Sweet Potato Burgers

Well, we are here in Raleigh, and have been for nigh a month. Busy working, organizing, copying, plotting, and the completing doldrum daily tasks of job-applications and GRE studying. The Carolina jasmine flowering season is waning, and we are buzzing around like carpenter bees stealing data from our remaining 585 study plants, on the southern Tobacco Trail and on Falls Lake. It's going well. I'm busy, for a change. We live in corporate apartment land, surrounded by identical little houses and apartments, in impossible-to-navigate cul-de-sacs that don't connect to eachother.

And now Craig and I are "in charge" with our P.I.s back in New England, and 2 weeks worth of promised pay lingering. Last week, we made what have become our signature cook-out contribution: sweet potato burgers. Actually, they aren't "ours" but came by way of some inventive Wesleyan friend of Lauren's, who wrote down her approximate recipe for Lauren years ago. Lauren copied that recipe for us, 2 years ago. Since, we've adapted the recipe a little, and it deserves to be shared with whoever roams the internet searching for good food.

Sweet Potato Burgers
(makes about 15, 5" diameter burgers)

1 cup lentils (uncooked)
1 large sweet potato
1/2 large onion, diced finely
5 cloves garlic
1 can black beans, drained and well-rinsed (or 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans)
1 c flour
1 egg
1/2 can corn
Oil
Spices (salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, cayenne, etc) to taste

Cook lentils and sweet potato until very tender (lentils can be boiled, and sweet potato can be boiled or roasted in the oven, or microwaved)

Sautee onions until tender in a little oil. Add garlic, and cook an additional 30 seconds, until it becomes fragrant.

Mash the sweet potatoes well, add in lentils and black beans, and mash everything pretty well together. It'll start to resemble wet dog food. That's good. Mix in all of the supplies except the egg and flour. Adjust the seasoning as desired.













Add egg and flour, adding more flour as needed to make burgers the consistency of a thick pancake batter.













Heat about a tablespoon of oil over medium heat in a nonstick pan. Add three globs of batter, kind of like you would pancakes. You'll have to smooth them down, so that they resemble patties. They work a lot better when they are thin - about 1/2" in thickness. Fry both sides until they are golden brown, but not burnt.













Rest on paper towels to wick excess oil. You can eat them immediately, or freeze them with wax paper in between for later grilling. They hold up surprisingly well on a grill.

'Nola Bars

I've made these granola bars many times, always with a different set of ingredients. Here's today's experiment:

2 c old-fashioned oats
1 c crushed peanuts

1/3 c honey
1/2 c brown sugar
2 T butter
1 T peanut butter
1 T cocoa powder
1 t vanilla extract
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon

1/2 c raisins
1/2 c craisins



Toast oats and nuts in a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes, stirring often.













Meanwhile, melt second set of ingredients on low on a stove top, stirring almost constantly.






























Combine all ingredients in a bowl, stirring to coat oats and fruit in goop. Line cookie sheet with wax paper and dump ingredients on it. Place another layer of wax paper on top of the mixture. Using a wooden spatula or pan (or a glass jar or rolling pin), flatten the oats into a 1/2" thickness. Really push hard with the spoon/glass jar, being especially careful to make sure that the sides are well-smushed. If you don't smush the sides enough, the bars will fall apart when you cut them.

Place sheet in the fridge for about an hour. Cut into desired size. I wrapped my bars in wax paper, but I normally just keep them in a big ziplock and take one out each day.