Artichoke Burger Withdrawals

I find one of the most difficult things about living in a foreign country is adjusting to the new foods.  (maybe thats because I'm just naturally a fatass?)  Not that English food is particularly crazy, but I'm not familiar with their brand names.  I've been on a hunt for a good replacement for my favorite veggie burger, Five Star Foodies' Artichoke Burger, but alas, nothing even comes close.  If you don't know this brand, check it out!  Their stuff is seriously the best!  We even served their artichoke burgers at our wedding - they really are that good.

Well I had a massive hankering for one of these delightful little patties the other day.  So I had to attempt to make one myself.  I did an OK job, but if you can get your grubby hands on their version you should just do that.  If not, well here goes nothing...

Ingredients

• 1 can black beans
• 2 cans artichokes
• 1 cup unsalted cashews
• 1/2 tbs dried rosemary
• 3/4 cup flour
• breadcrumbs (from about 2 slices)

Preheat the oven to 180 C.  In a food processor, add black beans, artichokes, and cashews.  Blend it until it all comes together, but a little chunkiness is OK.  Mix in flour and rosemary.  Season with salt and pepper.  

Place breadcrumbs on a plate and scoop heaping spoonfuls of the mixture on the breadcrumbs, covering the top and forming a burger shape.  This should make about 8 burgers.

Place burgers on a pan and put in the over for 20 minutes or so, turning halfway.  

Pretty easy, huh?  I spiced ours up for dinner with some olive and sundried tomato tapenade we had in the fridge, and fresh mozzerella.  

Then I put the whole thing onto a panini press, because I'm pretty sure panini presses make any sandwich taste about 1,000 times better.

I know this isn't that attractive looking, but I'm not taking these pictures for Bon Appetit!  Jeez gimme a break you food judgers.

Oh, do I sound a little hyper sensitive about my pictures?  That is because I can't stop getting rejected by tastespotting and foodgawker!  Look them up if you haven't heard of them.  They hate my pictures.  All of them.  I'm not even going to submit this one.  I'm just going to hang my head in failure and eat my mediocre looking artichoke burgers and maybe a pint of Ben and Jerry's.  Leave me alone.

The Chalk-O-Matic!

Ladies and Gentlemen, today I would like to introduce you to the niftiest gadget I have yet to come across in my DIY experiences.  I bring you.....

THE CHALK-O-MATIC!!

Nick called it a "chalk line" but I think chalk-o-matic sounds much cooler.  If you're a DIY newbie like me and have never come across said gadget before, you must be wondering what it does, eh?  Well basically it makes a line of chalk on your wall.  So if you need to hang something straight, you can use a spirit level to draw a straight line, but maybe it needs to be longer than your spirit level allows for.  This is when you whip out your chalk-o-matic.  You pull the end of it, and a string appears which you can then match up with the line you've drawn on the wall with your spirit level.  Pull the string taut against the wall, and BOING it.  TaDa!

Now you have a straight line which you can use to hang things up neatly.  Like cabinets....

I even used a power drill (under husband supervision) to put that cabinet together.  Now there is a lovely little spot to put all our laundry products.

I feel so organized!  This is in our conservatory, which should be finished in the next couple of days if Heidi can ever learn to entertain herself.  Will be sure to post before and after pics of the finished room! 

Do Bengals Care About Bengals?

My passion in life is endangered species conservation, and many people don't understand that.  For those of you who don't get why people try to prevent extinctions, well I honestly don't think you'll ever get it.  But maybe some people just aren't very informed about the subject, so I wanted to share this with you, especially my fellow Cincinnatians and Bengals Fans.





1,411 TIGERS LEFT IN INDIA!?!  Does this make anyone else sick?  I just don't know how we're going to explain ourselves to our kids when they say, "But that animal was so cool!  Didn't you do anything to try to save them?"


I've been thinking though, fellow Cincinnatians, Chad, Marvin, Carson, the rest of the boys and Ben-Gals - why don't we do something about this?

When the tiger goes extinct then how powerful will our team mascot look? I'm not sure what I'm proposing exactly, a collaboration between The Cincinnati Zoo and The Bengals Nation maybe?  Just imagine what a little Who Dey power could do for this amazing cat!  Think about it - Paul Brown stadium has a seating capacity of 65,535 seats.  Even an optional $1 donation with the price of tickets could probably raise some pretty serious funds.  So who's with me, Bengals Fans?!

Please holler back in the comments section I'd like to know if any other nati people think this is a serious issue.  Visit Save Our Tigers for more info on the tiger situation.  And if you're not from Cincinnati, but your favorite mascot is also in trouble, we can talk about that too!

How 'bout those New Year's Resolutions?

It's already February - time is a-tick-tocking away!  Jeez this month has gone by pretty fast.  Just wanted to recap to remind myself of those pesky resolutions I made.

New Year's Resolutions

1. Get experience for vet school
• Bah, this hasn't happened yet.  I spoke to the vet about getting experience when I took Heidi in for her shots.  She wasn't willing to help me but gave me some leads which turned out to be dead ends.  Also she was Italian so didn't know much  anything about vet school in England.  Maybe I should put this on hold until we move up to Sheffield??? 
2. Do more and stop thinking about doing more
• I've been really good about doing things this month.  I guess a fire's been lit under my ass with needing to get this house in order to rent.  So much DIY has been done and I'm pleased with how this resolution has gone.
3. Be proactive about establishing myself in London
• Hmm... I don't know if this is really relevant anymore.  Must remember to establish myself well in Sheffield as soon as we move.
4. Be active and healthy and quit yo-yo dieting
• This hasn't happened at all.  The more I do things around the house the less time I spend cooking, which means more eating garbage.  I also really need to start running again, it's just SO cold!  (ugh ok I know just call me Whiny McWhinestein)
5. Make a really good new English friend
• This is also a no go.  I hope when I establish myself in Sheffield it will be easier to meet people than it has been in London.  There are no potential friends at the moment, but I'm spending so much time doing stuff in the house there hasn't been any opportunity for meeting people.  We're going to start taking Heidi to puppy school soon so maybe we can meet people there.

How are your new year's resolutions coming?

Leek and Potato Soup

Our Riverford organic veggie box was full of leeks this week and I had lots of potatoes  leftover from last week.  I don't know why, but I never really cook with potatoes.  I like eating them, but I guess I always feel like they're not healthy.  But the potatoes have been accumulating so I desperately needed to get rid of them.

I found this simple recipe in Deborah Madison's book, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.  Gawd, I feel like her PR rep.  Have I made anything not from this book lately?  Well, I really like it!  It's just chock full of simple recipes without a bunch of pretentious ingredients.

This soup is very simple, and clean, but hearty enough for a good winter meal.

Ingredients

• 3 large or 6 medium leeks, white parts only, finely chopped
• 1.5 pounds potatoes
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 7 cups of water
• salt

Chop your leeks and set them in a bowl of water.  Meanwhile, quarter your potatoes lengthwise and thinly slice them.  

In a large (really large - we didn't have one big enough so I had to use two) pot melt the butter and then add the leeks and potatoes, cooking covered over low heat for about 10 minutes.  Add 7 cups of water and 1.5 tsp salt to the pot and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer until the potatoes are falling apart, about half an hour.  Use a potato masher to break the potatoes apart and give the soup a thicker texture.  

I added a spoonful of capers just for a little extra bite and served with fresh whole wheat bread.  Enjoy!