Arizona's Black Bean Burgers

Happy Meatless Monday everyone!  For those of you who aren't familiar with the magic that is Meatless Monday, it all started during World War I.  Wait, did you think I was going to tell you about some modern hippie food movement?  During WWI the US Food Administration encouraged families to decrease their food consumption to help support the war effort, coining terms like Meatless Monday and Wheatless Wednesday.  These efforts resumed in WWII when food rationing was used to supply food to war-ravaged Europe.  In 2003, Meatless Monday was revived by combined efforts of former advertising executive Sid Lerner and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for a Livable Future.  Their goal was to develop a public health awareness campaign in response to the increasing prevalence of preventable diseases associated with excessive meat consumption.  Since it's beginning, Meatless Monday has become a global phenomenon and I'm challenging you to go meatless on Mondays.  For more information and recipe ideas, visit the Meatless Monday website.

Seasoned Sweet Potato Oven Fries

There is nothing that makes a burger taste better than a side of delicious french fries.  But we all know traditional french fries made with white potatoes deep fried in oil are a nutrition don't.  Giving up bad-for-you-foods doesn't need to include french fries, you just need to shift your thinking and discover oven fries.

Fresh Corn Salsa

There's something almost magical about fresh homemade salsa.  Maybe it's the fresh veggies or perhaps it's knowing that someone cared enough not to simply open a jar, but it's always delicious.  The best thing about homemade salsa is there is no wrong way to make it.

Farmer's Breakfast

I don't think there is anything better on a lazy Sunday morning than a hearty, family-style breakfast, and this recipe fits that order perfectly!  The combination of fresh veggies, melted cheese, and basted eggs are simply unbeatable in nutrition and taste, and it's simple to prepare.  You can easily customize this recipe depending on what veggies you have hand.  In a word, this is simply brunchtastic!

Basted Eggs

I love fried eggs in the morning but I have an aversion to runny yolks, so I generally have to cook the snot out of my egg whites to get a fully cooked yolk.  I hate the resulting stringy, crispy, egg whites that are left and don't get me started on the amount of butter I added to the pan to keep the eggs from sticking.  This morning, I want to tell you about a better way to cook your eggs.

Curried Chickpea Polenta

There is a fantastic restaurant nearby that makes some wicked curried chickpea polenta.  As I've said before, medical school interferes with my restaurant budget, so I decided to try my hand at recreating this dish at home.  I have made traditional polenta before, but chickpea polenta was a new venture. Polenta has both good and bad reputations.  It's very popular among foodies as a flexible vegetarian go-to in place of pasta, as a base for vegetable ragouts, and even in appetizers, but I think using it this way makes it seem much more complicated than it truly is.  At the end of the day making polenta is a great trick to have up your apron sleeve because its simple to make, is very easy to customize depending on the dish and how you intend to serve it, and it always impresses guests.

Minnesota Tomato Soup

Last fall the hubs and I spent one exhausting day in the kitchen and garden, and at the end of it all we had 32 quarts of Minnesota Tomato Mixture in our cellar.  Every time I open a jar it tastes exactly like fresh tomatoes from the garden.  Since I woke up to a fresh coat of snow in the backyard this morning, I decided today would be a perfect day to open up a jar of summer and make some homemade tomato soup.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

Chocolate chip muffins are one of my favorite breakfast guilty pleasures.  Nutritionally speaking, they're equivalent to a piece of cake without the frosting, which is not the best way to start the day.  So I set out on a mission to create a better chocolate chip muffin that I wouldn't feel so guilty about enjoying on a busy weekday morning.

Duke's Wild Rice Hotdish

Two years ago my Dad died from pancreatic cancer, and the world lost a wonderful person and a pretty fantastic cook.  If my basic cooking strategy is to use fresh ingredients and simple preparation, my Dad's cooking strategy was to always cook things low and slow.  I loved coming home from college on weekends because I could count on trying one of his experimental hotdishes.  No matter how bizarre the ingredients (potato chips, rice, and vegetable soup - really?), they were always delicious and tasted better the next day.  Holidays were also a special occasion because my Dad's formula for entertaining guests was for every three guests you needed two different types of meat.  I'm sure my decision to become vegetarian is in some because I know that no one will ever make a prime rib like Duke could!

This recipe of my Dad's is one of my personal favorites, and it certainly was a crowd pleaser!  Cooked low and slow in one of his beloved crock pots, this dish really sums up all of the flavors of my childhood.  The first time he made it we tasted it together and debated what, if anything, it needed.  His eyes lit up and he said, "I know what it's missing," and he proceeded to add 1/2 lb. of butter to the crock pot.  And he was right!

Reviving Celery

This morning when I went to grab my celery and peanut butter for breakfast my bunch of celery was completely wilted.  So frustrating!  I learned this trick from a friend, and  it's something every home cook should know.

Reviving Celery
Cut the bottom core (3") off the celery bunch and place it into a tall glass.  Add water and stand in the refrigerator overnight.

In the morning you'll have a bunch of celery as crisp as the day you bought it.  Since you have some fresh crisp celery in your fridge, try slicing up a few stalks and enjoy it with some peanut butter for a fast, portable breakfast.  It's a well balanced meal, you can check off one of your veggie servings for the day and it's delicious.  Enjoy!

Homemade Croutons

Anytime I make a side salad with the dinner, the hubs asks if I'm making homemade croutons to go with it.  Making homemade croutons is a skill every cook should have because it's simple, inexpensive, delicious, and never fails to impress.

Spicy Thai Tofu Lettuce Wraps

At my house we love stir fry, but despite the infinite combinations of veggies and sauces even we get a little stir-crazy at the thought of the same old stir fry.  I developed this recipe as a way to reinvent one of my favorite go-to dinners, and it has since made a regular appearance at our table.

Pressing Tofu

When I first became a vegetarian it was really difficult.  My meals always felt like they were lacking something, because my primary sources of proteins were beans, dairy products, and peanut butter.  I refused to eat anything made with tofu because I couldn't stand the texture.  Every time I tried preparing tofu I ended up with a mushy, scrambled-eggy mess.  In one of my cookbooks I ran across instructions for pressing tofu to get rid of the excess water.  I already hated the stuff so this couldn't make it any worse, right?  What I learned is how my favorite restaurants serve crisp, pan-seared, firm tofu in stir fry - you just need to press the water out.

Spiced Sweet Potato Salad

I have a love hate relationship with salads.  I love ordering fancy salads at restaurants, but I hate the disappointment I feel when I realize how simple it would be to make the same dish at home.  I love the idea of making a big fancy salad at home, but I hate that a salad you make at home never tastes as good as a salad you paid for.  But during a study break the other day I found myself picking through my refrigerator trying to piece together enough ingredients for a fast dinner, and I stumbled upon salad-making gold!  Having the right mix of salad greens made all the difference.  Trust me, if you have some fresh dill, you should throw a little of that in there too.  I know, it makes absolutely no sense, but it tastes amazing with the rest of the flavors in this salad.  It's hearty, nutritious, absolutely gorgeous, and it was ready in 20 minutes.

Honey Lime Vinaigrette

I dare you to read the ingredients on your favorite vinaigrette.  Kinda gross, isn't it.  Vinaigrettes are so simple - oil and vinegar, and if you're really trying to impress someone special you can add some fresh herbs.  That's it!  Yet we insist on having a special bottle of salad dressing to suit every taste and flavor combination imaginable.  I am embarrassed to admit how many bottles of salad dressing I currently have in my refrigerator, usually because it sounded great in the store only to be a disappointment at the dinner table.  So I propose a better solution: just make your own.

Baked Southwest Egg Rolls

If you're like me, you can make a meal out of finger foods.  Several popular restaurant chains offer versions of Tex-Mex Egg Rolls, but they're loaded with fat and calories.  A serving of three rolls at one big restaurant chain  costs you 810 calories and 51 grams of fat.  That's almost half a day's caloric intake let alone a starter before the meal.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Personally, I like to graze between meals to avoid turning into a crazed hypoglycemic madwoman while I'm trying to cook dinner.  But it can be really difficult to find a healthy, simple snack that is nutritious, tastes great, and is actually satisfying to get me through the hours between lunch and dinner.  From my education, I know that protein and healthy fats are the way to go for maximum satiety, and as a vegetarian I found hummus to be a great option to enhance my snacking experience.  There's just one small problem...store bought hummus is expensive, contains some weird ingredients ending in -ate that I can't pronounce, and in my humble opinion has a weird off-taste that I just don't like.  Looking at the label and ignoring the -ates, hummus is a very simple product made from chickpeas, oil, lemon juice, seasonings and tahini.  How hard can it be to make?

Vegetable Pot Pie

One of my all-time favorite comfort foods is pot pie.  I mean, how can you go wrong with root vegetables covered in a cream and butter sauced baked in a flaky golden brown pie crust?  But since going vegetarian I haven't been able to find a decent vegetarian pot pie anywhere, and don't get me started on the sodium content of the pot pies in the freezer section.  Since I can't in good conscience give you a recipe loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol,  I've created a simple to make, lighter version perfect for Sunday dinner on a wintry day.  Only 350 calories per serving.  Enjoy!

Steaming Vegetables

The entire purpose of using fresh vegetables in any recipe is to preserve the flavor and nutritional content mother nature intended.  As usual, we ruin the health benefits of vegetables during preparation.  Boiling vegetables leeches out nutirents, including vitamin C, folate, and flavonoids.  Frying vegetables is great in theory until you account for the oil you need to add to the pan and the amount of time it can take to fully saute an entire batch of vegetables.  Steaming is a fast, simple, and foolproof way to cook your favorite veggies with minimal fuss and virtually no mess, and it protects their nutrient content.

Welcome to J's Gastronomy

Welcome!

The contents within are loosely guided by the idea that life is complicated, your food shouldn't be.  I must confess, I don't know enough about cooking to justify writing yet ANOTHER cooking blog to share my recipes with the world.  Instead, I want to provide a resource for people who are short on time, money, and know-how, but want to create delicious, simple, and nutritious foods for themselves and their loved ones.