Black Bean burger...

Let me be clear that I am completely inspired by food. I love to cook it, I love to EAT it but I also get so much enjoyment from watching other people enjoy my food. A while back with in the big city (Tyler. LOL) I ate a veggie burger. I had never had one before and I loved it! So of course the first thing I think is I can probably make this better at home. So I came home and researched different recipes and found one I wanted to try and tweaked it in my "Monica" way. I was way excited when I figured out I could make this whole thing for UNDER 300 calories, no cheeses but I promise you won't even miss it. So lets start with the basics....gather up this:

 

This is what you need for the patties. Now I am going to give you some personal preferences. I just found this bread and it is to die for. Orowheat pocket thins- Italian herb. So soft with the perfect amount of sweetness all for 100 calories! Next, this may sound crazy but it was so good. My husband came up with the idea to mix the slaw with the Jack Daniels mustard. Perfection!

 

 

Open can of black beans drain put in a strainer and drain. You want them to be pretty dry so let them sit for a bit and pat them dry when you transfer to a plate. Get a potato masher and work out a sweat mashing those suckers. You can't mash them too much...mine look like this:

 

Next take 1/2 a bell pepper (any color) 1/2 an onion and 3 cloves of garlic and put in a processor and blender and let it do its thing. It should be very liquidity now. Again, this may sound weird but I promise if you skip this your burgers WILL fall apart. Get a washcloth or flour sack and pour mixture in it and wring most of the liquid out. Then plop it on top of you beans. Add 1 tsp of cumin and a small squirt of the saracha (hot stuff) of Tabasco...your choice. Should be looking like this:

 

Mix well until completely blended. Now top with 3/4 cup of the panko and either 1 whole egg or for calorie sake I opted for 1/4 c of egg beaters. Here's hoping you are close to this:

 

Mix again till thoroughly mixed and form 4 patties. I cooked these on my griddle you can use a pan. Just a touch of cooking spray and get your pan hot. Let them cook for about 4-5 min on each side. They will get a little golden like this:

 

Almost there, now you get to build your burger. Top it with whatever you like but again I am going to give my opinion. Smear Cilantro Lime Green Dip first. Patty next, topped with sauteed mushroom and onions then your mustard slaw. We paired our burgers with roasted sweet potatoes it was perfect! Who needs greazy hamburgers and fries. This is a much better and quite a tasty alternative!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flavored butter.....cilantro lime garlic

If you usually buy your "butter" in the big tub then I am about to share some info that will change your cooking forever! I too spent most of my life buying those big tubs....until I went country. I plan on doing a blog later on how to MAKE the butter that I am going to show you how to flavor today. So simple. But for today just move a little further down the case to the butter in the box....you know the one that says BUTTER on the side. I prefer the unsalted, I salt my food and butter differently depending on what I am cooking. So we start with this:

 

The big mason jar is my kosher salt, fresh garlic, fresh lime and this jar of dried cilantro I found at WalMart. Now, you want to let your butter sit out for maybe 30min to an hour and let it soften. I put mine on the griddle on the stove and walk away for a bit. DO NOT MICROWAVE you will have a big soupy mess. Put a plate under your grater or zester and take the outside layer of the lime off. Try not to go too much into the white of it as that part tends to be a little bitter. Add about 1 TBS of the cilantro and about 3 cloves of garlic. I like to use my garlic press (pictured below) put you can mince if you want to. Add your softened butter to plate...you should see something like this:

 

Now get in there with a spoon and mix, mix, mix.....actually it is more like flatten and fold and you got this....

 

Now this is the tricky part. Get you a good sized piece of cling wrap (this stuff HATES me) lay it on the counter and at this point if you want sprinkle a little salt on it. Plop your glob of yummy goodness on the center and fold over wrap and start forming (rolling) it like you would play-doh till you get a nice size log and finish wrapping and stick either in the fridge of freezer. You should have something similar to this:

 

After it chills it will slice beautifully. Unlike the big tub stuff it does not spread easily but adding it to your rice or even a warm piece of bread and you will be making a new batch ever week. Here is how we had it tonight :

 

I hope once you make it you will recover quickly from having you mind blown <3

 

 

Cilantro Lime green sauce

I love times when we get to gather with our friends for a potluck or a celebration. Chances are if you are one of my friends then you have had my green dip. At the end of parties and such I am always asked how I make this. It is usually described like tasting like the green dip from Chuys. This is an all around great dip/sauce to add to your menus. You can use it to dip chips in or maybe even a quesadilla. We love it on just about anything. It is great on my AMAZING FISH TACOS  or even used when cooking shrimp. I have been making this for over 10 years, the original recipe from a dear friend of mine that I have tweaked through the years.  You will love it because it is so easy to make you will want to put it on EVERYTHING! So.....Here is what you are going to buy:

Now a couple of points......I use light sour cream but you can use regular this is a 16 oz. container. I use HyTop ranch dip because it is SOOOO much cheaper than hidden valley. This package is like .43 @ Brookshires. You can use the little cans of pickled jalapenos but I prefer the jar bacause I don't put alot and the jar keeps forever. Be sure you grab cilantro and not parsley.....I did that when I first started making it and ruined a whole batch. Use a real lime for the lime juice, it taste much better. So, ok. Twist your bunch of cilantro about 1/3 of the way up the stems to snap off the bulk of the stems. Rinse and pat dry. If you see any big stems in there you can break them off if you want. Place them in your food processor, blender, I use a ninja. Add 1 packet of dry ranch mix, juice of 1 lime, and a couple of fork fulls of the pickled jalapenos (use a fork so you don't get alot of the juice and make you dip too runny).

 Blend, pulse, do the happy dance cause you are almost done! You will end with something that looks like this:

 

I like to add my sour cream to the container and blend again however some food processors are not big enough for that so just put both in a bowl and stir. I recommend that when you open your sour cream to pour off any liquid off the top . So now you have this:

 

This will keep in the fridge for a few days but if your family is anything like mine, it won't last that long. I store mine in a mason jar but anything with a fitted lid will work.

 

Enjoy! Here is the Fish Tacos from last week, they are amazing with this sauce on them.....

 

 

 

One Fish, two fish.....tacos that is.

We love fish, we love tacos. For us this is a healthy meal that I can make fairly quickly and I don't have to tear my kitchen up too badly. I wish I had access to fresh fish but we have to drive an hour away to get it so usually we just opt for frozen. WalMart has a very large bag of frozen talapia that comes with individaul frozen filets. It is a great valuse @ under $10 a beg and easy to pull filets for small meals for my husband and I. Start by pulling out 1-2 filets per person and place them in a bowl of cold water for about 15-20 min to thaw. While they are thawing you can get everything else ready! Let's talk slaw. You can make your own but I just pick up a bag that is over by the bagged lettuce. We prefer the one with red cabbage and carrots in it.

 Put a couple of handfuls in a bowl. Then get your vinegar and sprinkle....I SAID SPRINKLE don't pour. If you put too much it will not be good. You just want it to have a little bite. I find if I put my thumb over the opening it is alot easier to do. Then get out your cheese. Now when you go shop for your cheese you are going to look for queso fresco. This is a crumbly mexican cheese that looks like a white hockey puck. Open it up and break it in half. you can wrap up one half, you won't need it. Get a bowl and crumble the other half by squeezing it between your fingers till it is sbout the size of peas. Next get your avacados and slice them up and spread them on a plate.

Gebron always does these and the turn out so good. Sprinkle with ground cumin, garic powder, black powder and a LITTLE kosher salt. If you have never use kosher or sea salt before I highly recommend you try it out. The last thing you can prep is the CILANTRO LIME GREEN SAUCE . This will be its own blog soon I hope. By this time your fish should be nice and thawed. Open each bag, rinse fish, pat dry and lay out. Sprinkle each side the Zatarain's Big & Zesty Garlic and Herb.

 

 

 Heat pan over med heat with either olive oil or cooking spray. Once pan is hot throw in fish and cook 4-5 min on each side.

 

 

 While this is cooking heat your pan or griddle and cook you tortillas. Good tortillas equal a good taco! I am in love with the Mission Artisian Wheat & Black Bean tortillas for the fish tacos. If you can get over to FRESH in Tyler their wheat tortillas are amazing too! When they are lightly cooked on each side layer fish, slaw, queso fresco, avacado, drizzle of green sauce and finish with a squeeze of lime. This meal does not dissapoint.