A Case for Burgers

I am a meat eater.  My wife is a plant eater.  I do most of the cooking in our house, and you had better believe that I don't make two different meals.  I am now a plant eater... well, much more than I used to be, and that is an important distinction.  I haven't stopped eating meat, I simply eat far less of it.

On Saturday night, we had my parents over for dinner.  Stephanie made some bread (see Stephanie's recent post on Sourdough), and I made burgers.  We also had some pickles on hand, and Stephanie made pickled onions, which are extremely simple and delicious.  So, when I say I made burgers, I should say that I made falafel burgers.  It seems to have been a hit, so here is the recipe:

1 can garbanzo beans (chick peas) (drained)

    Substitute different beans here if you prefer.

1 onion

cloves of garlic (to your taste)

salt (to your taste)

cumin (to your taste)

curry powder (to your taste)

1 to 1.5 cups oats

Olive oil 1 tablespoon at a time

1.  Combine ingredients into a food processor.  Hold back the oats for now.  Pulse the food processor until the onion, garlic, and beans are chopped well.

2.  Add  1 cup of oats and combine using the food processor.

3.  Add olive oil, 1 tablespoon at a time until everything starts to combine like a dough.  The trick here is to be wet enough for the oats to get chopped and combined, but dry enough so the mixture isn't super sticky.

4.  Once you have found the balance, roll the mixture into palm sized balls and flatten into a burger shape on a silicone baking sheet.  Place in the freezer for an hour or so (or for a couple of months).

5.  To cook, heat up a skillet over medium heat with a bit of olive oil.  We use a cast iron skillet, but you can use what you have.  Add the burgers when the oil is hot enough to give a sizzle.  Fry them on both sides and make sure they have heated through.  

    If you are concerned about burning before the center is heated through, you can throw the burgers in the microwave for a few seconds to thaw them a bit.  Not too much though or you will end up with mush.

6.  That's it!  Serve and enjoy!

On Sunday night we got takeout with our friends.  I ordered a burger.  It was a beef burger because sometimes I eat meat.  We think that is okay from a sustainability standpoint.  Meat is part of my diet, so, when not dining out, we simply try to source my meat from a local farm, raising their animals in an appropriate way.  The argument we usually hear (and the one I made at first) is that it's more expensive.  That is absolutely true.  It takes more time and effort for the farm to raise animals eating what they are supposed to be eating and letting them out where they are supposed to be grazing, so they have to charge more.  So, the meat I buy is more expensive, but I buy far less of it!  When I looked at this more holistically, I realized that we were not spending any more money on food.  It is easy to get caught up on the price of a single item, but once you look at the total budget, things start to even out.  So I buy less meat at a higher quality, so that when I do eat meat, it's typically better for me and better for the environment.  Basically, better, not perfect.

To be honest, we try to apply this kind of logic to many of our decisions.  When we purchase something, there are costs outside of the immediate financial burden.  We put our decisions through this other filter when we ask more questions.  Basically, we just think about it in the context of the environment as well as our own circumstances.

So what's better, falafel burger or beef burger?  I actually like them both.  They have totally different flavor profiles, and a different feel.  They are both filling and satisfying.  Both burgers are gluten free.  I would say that the falafel burger has a little more versatility in that it can be flavored to your taste.  The recipe above can be changed with different spices and herbs.  Let us know what you think in the comments section!

Thanks for reading!

Nate  

Wood Shop Magic

 It has been a busy winter!  I believe I mentioned my new source for industrial pallets in my last post called "Pallet Wood Fun."  This time the objective was night stands!

Last summer we bought a pretty nice dresser for our bedroom from the ReStore by Habitat for Humanity.  If you've never been to one, it's like a huge playground.  They have leftover materials from builds, used furniture from donations, tools (my favorite), and many other things.  This dresser that we bought is painted white and has legs and drawer faces that are proud of the front of the cabinet.  It's a pretty nice design and functions fairly well.  There are six drawers and Stephanie and I share it.  The problem is that Stephanie filled one whole drawer with socks... she has sooo many socks!  They are all sorts of fun colors and designs, and they seem to make her happy.  So, with one drawer full of socks, it only leaves two drawers for the rest of her clothes.  She mostly makes do, but we thought that having a little more space would be helpful.  We thought nightstands would do the trick... except that apparently nightstands don't come in pairs? Ridiculous, I know, but we looked for a couple of months both new and used and either couldn't find a matching pair (used), or ones that fit our space (new).  Night stands are apparently 30" to 36" wide these days for bedrooms that are larger than our living room.  I know this because I've designed several of them (bedrooms, not night stands). 

Anyway, I had just taken another load of industrial pallet wood home, so I thought I would endeavor to build a couple of nightstands that matched each other and our dresser.  It was an interesting journey, let me tell you.

I started with 2x6 lumber which, for those of you who aren't initiated into the world of lumber, means that the dimensions of the wood are 1 1/2"x 5 1/2".  I figured out that if I cut a length of it and then re-sawed it on my table saw, I could get (2) 5/8"x5" boards out of each piece.  That meant that I could make the sides, back, and drawers out of the same material rather than buying plywood panels.  I had a few challenges in that I don't have a planer or a jointer, so in the end, the panels I glued up are not perfect.  I did have a large sanding block so, by hand, I was able to flatten each panel.  I now have muscles in places that I didn't know I could have them...

The legs were easy to make, and the whole thing went together with pocket screws drilled into the inside of the panels.  I inherited a small nail gun from a friend and was able to use that to put the drawers together.  

The entire outside of the cabinet was painted white to match the dresser, and then it was done!  Well, I still had to make another matching one for me, but one done and one to go!  The second one was easier, or at least more streamlined.  This time I cut everything I needed all at the same time and bought the right sized clamps to make the process a little easier.

Anyway, I think they came out pretty nice and we now have a matching bedroom set!  In the end, I learned quite a bit, used wood that was destined for the landfill, and supported the local hardware store where we bought drawer pulls... and a lot of screws.