“Naw, I don’t need anything,” I said.

Linda and I were in Panini’s Deli, a sandwich shop right in the middle of the Discount Health Foods store. I’d link you but, you know, they’re too cool to have a website. We were eating the best sandwiches you can find in this godforsaken restaurant desert of a town, but that doesn’t do them justice. These sandwiches are the bomb, made with fresh, semi-trendy ingredients like red pepper alioli or basil pesto mayo, with several vegetarian sandwiches that — surprise! — aren’t all variations of “avocado, tomato and bean sprouts.”

Surrounding it is one of the two best health food stores in the region, complete with an awesome bulk foods and bulk spice section. Linda was asking if I wanted to do any shopping.

There had to be something. There is always something I want/need from the health food store. I get all my spices there now. They’re cheaper —less than half the cost usually — and even fresher than you find in the supermarket. But for the life of me, nothing sprung to mind. We finished noshing our awesomewiches and took off, emptyhanded.

That was yesterday.

Today, I go to make some Old Bay seasoning (don’t ask; it’ll bore you to death and I have to get to my point here sometime). It has cardamom in it.

Cardamom.

Oh, yeah, that spice I love. That spice I ran out of a few weeks ago. That spice I made a mental note to buy when I next went to the health food store.

KHAAAAANNNNNN!

muskrat love

They sure look ugly coming out of the oven!

I didn’t even tell you that story in order to tell you this one. I just told it to remind everyone to keep your shopping lists handy. :p

And this story is just about a yummy veggie burger that I love. I like that, even though it has bread crumbs, which I consider filler, it doesn’t go nuts with them and it still is full of wholesome stuff like green pepper, hot sauce, onions, and of course, black beans. I also love that it stays the heck together. Lots of homemade burgers don’t. It’s like, the nearly-unattainable goal of all veggie burgers: stay together. Like muskrats. Muskrats in love.

Yummy Black Bean Burgers

In my search for good veggie burger recipes, the hardest part is finding burgers that actually stick together! This recipe for black bean veggie burgers stays together very well and has a great Mexican kick to it too. Just be sure to make the ingredients as dry as you can before mixing: pat dry the beans, and strain or pat the green pepper and onion. If you don’t have a food processor, mash the beans with a fork or potato masher, and cut up the green pepper, onion and garlic very finely. I actually haven’t tried this without a food processor so if you do, report back, soldier! Adapted from allrecipes.com

Yield: 4 large patties or 6 to 8 smaller patties
Oven: 375°F
Special equipment: A food processor makes it much easier!

1 (15 ounce) can (1½ cups) black beans, drained, rinsed and patted dry.
½ green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
½ onion, cut into wedges
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 egg
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce (can also use any hot sauce)
½ cup bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 375°F and oil a baking sheet or line with parchment or a silicone baking mat (like a Silpat).

Add beans, green pepper, onion, and garlic to your food processor. Pulse until veggies are finely chopped and beans are pasty, but not quite puréed. In a large bowl, whisk together egg, chili powder, cumin, and Thai chili sauce. Add bean and veggie mixture and mix well. Finally, stir in bread crumbs. If mixture is not thick enough to form patties (it should be), add more bread crumbs.

Take a look at your buns and make your patties about the same size. Big, round, luscious buns require bigger patties, of course. Small, firm buns need small patties. There are zero sexual innuendos in this paragraph.

Put the patties on your prepared baking sheet, and bake at 375°F for 20 minutes total: 10 minutes on one side, flip, 10 minutes on the other side.

Ohnoes. A pantry meal — in June!

It may be spring — almost summer — but the garden’s getting a slow start around here. A very wet spring kept us from planting until late May. We’ve already burned past the asparagus and rhubarb, and strawberries are due any day now, but normally at this time we’d have lettuce and radishes at the very least.

But it was not to be. The radishes are just about big enough to snack on, but there just isn’t a lot going on yet. I’m not in the mood for hot, heavy, stick-to-your ribs food now, though, so I turned to a main-course salad and dug out this black bean and couscous salad recipe.

Couscous is one of my favorite pastas/grains. I like whole-wheat couscous (obviously!) and it’s one of the whole-grain products that doesn’t seem any different from non-whole-grain variety. It isn’t even prepared differently; perhaps a touch more water or broth when making it, but it turns out fine without such watchfulness. Couscous also pairs amazingly with beans, and I’m partial to black beans. A lot of which goes to explain why I enjoy this salad so much.

You’ll notice in the picture that I used green pepper because that’s what was on hand, but it’s really yummy with sweet red pepper. Also, notice how white the corn is? That’s because it’s from the corn I froze last year, another good reason to have some now — I froze a lot of sweet corn!

The dressing is what makes it stand out, though. This is one of those malleable salad recipes where you can mix and match and swap ingredients to no ill effect, because the aromatic olive oil and lime juice mixture that’s holding it all together is what makes it sing.

So I thawed some frozen corn, got out some whole-wheat couscous and black beans, chopped up the pepper and green onion (the only fresh ingredients) and mixed up the dressing, and had a refreshing spring pantry dinner.

black bean and couscous salad

prep: 15 minutes
to table: 20 minutes
serves: 8

1 cup whole wheat couscous
1-1/3 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or from concentrate
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
4 green onions, chopped, green tops only
1 bell pepper, any color, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro or 1tablespoon dried
1-1/2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained

In a medium saucepan, bring the vegetable broth to a boil. Add the couscous and stir. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, cumin, salt and pepper. If using dried cilantro, add now as well. Stir in green onions, bell pepper, fresh cilantro (if using), corn, and black beans.

With a fork, fluff the couscous. Add couscous to the vegetable/dressing mixture and mix well. Serve immediately or chill.