Veggie Sandwiches with Walnut Pesto, Roasted Beets and Walnuts, and Sautéed Beet Greens

I actually made this pesto last weekend when I got fresh sweet basil from the farmer's market. I guess I got lazy, then went off on tangents, posting about other things. I remembered as we had these sandwiches again over the weekend to use up the remaining pesto that I had never posted about it!

This is a very basic pesto recipe, nothing special. This was my first time ever making pesto at home and it turned out really well. I used walnuts instead of pine nuts in our pesto as walnuts are far more abundant in the Midwest than pine nuts and are thus much cheaper. I feel a little silly for buying walnuts though as walnut tress grow all over the place in Missouri, I'm just unsure as I don't know what, if anything, they've been sprayed with. People and their stupid chemicals have to ruin all the wild food out there.

When we had these sandwiches over the weekend, I also prepared some beets as sides. I roasted the beetroots drizzled with a little olive oil at 400(F) for about an hour and a half and tossed them with some chopped walnuts and salt and pepper. I also made Sautéed Beet Greens again, this time I used malt vinegar and it was much better, I will edit the recipe. The roasted beets and walnuts weren't the greatest. We made them better by eating the beetroots with the beet greens. It was worth a shot, but we won't be doing that with the beets again.

Anyways, had I not been lazy, I would have made the focaccia that Jessy posted about awhile back, but alas I was being lazy, so both times we made these sandwiches, we just bought a petite loaf of multigrain bread.

Walnut Pesto

2-3 cups fresh sweet basil

1/3 cup walnuts

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

1/2 cup good olive oil

pinch white pepper

pinch salt

Combine all ingredients together in a food processor.

I slathered some pesto on both pieces of the bread (which was warm), I layered on fresh spinach, onions, artichoke hearts (these are optional, we used them the first time we had these as we had a can lying around, we didn't use artichoke hearts the second time we had these), and tomato.

These were the sides. I really like beet greens a lot. I'm thinking that over the winter, we should attempt to grow baby beets, so we'll still get lots of greens, but won't have near as large of beet roots to work with.

'Til next time.

Sushi 'Burgers' with Asian-ish Slaw

This meal was one of the more experimental things I have tried and I'm pleased to say it turned out really well. I modified the recipe for the sushi 'burgers' from here. I loved the spiciness of the burger and it even had a slightly "fishy" quality to it, but not overpoweringly so.

I added shredded beets to the coleslaw for some sweetness, which complimented the savory and slightly spicy burger quite well. The dried cranberries offered more sweetness and a nice addition of texture. The peanuts add an additional burst of protein and good fat, while adding a nice crunch to the dish.

The meal was also quite easy as I had my microplane grater and food processor do most of the work for me.















Sushi 'Burgers'
Makes 4 large patties

1/2 cup sushi rice, cooked
1 cup adzuki beans, cooked
1 sheet of nori, shredded
1/2 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1 carrot, peeled and shredded (I used a microplane grater)
1/2 cucumber, peeled and shredded (Again, I used a microplane grater)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and grated with the microplane (or finely minced)
1/2 yellow onion, shredded with the microplane (or finely minced)
2 hot banana peppers (or jalapeno, Anaheim, Hungarian Wax, Serrano, etc), stems removed, shredded with microplane (or finely minced)
1 1/2 tbsp seasoned brown rice vinegar
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tbsp shoyu (or other soy sauce)
1 tsp wasabi powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger

In a large bowl, lightly mash the adzuki beans with a fork.

Combine with the rest of the ingredients.

Form into 4 large patties and refrigerate for about an hour to let the patties "set".

Lightly coat the bottom of a small skillet with oil (I used coconut, probably about 1/4-1/2 tsp). Fry patties for about 5-8 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.

Top with Asian-ish slaw (recipe follows).

Asian-isn Slaw

Salad:
1 cup red cabbage, shredded
1 cup green cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, peeled and shredded
1/4 yellow onion, shredded
2 beets, peeled and shredded
1/4 cup dried cranberries (or raisins)
1/4 cup crushed peanuts

Dressing:
2 tbsp vegan mayonnaise
1/3 cup peanut oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup seasoned brown rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2-4 tbsp raw sugar
2 green serrano chilies, seeded and minced (Thai chilies would be even better)
1/4 tsp ground ginger
salt and white pepper to taste

Shred all the salad ingredients except the peanuts and cranberries in a food processor or with a box grater. Set aside.

Whisk together all the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad.

Refrigerate for about an hour to allow flavors to meld.

Right before serving, stir in the cranberries and peanuts.

This meal had quite a bit more oil in it than I usually use, but we had a more active than usual day. We had this on Saturday, so, as usual, we walked to and from the farmer's market and we also went out walking for a couple of hours with a good friend at a local park, so this meal was very nice after a long day walking outside. We were lucky to be able to walk in a shaded park, it felt so much cooler beneath those trees than out exposed to the scorching sun.

Well, I'm off to prepare a simple dinner, enjoy a fresh batch of sun tea (our favorite recipe is a gallon jug filled with water and 4 fair trade, organic Darjeeling tea bags and 1 organic peppermint tea bag, so refreshing!), and probably take a sneak peek at the book I chose for the month of July's "Blogging Borkworm" review, though I still have to finish Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Phillips (it's a really long book). I chose "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman, he explores how the planet would respond without the pressures of human civilization. Interesting topic to ponder.

Oooooh, and we stopped by the smaller, but still lovely, farmer's market that runs on Monday's and Wednesday's here in Columbia and picked up some gorgeous local peaches. They were so yummy looking we both just ate one right there at the market, along with everyone else who had gotten peaches. :-) Never done that before.... They were so juicy, and perfect, this was my first local peach, and I gotta say, no peach I've had before even comes close. And to think, we got 9 local peaches for $5, who says buying local has to be expensive?

'Til next time.

Local Veggie and Bean Wraps and A Series of Fortunate Events

As I mentioned in one of my recent posts, I'm a bit behind in food posting, so this meal is something we had last week, I think I'm caught up now.

When I saw that we had gotten beets in our CSA, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I wanted to try to replicate the Garden Burrito from Main Squeeze, the local vegetarian restaurant in Columbia. What we had wasn't exactly like Main Squeeze's burrito, but it was really close and enough to satisfy our tastes!

Local Veggie Burrito

"traditional" refried beans

long grain brown rice

alfalfa sprouts

shredded beets (we used 3 peeled beets)

shredded carrots (we used 2 peeled carrots)

tortillas

I just shredded up the peeled beets and carrots in a food processor and layered warm refried beans, brown rice, and the veggies in a warmed tortilla.

I served them with some fresh, homemade Pico de Gallo.

Onto the second part of this post, the 'series of fortunate events'. You see, chance stepped in the other day and Brett found something I have long dreamed of owning. First off, I must state that I'm not a fan of shopping, at all, I rarely buy things, and only get excited about buying one thing: books. But what Brett got me is not only a very personal thing, it was also affordable and environmentally friendly. As you all know, we had rented a car to go to St. Louis for the weekend. Brett figured that since we had a car, it was a good time to drop off the old electronics we've been keeping in our closet at the recycling center and take some clothes to the Salvation Army.

When he was at the Salvation Army, he decided to pop in and look around. What did he spot there? A Hammond Organ circa 1982. What's so special about a Hammond Organ? Well, Jimmy Smith, one of my favorite jazz artists made his name on the Hammond, some of my favorite Doors songs have Ray Manzarek playing a Hammond, my favorite instrumental Beastie Boys songs (don't really like the rapping ones) use a Hammond. You get the picture. Never heard a Hammond? Think church organs, pipe organs, but different at the same time. Nothing really sounds like one.

Anyways, it wasn't so simple as him just spotting this and getting it. First, he found a tag on the organ with someone's name on it, but it didn't say 'sold' like the other items in the store with name tags on them. He asked someone and after about a half hour of confusion, it was decided that the organ was not sold, and was for sale. He wanted to make sure I was alright with it and didn't just show up at home to find a 200+ lb monstrosity in our apartment. By the time he had talked to me, dropped off the car, gone home to make sure we had the funds, he decided he should probably call to make sure it hadn't been sold, a Hammond won't last long. When he called, the person on the phone informed him that it had been sold, after all that! He called me and said he wanted to go down there just to make sure, because there had been a lot of confusion about the organ being sold earlier and since he had expressed interest in buying it, he wondered if he wasn't the person that the woman was referring to. Keeping up with all this?

So he goes down there, talks to someone who said it wasn't sold, but that he needed cash. So he hoofed it down to a local ATM, and made it back to finally seal the deal. Whew!

We also got this baby, delivered for $50, second-hand. How did this happen? Well, the Hammond is not only one of the coolest instruments around, it's also one of the ugliest. Let me show you what I mean.

Even Nermal wonders why someone would want something so ugly.....

I'm putting this out there so he can't take it back: Brett told me if I learned the keyboard part of "Riders on the Storm" (the Doors), he would learn the guitar part. You've got yourself a deal buddy!