Recipe: Bunless Burgers

As discussed in Episode 14 of The Pagan Knitter podcast, my recipe for a bunless burger.

Bunless Homemade Burgers

Ingredients
Patties:

• 1lb/454grams ground meat (any of the following - chicken, turkey, beef, bison, venison, ostrich)
• 1 small white or yellow onion, skin off, grated fine
• 1 cup bread crumbs (homemade or store-bought, or finely crushed taco or potato chips)
• 1 whole egg
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• handful of fresh or dried herbs like parsley, sage, rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme, marjoram (play with combos of these)
• 1 heaping teaspoon of fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• optional spices - cumin, garlic powder, fresh garlic (2 cloves, finely minced), paprika, chili powder

Burger supports:

• Lettuce leaves (Romaine, Red or Green-leaf - you want large leaves for holding the patties)
• Optional veggies to add to your burger: tomato slices, avocado slices, sprouts (alfalfa or sunflower), sauteed red onion, sauteed mushrooms, bell pepper, hot peppers, or others that you love in a regular burger.
• Mayonaise, or other condiments, such as ketchup, mustard, relish.
• Sliced cheese (for melting on patties)

Directions:

• Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.  Use your hands or a spoon to thoroughly mix.  
• Form six or seven patties. 
• Cook on bbq or on stovetop in a frying pan, for seven to 10 minutes, or until cooked through.
• Lay a large leaf of lettuce on a plate.  Spread any condiments onto leaf.  Place a cooked patty onto leaf, and top with other veggies.  Top with another large leaf.  Wrap loosely.  Consume (messy but tasty!).

Recipe: Nutty Granola

Ursa's Nutty Granola
(adapted from the Organic Granola recipe from the Planet Organic cookbook)
I like to use as much organic ingredients in this recipe as possible.

• 3 cups slow-cooking rolled oats
• 1 cup pumpkin seeds (or 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/2 cup sunflower seeds)
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1/2 cup almonds, whole or roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup hazelnuts
• 3/4 - 1 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup honey & agave nectar
• 1 cup dried fruit - raisins, blueberries, cranberries, chopped apricots

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.  In a large bowl, combine oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, cinnamon, salt.  In a 2 cup glass measuring cup, melt coconut oil.  Add the maple syrup, honey and agave nectar.  Pour this mixture over the dry ingredients. Stir well to combine. 

Divide mixture onto two cookie sheets, place both in oven on two racks (both in the middle area).  Bake 1-2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes.  Rotate the two sheets between the two racks.  When nuts and oats are toasty brown, remove from oven.  Let cool.   Place in airtight container, add berries, close the lid and shake container to mix.   

Enjoy with milk as a cereal, with yogurt, or dry as a snack. 

Feel free to try other nut and/or seed combinations in this blend.

That time of year...

In January of this year, I made a post of a movie from YouTube called "Filmography 2010".   The creator of this amazing mash-up of movies from 2010 is Gen I, and she lives in Vancouver (I think). 

Ms. Gen I has done it again with another movie mash-up - this one, oddly enough, is called "Filmography 2011".

Enjoy.

So Funny!

Found this little video through another blog.  Oh dear - funny, and true!

Beautiful Boy...

This brought tears to my eyes...

A young man, raised by a lesbian couple, addressed the Iowa House of Representatives in February 2011. Here are his words:

Doctor Who fun

I found this video through Ravelry yesterday.  It's a fun amateur song & dance from the cast and crew of the TV show "Doctor Who", as a send-off to the 10th Doctor played by David Tennant.  Gave me a giggle or two...

NaNoWriMo (Rebel!)

That's right, I am a rebel.  A NaNoWriMo rebel. 

You see, most of the NaNoWriMo participants are writing novels.  It is "National Novel Writing Month", after all.  But I am working on my screenplay, thus the "rebel" part.  

Having decided to follow the NaNo mandate to concentrate on writing for the month of November, I decided to see if I could complete the first draft version of the entire second Act of my script (the largest part of the story).  It's about time I get this baby written!  Besides, much of December will likely be a write-off, with my boys home from school for some of it, and the usual busy-ness of that month (all the holiday feasting/baking/celebrating...).

Is anyone else writing this month - novel, screenplay or otherwise?

With a calm joy, whilst typing at my kitchen table, with a view of golden maple leaves and grey skies out my window,
Ursa