Nomalicious Falafel Burgers

I've been doing research into recipes that will freeze and re-heat well, that are also vegetarian.  Of the many places I have been looking, cookbooks have been a great resource.  The recipe that I want to high-light today came from one such book, "The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook" by Kim O'Donnel.

I made a batch of these yesterday, and was really happy with the results.  So, here's the recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cp dried chickpeas
1 1/2 cups onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cp fresh cilantro or parsley (or 1/4 cp each), chopped
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4~1/2 cup olive oil


Equipment:
1x spatula
2x large bowl
1x food processor
1x measuring implements

Directions:
1. Soak the chickpeas at least 8 hrs at room temp.  They will be roughly 2cups when done soaking. Drain and set aside.
2. Pulverize the chickpeas in the food processor until the beans just form a paste that sticks together when you squeeze it in your hand.  Over processing the chickpeas will likely end up making bad burgers.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, save for the oil.  Combine by pulsing the food processor ~12 times.
4. Refrigerate batter ~1 hr, until firm.
5. Preheat oven to 350F (if your oven is more awesome than mine)
6. Remove batter from fridge and shape into patties, using scant 1/3 cup measure.  Handle batter as little as possible.
7. Place on a plate/baking tray and cover. A cutting board covered with parchment paper also works. Return to the fridge and chill for another 10~15 minutes.
8. Heat the oil in shallow skillet, and place the patties in the hot oil in small batches. Fry until golden brown (~3 minutes).
9. Flip the patties and cook for an additional 3 minutes.
10. Place on baking tray and place them in the oven to finish cooking.

Serve in pita, hamburger bun, or atop romaine lettuce, decorated with things like lettuce, tomato, and other burger fixings.  This will make somewhere between 6-8 patties.



Also included in the book is a recipe for Tahini sauce.  Tahini is made from ground sesame seeds, and can be difficult to find, and can be pretty expensive once you do. This sauce is fairly tasty, but the recipe makes a lot, and it supposedly only lasts a few days.  The recipe is as follows:

Tahini sauce:
1 cp tahini, stirred well
1/4~1/2 cp lemon juice
1~2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup water

Blend all ingredients until smooth.  The sauce should be pourable, so add extra water if needed.  It should keep in the fridge for a few days.

Possible Alterations:
There are some other recipes included in The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook that has the same basic batter, but changes the spices.  If you're very curious about it, you should get a copy (buying is good, but don't forget about your local library!)

While I like the tahini sauce, I would probably not want to make that much of it ever again.  It's expensive, and ketchup, mustard, and mayo-sriracha sauce all do a fantastic job on the burger anyway. Also, I ended up adding way more garlic than recommended, as well as probably went a over the recommended amount of salt.  Tahini has a bitter aftertaste, so salt helps counter-act that.  I know this because I initially forgot to add the salt, and realized my error when I tasted the sauce.

All told, I will definitely give this recipe another go, especially to see how it handles the freezing/re-heating process.

Good eats, and happy gaming!

The Amazing CLT

To round out our month of trying to be healthier players, lets talk about a wondrous sandwich which I call the CLT.  The CLT is made with three primary ingredients: cheese, lettuce, and tomato.  Unlike the BLT, where primary flavour comes from the bacon, the tomato actually brings the most to the party in the CLT.  These sandwiches are best with fresh, large tomatoes.

Equipment:
1 chef's knife
a cutting board

Ingredients:
slices of Mozzarella/Provolone cheese, 1~2 per sandwich
1~2 tomatoes, thickly sliced
Lettuce (Romain is nice), washed and ripped
Mayonnaise
Salt (Sea Salt is best)
Sliced bread, toasted

Directions:
1. Apply mayo to bread slices
2. Place 1~2 slices of tomato on the sandwich
3. sprinkle/grind salt over tomato
4. add cheese and lettuce to sandwich
5. close the sandwich

Serve!  1 medium sized tomato should yield enough for 3 or 4 sandwiches, at least.

Possible Alterations:
Sandwiches are very flexible, but aside from different sauces, there isn't much in the way of additions or subtractions one can make without making something that isn't a CLT.  That doesn't mean that they'd be bad, by any stretch though! 
Now it is also important to note that these sandwiches, while tasty, aren't necessarily the most filling things on the face of the planet.  They'd be best served with a side of some sort of hefty side dish.  One might consider rice and beans, or some kind of bean salad. 

Happy gaming!

Salmon Patties

Salmon patties are tasty, and a great way to have burgers while still catering to people who follow the pescetarian* lifestyle.  The problem with salmon patties is that, when bought preformed, they are quite expensive.  Just like hamburgers though, one can make them at home for a much more reasonable price!

Ingredients:
1 can (~15 oz.) Salmon
1 package (8 oz. ) Sour Cream
1 stick butter or margarine
2 eggs, beaten
2 1/2 cups corn flakes
1 stick celery, diced
~5 mushroom stems

Equipment:
1 spoon (for mixing)
1 bowl
1 gallon zip-top bag
1 large frying pan
measuring cups

Directions:

1. Open and drain the can of salmon.
2. Place the salmon in the bowl.  Pick out any large bones, such as the spine.
3. Pre-heat the pan.
4. Measure out the corn flakes and place in the zip-top bag.  CRUSH THEM!
5. Combine all the ingredients in the bowl.  Mix well.
6. Form into patties, and place in hot frying pan. DO NOT ADD WATER TO THE PAN.
7. Let the patties alone.  Once the patty is brown on one side, flip.

Makes enough for a party of 8.

Possible Alterations:
The celery and mushroom stems are just fillers.  The recipe has too much liquid without them.  They could easily be replaced with something else.  The reason one doesn't add water to the pan because then the patties will just fall apart.

Happy Gaming!

*Pescetarianism is the practice of maintaining a diet involving fish, dairy, and eggs while excluding other meats.

The Classic BLT

Bacon. Lettuce. Tomato.
Classic.
Assuming you like bacon, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more tasty vehicle for its consumption than the BLT.  Makin' Bacon can be time consuming, but making the sandwiches isn't.  Bacon is also remarkably affordable, as is lettuce, tomato, and bread.

Ingredients:
Bacon (I like thick cut bacon for sandwiches)
Lettuce
Tomato
Mayonnaise
bread

Equipment:
Knife
cookie sheet
Aluminum foil

Directions:
1. Cook the Bacon.  Baking is my preferred method, because a lot can be made at once.  It is recommended to do this beforehand. 
2. Toast the bread.
3. While the bread is toasting, slice the tomato and wash the lettuce.
4. Now that the lettuce has been washed, rip it into pieces.
5. When the bread is toasted, spread mayonnaise onto each slice.
6. Put the bacon, lettuce, and tomato onto a slice of bread, closing it up with another piece of bread.

Voilà!  One of the most delicious sandwiches in existence, and it's on your plate!

Possible Alterations:
I honestly can't think of anything that could possibly make this sandwich any better.

Egg Salad Sandwiches, FTW

Sandwiches aren't good all the time, but they have their merits and can be a nice change of pace.  Egg salad is very filling, and it pairs well with soup.  It also helps that, so long as the salad is prepared ahead of time, it's a quick meal as well as inexpensive.

Ingredients:
12 hard boiled eggs
~1 cup Mayonnaise
~2 tbsp honey mustard
~2 tbsp spicy mustard

Equipment:
1 mixing bowl (glass or metal is best)
1 spoon for mixing
1 egg slicer (optional)
measuring spoons
measuring cups

Directions:
1.  Remove the shells from the eggs
2.  Coarsely dice the eggs and place in the mixing bowl
3.  Add the mayonnaise and the two mustards
4.  Mix well
5.  Store

Now you're prepared to serve up the sandwiches at a moments notice!

Possible alterations:
Adding some salt and pepper to the salad can add a little bit of flavour, if it needs it.  Relish or chopped celery also adds some good texture to the mix.  As for the sandwiches, a little bit of lettuce and a slice of cheese is a great addition.  Serving it with soup has  many added benefits, such as making the meal more filling and giving time for the sandwiches to be put together.  I recommend New England style clam chowder.

A note on hard-boiled eggs:  
Either putting the eggs in to boiling water or placing them in water and then bringing the water to a boil works fine.  Putting the eggs into boiling water is supposed to make them easier to peel, at the cost of over cooking them.  Bringing them to a boil makes the eggs tastier, but at the cost of making them more difficult to peel.  You can also place them into boiling water for roughly 30 seconds and then transfer them to cool water which is then brought up to a boil.  This takes a more complex set-up, but does make for a good middle ground.  In the end, all that matters is that the eggs are hard-boiled, so do whatever floats your boat!

Feel free to experiment, and Happy Gaming!

Arkhosian Tombs and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

We journey deeper into the ancient Arkhosian tomb, the air is still and dank. We've already fought the troubled spirits in the first chamber. I mutter under my breath about how no one ever listens to me. I had told everyone that I had a bad feeling about this, while we were entering this tomb. Now we were stuck here, in the cold and clinging darkness, feeling the presence of the disturbed spirits all around us.

We move into the next room, my armor clanking as we walk. We find a symbol on the floor, and four beds, each with a well preserved corpse in it. Each corpse was a concubine, entombed with the prince they served in life. We spend several minutes discussing what the symbol means, finally concluding that it's an Arkhosian symbol for fidelity. Finding no reason to disturb this room, we press onward, deeper in to the dungeon. At least, that was the plan. Before we got very far, the beds burst into flame, the well preserved flesh of the concubines melting and twisting in the fire. The four concubines, now skeletal in nature, stood up, and came rushing at us. Pieces of rotting flesh and fat dripped off their bones, leaving a fiery trail following them. I turned to face them, drawing my sword. The previous chamber had been a hard battle, and had taken a lot out of me. I was ready for more, however.

Liriope rushed into battle first, bringing her spiked chain down on the skeletons with all her might. Quandary moved back behind Liriope and myself, and started blundering and confounding the skeletons. He's doing his job to make ours easier. The invoker, Alth, rushes in next. I'm taking my time to come up with a strategy. I finally find my opening in the fight, and charge into battle. My goal: to keep them as occupied as possible while my friends pick them off. While this is good for my group, it does mean that I see the majority of the action. The flaming concubines tear into me, sometimes only scratching my armor, sometimes digging deeply into my flesh. The flames grew ever higher, filling the room with smoke and ash. Not only were we battling off flaming skeletons, we were battling off intense heat as well. I was, sadly, less prepared for the ensuing battle than I thought I was. Eventually, walls of flame surrounding me and surrounded by enemies, I succumbed. I clattered to the ground, my blade falling to my side.

I woke up a short while later, my friends hovering over me. The room was still on fire, and quickly getting worse. We could no longer press forward into the tomb at this time. We decided to retreat to the room prior and take a short rest. Well, they did. I was just happy that we had pulled through.

In the other room, we decided it was time for a short meal.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'll have to admit, I have a little secret. It's so little, in fact, that anyone who knows me could point it out should you ask. I like cheese. I like cheese alot. I like cheese so much that I have a poster of different varieties of cheese, each with a description of the flavour, texture, and use of the cheese. So, it should come as no surprise, now being informed as you are, that I've been itching to serve grilled cheese sandwiches at a session. But I wouldn't settle for just two slices of bread and a bit of cheese in the middle. I was going to go all in.

Now, depending on how many people are in your party, you're going to have to change how much you're going to have to buy.
For a party of 5, like mine, I bought the following:

1 pkg of Baby Bella mushrooms (sliced)
2 green peppers
1 onion
1/2 lb Muenster Cheese
24 slice pkg of American cheese
1 loaf of White wheat bread
1 stick butter (Tub butter has been recommended)

Now, a lot of these ingredients can be pretty pricey. Cheese, while tasty, can be pretty expensive. Same goes for the mushrooms. But depending on how much people eat, you could end up with lots of stuff left over ingredients to make more tasty meals. One also doesn't have to use two different varieties of cheese. Most of these ingredients, for the most part, are merely suggestions, though it is fairly essential to at least have cheese, bread, and butter.

So, to start off, start spreading butter on the bread. Set the cheese in a location where it will be easy to access. Heat up a frying pan. While the pan is heating, dice the onion and the green peppers. When the pan is ready, melt butter into it. Once the butter is ready, sauté the onions, mushrooms, and peppers. Make sure to keep plenty of butter melted in the pan. Once the vegetables are sautéed, place them in a bowl off to the side. Take a slice of your buttered bread, and apply a slice or two of cheese. Then add a spoonful or two of the vegetables on top of that. When that is done, add another slice or two of cheese on top of the vegetables. It is VERY IMPORTANT that the vegetables are enveloped in cheese. Otherwise it will be extraordinarily difficult to flip the sandwich. When the desired darkness on the pan facing side of the bread, flip it over. When the other side achieves the desired level of toastiness, remove the sandwich from pan. Lather, rinse, repeat until necessary amount of sandwiches have been created.

I recommend serving this with some very tasty tomato soup. It makes for a delicious combination.

Analysis of the meal
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Good:
* Quick
* well received

The Bad:
* More sandwiches! They were very popular.

Closing thoughts:
* Be consistent with the proper technique, and it's hard to mess up
* The combination of the soup and sandwich is classic and delicious
* definitely needs to make a reappearance in the future