It's been a long 7+ months since the last time I posted.  I had a major issue crop up in my life that took me completely away from the life I knew and led me on a new path.  I'm finally making my way back here.  :::smile:::

During the last 7 months, I have cooked occasionally.  Actually, I've cooked more than occasionally, but didn't take pictures or have the energy to blog about it.  I'll recap now, though.

In February, I made a Blueberry Streusel Cake with Lemon Icing.  While it was tasty, it wasn't a dessert that my sons appreciated, so only a couple of slices were eaten.  (I mean, really, how much could I eat?!?!?)

I would make it again, but before I did, I'd make sure that I was making it for a crowd that likes blueberries and lemons.  The combination is very refreshing.

In March, I made a chili that had a combination of veggies that I couldn't imagine would taste good together.  Why I made it, I'll never know, but I'm glad I did.  I LOVED IT!  I made Chipotle Chili with Sweet Potatoes & Brussels Sprouts from Appetite for Reduction (p. 238). Luckily, the recipe is on theppk.com, and I've included the link for you here.  I will be making this again this fall/winter.  It had such a great flavor and just enough zing for me.  I highly recommend this chili.  I know it sounds weird to put both Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes in chili, but it was excellent.  Sometimes it really pays off to walk outside of my food comfort zone and try something totally new.

In April, I made Creamy Avocado and Sweet Potato Soup.  It was pretty tasty.  I like a creamy soup now and again.  It was a good way to use up the avocado that was reaching the end.  In fact, I have an avocado and a sweet potato that I need to use.  This would be an excellent soup for his week.

In May, I made New York Times Veggie Burgers.  These were quite tasty.  My oldest son loved them.  I made 6 regular burgers and 1 baby burger.  I got to eat one of the regular burgers the day I made them and the baby burger a week or two later (I froze the leftover burgers), but my son ate the rest.  I need to make these again.

In May, I also made a Banana Crumble (recipe at the bottom of the webpage). I added sliced fresh strawberries to it.  It would have been good with half or even a third of the crust listed in the recipe.  There was WAY TOO MUCH crust on this and not enough fruit/filling.

Finally in May, I made Ole-Fashioned Chili Beans (click on the 169 and it will take you to the recipe) from Quick and Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Foods. The chili is a bit on the spicy side, but good.  I made it because I was going to make Chili Cheese Fries (page 165 of the cookbook), but I ended up just eating the chili.  I have some of the chili in the freezer and need to thaw it so I can make the Chili Cheese Fries.  All of the recipes in this book have less than 350 calories.  I still need to make the Seitan Cheesesteak that is pictured on the front of this cookbook.

This isn't something I cooked, but this dog is something I acquired.  This is Gumbo.  No, he is not my dog, but I have been fostering him since May 12, 2012, so just about 4 months now.  Fostering has been very rewarding and challenging.  Gumbo had been in a boarding facility for just about 6 months. At the time I brought him home, he had lived almost half of his life in a kennel.  (He was just over a year old.)  He's put on weight and is a loving dog to my family, but he has stranger issues.  He's good with my two girls (the black lab and rottie/shepherd).  Although we love Gumbo, he's not a forever dog for us. I'm really hoping that we can help him on his way to finding the perfect home for him.

These are two pictures of Gumbo in August.  He's relaxed a lot in the past four months.  I can tell he didn't know a lot of love early in his life because it took him a long time to connect with us.  Now, he has and he is an attention hound who thinks, at about 60 or 65 pounds, that he IS a lap dog.  :)

In July, I decided enough was enough with my appliances.  My oven stopped working.  The gas would come on, but the electronic ignition wouldn't light the oven burner, so I'd just smell natural gas.  That's not a good thing.  The oven did that once, but then lit up when I tried to light it again within a few minutes.  It worked for a week or two without problem, but then it started acting up again.  I couldn't mess around with natural gas.

My dishwasher was over 30 years old.  I believe my house was built in 1978, 1980 at the latest.  The dishwasher was the original one from when the house was built.  It hadn't been working well for a while, but I scrubbed the dishes before I put them into it.  It still left streaks.  I was just tired of it and knew I needed a new dishwasher.  Plus, it sounded like a jet engine when it ran.  It was extremely noisy.

I bought a stove and dishwasher in one sitting.  The stove crapped out for the last time on Saturday and I was using a small electric convection oven to bake.  Sunday night, I went online searching for a sale and found one at Sears plus 12 months no interest financing.  I bought a stainless steel stove with a black top and a black Bosch dishwasher that is so quiet, we can't hear it when it's running.  It has a red light that shows on the floor to tell us the dishwasher is running.  My fridge is black, so everything matches nicely now.  I swear the new appliances even make the 30+ year old cabinets look better.  :)  I love them both.

Of course I needed to try out my stove, so I made Curried Cauliflower and Sweet Potato Soup from the Fat Free Kitchen Vegan blog. This is one of my favorite soups.  It hits the spot no matter when it's made during the year.  I also made Smoky Refried Bean Soup from this website, but I have no pictures of it.  I made it during the summer (June), and I liked it very much.  It's a heavy soup though, and really best suited for the winter months.

I made Vegan Patties Like You've Never Had in late August.  These are made with nuts, refried beans, and oatmeal.  I made the burger mixture on one day, threw it into the refrigerator overnight, and then formed the burgers the next day.  The mixture was very sticky and soft the first day, so the overnight refrigeration was perfect.  I pan fried them for 5 minutes on each side, but they were still very soft burgers, so I ended up baking them at 350º for about 20 minutes.  That helped, but I ended up putting them back into the oven (it had been turned off for 15 or 20 minutes and had cooled down a lot) and just let them sit in there for another 20 minutes or so.

They froze nicely.  I had one tonight and it was firmer, but I wouldn't call these really firm burgers.  They are very tasty, though.  This recipe made 12 burgers for me, 12 good-sized burgers.

Last week, I made Leek Mushroom Potato Stew.  OK, I didn't have any leeks, so I used more onion and a huge handful of chives (I have a huge plant on my deck).  I put in 24 oz. of button mushrooms because those were the only mushrooms I had.  I used Yukon Gold potatoes, because I didn't have purple potatoes.  AND, while I had chorizo sausage that I could have used, I decided to use two links of Field Roast Apple Sage Vegan Sausage, that actually seemed to go perfectly with the flavor of the stew.

I liked this stew, BUT, I hated the pasta in it.  I will make it again, but I will not put pasta in it.  It was mushy and did not reheat well.  Otherwise, it was a lovely stew. I will look for some Field Roast Chipolte Vegan Sausage to use in it. I might like the extra zing.

Tonight, I roasted broccoli, Yukon God potatoes, and baby bella mushrooms in a splash of olive oil, French gray sea salt, and pepper.  OMG!  I love roasted veggies and could have eaten the entire pan of them.  I tried to restrain myself and I saved a generous portion for tomorrow.

I ate them with one of the Vegan Patties Like You've Never Had smothered in pickles and a generous squirt of mustard.  It was a lovely dinner for a Monday night after a dentist visit in the afternoon.  bah!  I'm not a fan of the dentist, but I go when I'm supposed to.  I never want to have any kind of serious periodontal disease.  My ex-husband had perio gum surgery and it looked absolutely torturous.  

OK, that's caught me up to today.  I'm leaving you with a picture of the three dogs together.  As you can see, Gumbo (the lightest dog) thinks he fits right in.  :::smile:::

BBQ Seitan Ribz and Mushroom Chicken Burgers

Today, I made two more BBQ items.  I made Susan Voisin's Barbecued Seitan Ribz from her FatFree Vegan Kitchen blog.  I also made another burger from Joni Marie Newman's cookbook, The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet.  Today, I made Mushroom Chicken Burgers on page 96.

The ribz were definitely the easier of the two to make.  Basically, I mixed the ingredients together, kneaded it for a minute and a half to two minutes, and then baked it.  After that, it was smothered in BBQ sauce and put on the grill.  You can see one of the Mushroom Chicken Burgers next to the "ribz" wrapped in foil.

The Mushroom Chicken Burgers were a multi-phase item.  I only had whole flax seeds, so the first order of business was to grind them in my food processor attachment that came with my immersion blender.  I don't know why, but I hate grinding flax seeds.  It's really unreasonable as it's so incredibly easy to grind them.  I ended up grinding all of the rest of the flax seeds I have and put the majority of them into the freezer.

I had to reconstitute the TVP in veggie broth, chop mushrooms (baby bella mushrooms that I got at the Farmer's Marker yesterday) and garlic, and then saute the mixture.  I crumbled the tempeh (which I had to use before next week sometime) and added it to the mushroom mix and sauted it for an additional 5 minutes, then added all of the ingredients together.  I will say, I did NOT like the way these came together.  I will also say that my cooking method is probably to blame in part.

I didn't want to add a bunch of oil to the mushrooms, garlic, and then tempeh when it was added.  I initially started with maybe 1 tablespoon to 1½ tablespoons of olive oil to saute the mushrooms.  But when I added the garlic, I didn't want to use more oil, so I added a splash of veggie broth.  Once I added the tempeh, I added more broth.  I don't think I let it cook long enough to cook off all of the broth.  I should have sauteed it a couple of minutes longer to dry it out.

When adding all of the ingredients together, it wouldn't come together.  The dough was too moist.  I kneaded it for a few minutes (good grief, it was like glue on my fingers), but it still didn't want to come together.  I ended up adding 1/4 cup of wheat gluten.  I tried 1/8 cup first, but that did nothing.  So, I added another 1/8 cup.  It still didn't seem like it did much, but I figured if I added more, it would change the integrity of the burgers.  SO, I used a paper towel to coat my trusty tupperware hamburger press with olive oil, grabbed a spoon, and began making burgers.

Surprisingly, the burgers held together OK (with minimal handling) once I put them in the press and formed the burger.  I wrapped each burger loosely in foil so I could steam them on the Weber grill.  The burgers really didn't stick to the hamburger press, which I thought was a good sign.

The Mushroom Chicken Burgers are a moister burger.  They did well in the foil method on the grill.  These burgers would not hold up being put directly on the grill, in my opinion.  I enjoyed the flavor, which is definitely on the "chicken" side, but not really like chicken.  I had mine with mustard.

Overall, my grilling experiences with vegan burgers and ribz was a good one.  I will make both of the burgers from this weekend again.  I'll definitely make the ribz again.  It was nice to cook my food on the grill along with my sons' food so we could all have BBQ for the holiday weekend.

Bacon Cheeseburgers and Roasted Potatoes

It's the 4th of July weekend.  I cooked out on the grill yesterday.  I made some food for my sons (courtesy of my youngest leaving the door ajar to my deep freezer), some food only for me, and potatoes for both of us.  I've been searching my vegan cookbooks for two weeks looking at all of the burger recipes. I wanted to make a new type of burgers. I finally chose Bacon Cheeseburgers on page 89 of The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet, and BOY-OH-BOY, I'm glad I did.  Thanks to Joni for putting the recipe on her blog, so I can share the link to it with all of you. :)

The first step I took was to make Imitation Bacon Bits on page 185.  I've not made imitation bacon bits before, and the recipe for this was very easy.  I just boiled some water and Liquid Smoke (I used half hickory flavor and have mesquite flavor), marinated TVP in it for 10 minutes, and then cooked the TVP until it dried out.  The recipe called for red food coloring, which I didn't have, but I didn't miss that.  I was a little apprehensive on how the finished product would taste, but it was good.  It doesn't taste quite like bacon, but it does have a "smoky" flavor that is vaguely reminiscent of bacon.  I think it is a decent substitute.

I compiled all of the ingredients for the burgers.  If it looks like a lot, it is.  I made a double batch of burgers.  My intention was to freeze a good number of burgers so I can take some to my brother and sis-in-law later this month when I see them at a family gathering.  (I will be making another type of burger in the next week so I can take them a couple of different types of burgers.)

I have to say, I didn't know how well the burger dough would come together with the peanut butter, maple syrup, and BBQ sauce in it, given that I had to use my hands to mix it up.  The recipe said to knead it for 5 minutes.  I can't stand that part and I'm ALWAYS watching the clock for the time to be over, and that's when I only have to knead for 3 minutes.  When I made these, I figured since I had to knead a couple of extra minutes, I'd set the timer when I began and not look at the clock.  The time went by quicker than I thought it would.  However, one of these times, I'm going to get my stand mixer out and the dough hooks and see if that works as well as hand mixing.

I always use my trusty Tupperware hamburger press to make my burgers.  They come out so uniformly shaped.  Note the bottom right burger looks thicker than some of the other burgers.  That's because the recipe states that it makes only 4 burgers, so I thought I'd get 8 burgers.  I divided the dough in half and then divided one of the halves in fourths.  I quickly realized that the burgers were going to be GINORMOUS.  So, I cut some of the burger away from the original three that I made and made smaller burgers.  The recipe will easily make 6 burgers (about the size of a quarter pounder).  I ended up making 10 burgers, but easily, I could have made a dozen with the double batch.

As for the taste, you ask?  These burgers have a BBQ flavor that is mellowed a bit by the nutritional yeast.  I absolutely love these burgers.  They held up exceptionally well on the Weber grill.  I wasn't sure they would because they weren't steamed or cooked in any manner before I slapped them on the grill.  I coated the burgers with BBQ sauce and let them sit on the grill for another couple of minutes before removing them.  I made 3 burgers and froze the remaining 7 burgers.  I will DEFINITELY be making these again!  They ROCKED!

As the side, I cut up four Yukon gold potatoes in 1" chunks.  I drizzled 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the potatoes and added 1 teaspoon of Northwoods seasoning (Penzey's) and 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.  I also minced 1 sprig of fresh rosemary and 3 sprigs of fresh thyme (cut a minute beforehand from the plants on my deck) and added that to the potatoes.  I sealed the potatoes, herbs, and spices in tinfoil, and put it on the grill to cook for about 45 minutes.  It made a very tasty side dish.

Meatloaf Burgers and Jerk Roasted Veggies

Yesterday, I received three vegan cookbooks.  Appetite for Reduction by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet by Joni Marie Newman, and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.  (YES!!! I AM a vegan cookbook ho and damn proud of it! :)  Rarely will I pick recipes out of multiple new cookbooks to make for Sunday dinner, but I did just that today.

First, I made Jerk Roasted Veggies.  This is a variation of a recipe from Appetite for Reduction.  I took liberties with the Jerk Asparagus recipe in Appetite for Reduction.  The Jerk Asparagus recipe calls for asparagus (obviously) and sauteing the veggie on top of the stove.  I didn't use asparagus and I didn't saute my veggies.  I did use the spices in the recipe, but I used a 2 pound bag of broccoli, cauliflower, and baby carrots.  I upped the olive oil to 2 tablespoons and doubled the spices.  Then I roasted the veggies on a jelly roll pan in a 400º oven for 40 minutes.  I stirred the veggies after 20 minutes.  They were extremely tasty.

The second thing I made was Meatloaf Burgers out of The Best Veggie Burgers on the Planet.  I followed the recipe pretty closely, but I also added a few spices from my meatloaf recipe that I made before I started a vegetarian, then vegan diet.  I added 1½ teaspoons of horseradish, 1½ teaspoons of vegan Worcestershire Sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon of celery salt.  My sons actually agreed to eat these burgers, so I wanted the burgers to taste closer to the way my meatloaf tasted.

First, I boiled some veggie broth and Tamari sauce.  Then I added 3 cups of TVP and let it sit while I measured the dry ingredients in a big bowl and sauteed the onion.

The burgers were pretty easy to pull together.  I used the fine dice grid for my Vidalia Onion Chopper to chop the onion before sauteing it.  The onion was all uniform little squares.

After the onions were translucent, I added them and the TVP to the dry ingredients, added the horseradish, celery salt, Worcestershire, and ketchup.  I kneaded the mixture for several minutes and then let it rest for 20 minutes.

I used my 30 year old Tupperware hamburger mold to make the burgers.  Gotta LOVE that thing.  It makes the most perfectly shaped burgers.  I threw the burgers into the oven and then removed them after 15 minutes and spread the tops of the burgers with ketchup.  I debated on whether I should use BBQ sauce instead, but my oldest son is not a BBQ fan, so I stuck with the ketchup.

I actually thought the ketchup would darken more than it did, but the bottom of the burgers were definitely done, so I couldn't leave these in the oven any longer.  Besides, they actually look good and ready to eat.  I'll eat mine with warmed up with the jerk roasted veggies I made.  I stuck a pan of Tater Tots in the oven for my sons.  Afterward, I'm sure they'll have a few brownies from the batch I baked up for them this afternoon.

 

Jordan and Kobe Bean

I'm leaving you with a shot of the girls. They just love to play.  This picture captures the intensity that they can have while fighting over a sock or other toy.  It never gets out of line, but they are funny.  Kobe's expression is priceless.  She's generally my more mild mannered dog that rolls with the punches.  Jordan is usually the hyper dog, but you can't tell that in this picture.  I just wanted to share because I love these girls. :)

Saturday Supper

My Uncle Dave, who was also my Godfather, passed away on Monday.  My Mom planned on going to the funeral with me, so she came up to Chicago on Thursday evening.  We split a bottle of red wine and sat at the kitchen table and talked.  Friday, we traveled to Galesburg, IL for the funeral service.  Saturday, we cooked.  My Mom and my sons are omnivores.  So, I fixed a roast for them.  While their main dish cooked, I made my own main dish.

My main dish for Saturday supper was BBQ Tempeh Burgers from the blog, Our Veggie Kitchen.  I've made burgers with TVP and wheat gluten, tofu, and chickpeas, but I haven't used tempeh for burgers.  These looked good and I had all of the ingredients in my kitchen.  That's always a plus! :::grin:::

Everything came together fairly easily.  Boiling the lentils and brown rice, and then the tempeh were no brainers.  I used the small dice blade for my Vidalia Onion Chopper to chop the onions and jalapeno.  I kneaded the mixture for about 3 minutes.  (It makes my hands tired. :)  Then, I used my 30 year old Tupperware hamburger press to form perfectly round burgers.

I baked them for 15 minutes.  The first one I removed stuck a little, but the rest were ok.  I rubbed a small amount of olive oil on each burger before flipping them so they wouldn't stick again.  The burgers turned out great.  My youngest son grabbed one, and my Mom took one home, to Springfield, IL today.  The rest went into my freezer for future eating enjoyment.  I'll make this burger again.  It was very easy to assemble and doesn't require steaming an hour.  While I love the burgers I steam, it's nice to have a quick alternative.

Meanwhile, Mom when to work on the veggies.  She made Roasted Cauliflower with Lemon, Curry, and Cumin from the blog Kalyn's Kitchen.  Kalyn's Kitchen is not a vegan blog, but I happened across the recipe for the roasted cauliflower a few months ago and really like it.

Mom didn't stop with just cauliflower, but also added some diced russet potatoes and baby carrots.  We also added a dash of smoked paprika.  After the cauliflower mixture had baked for about 20 minutes, we added some baby portabella mushrooms.  The veggies ROCKED!

I also made dessert, but I did not photograph it.  I put 1½ cups of soy yogurt, 1 sliced golden mango, 1/4 cup of rum, and 2 cups of a frozen mixture of pineapple, mango, peaches, and strawberries in my Vitamix and let it blend until smooth.  I refrigerated it until we were ready to eat it.  I think it would have been excellent if I had thrown it into the ice cream maker and made frozen yogurt.  I'll try that next time.

Of course, we had our cooking session and dinner with more wine and great conversation.  Although we were together for a sad reason, we had a very enjoyable visit.

All-American Incrediburgers and Roasted Sweet Potato and Yam

Tonight I made All-American Incrediburgers from the American Vegan Kitchen cookbook.  You can find the recipe here.  This is my second time making these burgers.  I like them because they freeze well and make a quick dinner when I don't feel like cooking or my sons are having burgers for dinner.  I cooked my Incrediburger in my Rocket Grill.  You know, the thing with the parchment paper pockets.  You put your food in the pocket and hang it in the grill.  The grill closes around it and it cooks vertically.  After your food is cooked, you throw away the parchment paper pocket and there is absolutely NO CLEAN-UP.  :)  No messy grill plate, no messy fry pan, no baking sheet ... nothing. And no, I do NOT work for Sunbeam. :)  I just love this grill.  I just bought 108 more bags for it.  It cooks my Incrediburgers in 3 minutes, complete with perfect grill marks. 

So, instead of salad or regular potatoes, I made a roasted sweet potato and a roasted red garnet yam.  When I was at the grocery store, I bagged up some sweet potatoes.  As I was walking through the rest of the produce department, I saw the yams, so I bought one for comparison.  The sweet potato is a light orange color, while the garnet yam was a deeper orange than the sweet potato and bigger.  I peeled them, cut them in half lengthwise, and then again in slices about 1/4" or so thick.  I sprinkled some salt and pepper on them and then drizzled 2 tablespoons of olive oil on them and tossed them.  Then, I decided I wanted a little more spice, so I sprinkled some chili powder on them.  I baked them at 400º for about 35 or 40 minutes.  They were tasty.  Both the yam and the sweet potato were very good ... a little sweet (naturally) with a little bit of spice.  Definitely a make again dish, although I'll experiment a bit with the spices.  I'd like a terriyaki mix.

Oh, and I used my Vitamix for the first time today.  I ordered it a week ago and it arrived on Thursday, but I didn't get around to unpacking it until today.  I had a green smoothie.  I used a couple of cups of spinach, a cup of almond milk, a tablespoon of ground flax seed, a red plum, a banana, and a few (maybe 10?) frozen strawberries.  I let it blend for 30 seconds or so and then threw in maybe half dozen ice cubes.  It was good ... filling.  Although the entire "green" smoothie is a stretch for me, but I suppose that's just because it's new to me.  I'll keep trying different combinations until I find a few that I really like.  I really want to try just almond milk and frozen fruit for a sorbet type of thing.  There are tons of recipes in the cookbook that came with it.  I want to start experimenting with making my own dressings, too.

I signed up for Vegan MOFO.  Let's see if I post any more than I have been.  One thing ... I made two dozen burgers this weekend and have left over sweet potatoes so I don't need to cook tomorrow.  :)  But I will be checking everyone's blogs.  They are so fun to read and MAN!  I've learned a lot.  It's good.

Southwestern Tofu Burgers

Today, I finally made the Southwestern Tofu Burgers recipe I had marked in The Vegan Table. You can find the recipe here.  It's the 5th recipe down.  First, I'd like to say they are very tasty and not at all spicy hot, so the person eating the burger can dress it up to the fire level he or she prefers.  That being said, they do not stay together enough to be eaten like a burger.  I ate mine without a bun with some vegetarian refried beans, Tofutti Better than Sour Cream, and taco sauce on it.  Here's a picture, but really, you can't tell what in the heck I'm eating because of the toppings.  :::smile:::  And yes, that IS a Power Rangers plate. :)

The preparation was relatively easy.  I prepared the tofu in a big bowl.  I just used my hands to squeeze the water out of it.  I first tried an old bacon press I had (but never used) to try to press down on the tofu, but I realized when I started to break it up that the press had removed minimal water.

Next, I combined the ground flax seed with water for a couple of minutes.  It sat a while (maybe 5 to 10 minutes) while I prepared the rest of the ingredients and got quite thick.

One of my favorite food preparation gadgets is my Vidalia Onion Chopper.  You can get them online, but I bought mine at Bed, Bath & Beyond.  It made SHORT work of the red pepper that had to be finely diced.  It took me maybe 2 minutes, probably less.  I love that thing.  I use it to chop veggies for salads, too.  Makes the perfect sized pieces of green pepper, carrot, and cucumber.  I use it to chop nuts and dice black olives.  If you don't have one, you truly don't know what you're missing.  I've only had mine about 6 months and can't believe how much I use it.

The burger mix has corn, peppers, and a variety of spices.  I had some dried jalapeno on hand and added 1/2 teaspoon.  I thought, combined with the cayenne pepper, it would make the burgers too hot, but it didn't.  As you can see, there were a lot of ingredients.

I first stirred the ingredients with a wooden spoon before using my hands to make sure the spices were mixed in thoroughly and that the mixture was wet enough to hold together as burgers.

I use an old burger press made by Tupperware to form the burgers.  I like them to be uniform and actually look like burgers versus the misshapen hockey pucks I can make by hand.  They actually were holding together quite nicely when I was making them.

They seemed to be doing well in the pan, too.  I chose to pan fry my burgers in canola oil in a large skillet.  

However, taking them out of the skillet was more of a challenge.  As you can see, they were falling apart a bit.  I'm not sure why they didn't hold together well, but they didn't. 

The recipe actually cautions to be careful to keep the patties intact.  Some of them just didn't make it.  There was no way they were going to stay intact.

The bottom line on this recipe is that it tastes great.  It has a wonderful flavor and filled my craving for a southwestern dish perfectly.  It dresses up with a variety of condiments well.  I think the crumbled burgers would be perfect in a flour tortilla with some taco toppings.  I probably will not make this into burgers again.  I think the next time I make it, I'll try cooking it in the skillet as a "crumbly" taco filling and see how that goes.  It would almost have to be cooked like hash browns so the entire bottom got crispy brown before turning it over.  In that case, I'll also add a handful of black beans.  I'll try it again at some point in the future and post my progress.