to brown. Turn up the heat if there is no browning after 10 minutes. Flip the patties and cook the second side for 7 minutes, or until golden. Remove from the skillet and cool on a wire rack while you cook the remaining patties. Serve on buns topped with avocado, tomato, onion, and more sprouts, if desired. Alternatively, you can make extra-thick patties (1 1/2 inches), and slice them in half after cooking. Put the filling inside the patty, and you have a self-bunning-burger.

So if you are ever in the mood for a homemade veggie burger try these, they are amazing.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Green Follow Friday

It is Green Follow Friday again!  And since I was busy last week and didn't participate I decided I should this week.



So come and link up!

Thursday, September 23, 2010

10 weeks


So here I am at ten weeks.  No that is not a baby bump, just some massive bloating that gets worse and worse as the day goes on.  At the beginning of this week I went in for my second appointment with the midwife.   She went over test results from my first visit and everything looks great she said, my iron content is really good, I have very good blood pressure, etc.  And I actually lost a pound, which she acted like it was a lot.  I didn't mean to loose that pound, I am sure it will come back soon.  She also tried to find the heartbeat using a Doppler but wasn't able to find it, I would have been surprised if she had.  She also said from the ultrasound the baby's heartbeat was around 160 bpm. 

We are going to try and be good about taking weekly pictures, so lets hope that happens.  I am feeling good for the most part.  I think my exhaustion is starting to be more manageable, but my 9-10 hours of sleep each night could also be helping.  Nausea varies day to day, hour by hour and usually results in me just gagging until a feel better.  My worse symptom thus far has been acne, holy mother it is terrible.  Worse then when I was a teenager, I bought some new face wash and I am hoping it will help.  But we will see.  

Food cravings are not too bad, the hard part is finding something that sounds good to eat.  I kind of have to wait until I am actually hungry or the nausea starts which also means I haven't eaten in a few hours, and then find something that I think will make me not gag or gag less.  But I can't complain too much, it could be a lot worse. 

So I will try and post each week about how I am feeling and such.  I have a doctors appointment every four weeks until the third trimester and then they become more frequent.  I have a second and final ultrasound around 20 weeks where we could find out the sex but won't be, we want it to be a surprise.  So that is it!  Oh I also added a new feature at the top right of the blog, it is a ticker of how far along I am and has a picture of what the baby should look like. 


Monday, September 20, 2010

News!

So I know I have been a little absent from the blogging world recently but I have been busy.  With work, school and being pregnant.  Yep that is right, the Stilleys are expecting a baby in late April!  We are both thrilled!  We found out in mid August and are excited for what the future will bring!

Current the nausea thing is taking over so most food is repulsive right now, which is also why I have not been posting recipes.  I really haven't been cooking much at all lately.  A couple weeks ago we had our first sonogram to figure out when the baby was due and we saw the heartbeat!  It was great!

So hopefully in a couple of weeks the nausea thing will die down and I will start posting some recipes soon.  I am very excited for fall to come so I can make some delicious soups and chilies.  I will also keep this updated with news about the pregnancy and such. 

Friday, September 10, 2010

Green Follow Friday

 

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No Impact Experiment Week: Final Day

So I am really behind on this post but I am finally getting around to it.  The final day of the challenge is to assess how you give back to your community.  I think I metioned this in an earlier post but I really slack on this right now.  I was very involved in the community in college and now that I have moved to a big city, I am not.  I really need to be and want to be but I find that I don't have much time to do so.  Between school and work now there is not much time left over, but I still would like to try. 

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Are you ready for some football?

I am!  College football starts today and I could not be more excited.  Since going to K-State I am a Big 12 fan.  I will watch just about any college football game but I only really care and get into the Big 12 ones.  And Nebraska breaking up the Big 12, so what, I didn't care for them anyway. 

So today after work I am excited to go to a bar and watch the Wildcats.  I am decked out in purple today.

This was at last years K-State, Iowa State game at Arrowhead. 

Another reason to be excited about college football is that NFL games will soon start, like in a week! Which means I will be heading back to KC for the Monday Night Football game that the Chiefs are playing this year at Arrowhead.  I can hardly contain myself on how excited I am for this.  And it also means fall is on its way, my favorite season. 

So here is to football season!  Let's hope it is a good one!
The Chiefs game last year that was the day after the K-State game, yeah it was a lot of tailgating that weekend. 

Friday, September 3, 2010

No Impact Experiment Week: Day 6

Day 6 in the No Impact Week long Experiment is about water.  

 Today I am suppose to look at my water consumption and see how I can reduce it to be more sustainable.  A part of this is also looking at the foods you eat, since some foods ( mainly meat) have a much higher water impact than other foods.  The other part is more obvious, looking at when you use water and how much is used.

No Impact Experiment Week: Day 5

Sorry I am a day behind on posting this but it happens.  Day 5 in this journey of No Impact Week is all about energy.  

In this step of reducing your impact and being more sustainable we can/should make lots of changes.  We watch TV fairly often.  That could be the biggest change we could make is just getting rid of cable and then we wouldn't watch it all the time.  I am just not there yet.  I have thought about it, we have both thought about it, we just haven't made the step yet.

Green Follow Friday



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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

No Impact Experiment Week: Day 4

Day 4 in the No Impact Experiment is all about food.

I am happy to say this area I have made the most change in the past 5 years.  In college I became a vegetarian, but I still ate dairy products.  That lasted for a few years.  And while I don't consider myself a vegetarian anymore, mainly because I don't like labels; I don't eat meat very often.  And I think this is key for being more sustainable.  I feel that everyone can reduce their meat consumption and many resources would be saved.  Feeding animals in the mass quantities as the U.S. does, it uses mass amounts of water and grain.  I don't think everyone should be a vegetarian but I think it would be very reasonable to ask people to eat only one serving of meat a day or every other day.  I think Americans are too use to cheap meat, so they eat it at every single meal.  The thought to me is just disgusting.