Um, hi, my name is Kim, and I’m a terrible blogger…

…but I’m really trying to get better. Things have been pretty busy – working, reading, applying for jobs, hanging with bf before he leaves for NOLA for the summer – but the real problem is I’ve gotten lazy. I’ve been making a lot of very quick, very unexciting meals. I’ve also been building up the whole posting process: taking and editing pictures, writing down recipes, coming with clever things to say to you all. Which is to really say that I’ve been a little overwhelmed and a lot lazy (with the blog at least). However, I am back with a kick ass black bean-sweet potato burgers, guac, and gluten-free naan bun recipes, a meager peace offering.

Black Bean – Sweet Potato Burgers

1 15.5 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

½ 15 oz. can of sweet potato puree (or other pureed veggie)

¼ red onion roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup walnuts

2 tbsp flax meal

salt and pepper to taste – I used about a tsp of salt and a few grinds of fresh black pepper

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine the black beans, sweet potato puree, onion, garlic, flax meal, a little salt and peper, and ¼ each of the rolled oats and walnuts in a food processor. You’re going to need at least a 7 cup one to fit it all in there; if you aren’t lucky enough to have a roommate with top-notch kitchen equipment, you may have to do this in two or three batches. Mix until smooth-ish (thirty seconds to one minute). Add another ¼ cup of oats and walnuts. Mix for twenty to thirty seconds. Repeat until you have added all of the oats and walnuts.
3. At this point you should have a thick, soft mixture. Give the mix a little taste (the beauty of vegan cooking – you can taste-test at any point in the process without worrying about dying). Adjust seasoning as needed.
4. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Grab a small handful of the mixture. Be brave, and reach in there. It will be squishy, but you should be able to form a 3-4 inch patty without too much trouble (don’t worry if some sticks to your hands; it’s all part of the process). Patty out the mixture. I got eight patties out it, which filled my baking sheet. You may notice that I didn’t tell you to add any oil or coat the patties with oil. You can do this if it makes you feel better (I’m looking at you, Mom), but I didn’t find it necessary. The burgers were moist on the inside and crisp on the outside – pretty much perfect as far as I’m concerned. But do what you need to do.
5. Bake the patties for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Flip, and cook for fifteen more minutes.

While the burgers are baking, get started on the toppings and buns. That’s right – you’re making your own buns. Yummy, gluten-free naan buns. But first the guac. It is ridiculously easy to make and super tastey. You may want to double the recipe, especially if you’re having friends over for margaritas.

Guac

1 ripe avocado (it should give slightly under pressure)

1/8 or 2 tbsp of onion – red or yellow will work

1 clove of garlic

juice of ½ a lime or 2 tbsp of bottled lime juice

1 small vine ripe tomato or about 5 cherry tomatoes

salt to taste

1. Cut the avocado in half long-ways, scoop out the inside, and mash with a fork or potato masher in a bowl.
2. Add lime juice right away to keep the avocado from browning.
3. Chop the onion, mince the garlic, and seed and cube the tomato (seeding is not necessary if you’re using cherry tomatoes). Throw them into the bowl.
4. Salt and stir.

By this point, you’ll be feeling pretty good about yourself. You’ve made veggie burgers that could rival anything Amy cooks up and guac that will have your guests fighting over the last bit and licking the bowl. But I’ve got one more trick up my sleeve: buns. Finding gluten-free buns has been a pain in my bum so I gave up and made them myself. They’re pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. The naan buns are inspired by a 5-Minute Naan recipe from Neverhomemaker. The only real changes I made to the recipe were adjusting the flour measurement for gluten-free flour and salting the bread as soon as I flipped and removed it from the pan.

5-Minute Naan Buns

adapted from neverhomemaker

1 ¾ cup to 2 cups of gluten-free all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking powder

2/3 cup water

salt to taste

1. Heat a pancake griddle on medium-high heat with a little olive oil (about a teaspoon).
2. Start with 1 ¾ cups of flour and the rest your ingredients in a small bowl. Mix it all together. Your dough should be a only slightly sticky and hold together. Slowly add the rest of the flour until you reach this point.
3. By this time your dough is mixed, your pan should be hot and ready to go. I got about six small dough balls, which works out to three buns from this mixture. Flatten each ball a little in your hand. Place it in the pan and finish flattening until it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of four inches in diameter. Don’t worry, it doesn’t take much work, and you will not burn your fingers. Just be careful. I tried to roll out the ball on the counter, but to no avail. Hand-flattening was much, much easier.
4. Cook each bun for three to four minutes a side. Flip when you see the bottom getting golden brown. Swish the oil around when flipping. Salt the cooked side while it’s still hot and has some oil on it.
5. When the second side is golden, remove it from the heat and lightly salt that side.

For burger buns, I thought these worked really well. They were sturdy enough to hold up to my massive dressing of the burger and some serious squishing as all my fillings oozed out (mostly onto my plate). I’m not sure that I would eat these buns on their own. The taste of the flour comes through a little too much for my liking – hence the salting on each side, which I thought helped immensely. If I were to make these as a flatbread for sandwiches – the thought of sandwiches seriously makes me giddy, sometimes being gluten-free is a little sad – I would definitely use a flour mixture (I’m generally not a big fan of the all-purpose flour on its own, but I was in a hurry and super hungry) and add some herbs (rosemary is my go-to bread/pizza crust herb). All in all, I was super please with my first attempt at homemade buns.

I dressed my burger with some romaine, a slice of tomato, a ring of red onion, a slathering of guac, and a glug of ketchup. Oh, yeeeaaaah. This completely vegan, gluten-free dinner was a-mazing. I added some Terra Chips, baked beans, and a cold glass of organic lemonade (on sale at Wegman’s, woot woot) to round out the meal, but I could hardly eat the sides. The burger was super filling and delicious. I also had some Terra Chips and lemonade while cooking (I was seriously hungry; applying for jobs and dissertating all afternoon will do that to a girl), which could have possibly added to my fullness. One caveat: this is a very, very messy burger…when you are as fanatical about the guac and ketchup as I am. Definitely not first date food. It would, however, be the perfect sploshing food if you’re into that sort of thing. I won’t judge.

And a little something to kick off the official start to summer: