Chickpea Patties Recipe

Since I cooked one pound of chickpeas in the pressure cooker yesterday, I thought I would share how I use them in meals.  I find I don’t particularly like to eat them by themselves, but when I use them as an ingredient I am quite fond of them. I’ve always struggled with bean burgers being too wet or too crumbly.  It took me some time of playing around and after years of experimenting I have finally created the recipe that works for me.

The ingredients are pretty simple.

2 cups of cooked chickpeas (drained)

1/2 of a medium red onion, finely diced

2 tsps. Of minced garlic

2 tsps. Of Italian seasoning

2 tbsp. Of olive oil (plus more for frying pan)

Salt/pepper to taste

1 egg

1 cup of gluten free panko bread crumbs 

(If using another “grain” make sure you use dry bread crumbs.)

Lightly cook onion and garlic in a small pan.  

(I added a tiny bit of olive oil.)

The goal is to remove that raw taste.

In food processor, with blade:

Mix chickpeas, cooked onion, garlic, Italian seasonings, salt, and pepper.

(I cooked my beans without any seasonings so I tasted the mixture until I had the salt level right.)

Then add in egg and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Mix again.

Mix in 1 cup of dry bread crumbs.

The mixture is slightly damp, but forms a good patty.

Heat a tiny bit of olive oil in a non stick frying pan.

Fry patties on medium heat until browned well on both sides.

Serve with your choice of sides, in pitas, or in buns with the usual burger fixings.

I opted for sliced bell pepper and sweet potato noodles.

The texture is firm without being too dry.

Vegetable Lo Mein Recipe (with options)

At the end of this post, I’ll share exactly what I did, but this recipe has lots of options.

You can cook your beans from scratch (you’ll need about 2 cups) or you can used canned — just drain and rinse.

You can use zucchini noodle, which I did, or you can use gluten free or wheat pasta of your choice.

You can use fresh veggies or a bag of stir fry blend.

You can use soy sauce or liquid aminoes.

You can use fresh pineapple, grate ginger, etc.  I didn’t.

You get the picture — pretty versatile.

My pithy recipe:

Cook your chickpeas.

I used the Instant Pot and cooked a pound with planned leftover.

If using canned, just drain and rinse.

Set aside.

1 or so cups of sliced cabbage

1/2 of a large red bell pepper

1 cup or so broccoli florettes (I broke them up to bite sized pieces.)

Carrot pieces

1 stalk of celery, sliced

Set aside.

If you are doing a traditional posta, start your pasta cooking.

If not, spiralize a zucchini or two.

Set aside.

In small sauce pan, mix:

8 ounces of pineapple tidbits in juice with 3 tablespoons of soy sauce (I use aminoes).

Stir in 1/4 teaspoon of ginger powder.

Stir in 1 teaspoon of diced garlic.

I added a tiny bit of black pepper.

Bring to a boil, turn down and let simmer a few minutes.

Meanwhile, stir fry your veggies.

I use olive oil, but you can use an oil of your choice.

I add the zucchini noodles last.

When the desired “softness” is almost reached stir in the sauce and let cook another minute or two.

Serve with your choice of sides.

I didn’t eat one.

Plans Change

Our plan for Sunday had been to stay home for a lazy day.  We thought we might venture out to the library, but that was about it.  Early morning we got a call from our son.  Our daughter in law has been sick and they were looking at a crazy upcoming week — including appointments with two medical specialists.  After some back and forth in conversation, it was agreed we would meet halfway and bring our grandson home with us.  We were, of course, excited to do so.    

We hadn’t been on the road more than 30 minutes when they called.  They were on their way to the ER.  We continued heading that way and told them we would just meet them there.  (They’re almost 6 hours away without Thanksgiving traffic.). We were within two hours — including mega holiday delays and accidents on I-95.  We actually got off and went back out to the coast to go up that way — when they called and said they were home.  We told them to stay put and we would just meet them at their house.  (Please send up prayers and positive thoughts for her this week.)

 Long story short, we opted to spend the night and head out early Monday morning.

 I’m hoping that knowing he is covered will allow her to rest, give her peace of mind that he is covered, and take a little stress off of them this week.    I always enjoy his visits and this visit will give me a chance to do so Christmas spoiling — so we started with putting up the tree and baking sugar cookies.

Frugal Thanksgiving Week

Sunday    

• We invited my sister and her boyfriend over for supper.  I kept it simple with a one pot meal.  Beef roast with the usual fixings.  I baked a cake to go with the meal.  (The entire meal came from supplies I had on hand.). I had enough to send leftovers home with them for the next day’s lunch and pack lunch for my husband.
• We turned in 3 printer cartridges to Staples for recycling and got a few dollars added to our account.
• I checked out 4 cookbooks from the library, as well as some reading material.
• We took out extra through blankets to leave in the living room for when the nights get colder.
• My electric bill for double the space was actually less than my husband’s bill this month.  Gloating rights!  Haha!

Monday

• I finished up most of our Christmas shopping.  I have to do stocking stuffers and closer to time the gifts for my husband’s work, but all the big stuff is finished.  I took advantage of free shipping on items going across country and shipped them directly.
• I went thrift store shopping for winter sweaters for myself.  Post here.
• We paid via direct debit for my daughter’s next semester.  This saves us the fees the school charges.
• I ordered one of her text books online for a savings of $130.

Tuesday 

• I hung laundry on the drying rack to dry.
• I cooked a whole chicken with plans for a casserole for the leftovers and used the pressure cooker to cook it.
• I made homemade “mounds” using ingredients I had on hand...and put several in the freezer for later.
• We wanted a “mocha” and opted to make our own. 

Wednesday 

• My husband treated my daughter to a fast food chicken biscuit.  They used a B1G1 coupon.  I made us coffee at home.  (I’m avoiding fast food so I just grabbed some leftovers from the fridge.)
• We picked up the last official Christmas gift at a “pre-Black Friday” sale.
• I cooked a pumpkin cheesecake using free ingredients.  Festive and no waste so a win win!
• I cooked our ham in the pressure cooker, reducing the amount of energy used.

Thursday

• We did the usual family stuff.  We carpooled in one car and we ate leftovers for supper.

Friday

• We stayed home...no shopping, no anything.  A quiet day at home.  I cooked homemade crackers — gluten free crackers are not inexpensive and I cannot find cheese crackers in the stores.  These were easy to make and a hit.
• I used the pressure cooker to cook spaghetti squash.  I cooked double for the meal so we would have enough for two days worth since we knew we would be painting on Saturday.

Saturday 

• We continued to work on our painting.  

Not bad on the frugal front all things considered.

Pumpkin Cheesecake (Recipe Link included)

A week or so ago, Mama brought me two small pumpkins that she was not going to use.  They had been given to her, but she does not eat pumpkin and she thought I might like to have them.  I put them both in the XL presssure cooker — still whole.  I cooked them and then saved the flesh.  I ended up with between 5 and 6 cups of pumpkin from them.  

 I love pumpkin cheesecake and since Thanksgiving was coming up it seemed a good way to use up some of the pumpkin.

 I made this recipe — RECIPE — with a few changes. 

 I wanted a deep dish pie with a gluten free crust, so I started by making 1 1/2 times the filling.  I used reduced fat cream cheese, turbinado sugar, fresh eggs, and my home cooked pumpkin.  I added pumpkin pie spice blend instead of worrying about separates.  For the crust, I used gluten free graham crackers that I pulverized in the food processor along.  (I added a bit of melted butter.). I did not take the crust all the way up the pie because I wasn’t sure how it would handle the baking time.  I ended up baking for 45 minutes, turning the oven off, and then letting sit in a hot oven for about 10 more minutes.

I ordered the “graham” crackers from Vitacost.

While this wasn’t the most beautiful cheesecake in the world, it was delicious.

We served it with whipped cream.

Despite the cost of the crust, which is higher for gluten free products...I consider this to be a pretty frugal make this time.

Cream cheese was on sale for the holidays.

The eggs and pumpkin were free.

The spices were on hand.

If I had gone crustless it would have all but been a free dessert.

Homemade Cheese Crackers — GF (Recipe Linked)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with lots of fun, family, and food.

We have settled down for the day after in the peace and quiet of home and I’m trying my hand at a new recipe.

This recipe is from Gluten Free on a Shoestring.

I did not roll mine quite as thin as hers, but I wanted more of a Ritz cracker texture.

RECIPE 

My family loved them.

Something Sweet

For my birthday, my best friend gave me a package of mini molds.

I always miss candy around the holidays — the child in me, I think.

These are simple mound bars, but they are made with all nut free ingredients.

(Few people with nut allergies have a reaction to coconut and I am fortunate that I do not.)

Simple method:

A layer of chocolate and cool to harden.

Filling — half a bag of coconut and a can of condensed coconut milk

Cool.

Top with another layer of chocolate.  

Cool again. 

I cool each layer in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

For longer term storage I will move them to a sealed container and keep refrigerated.

I’ll be able to take them out just a little before serving to soften up some.

I know we won’t eat them all quickly because they are super rich, so I will actually freeze some of them to take out later.

Winter Wardrobe (Thrift Haul)

At the end of last season I cleared out all my sweaters that were getting worn, picked, etc.

When I unpacked my winter clothes I literally had three left, all of which are 3/4 sleeves.

I knew I wanted easy to wear and items I could wear at home without fear of damaging them.

Unless I need a special piece the thrift store is my go to place.

I spent just under $57 — including an impulse purchase of a pair of shoes. 

These were my “wild card” pieces.

The shoes are a European brand, appear to be totally new (no scuffs, no anything on soles)

 and I paid $3.39 for them.

The two tops on the right are new with tags.

The green sweater (mock turtle neck) got the top cut off in the photo.

Top left — I went three sizes too large.  The plan is to wear this long and baggy with leggings and knee high boots.

The black and white striped is a thinner sweater and perfect for indoor wear.

The cardigan will go with almost everything in my closet.

The sweater vest is an easy layering piece to go over any of my turtleneck tops or long sleeved t-shirts.

These are my snuggly sweaters.

The first two of the gray are longer tunic length and I’ll layer them over long sleeves. 

The last gray and the red/multi are bulkier sweaters that are quite cozy.  

I love the feel of both of them.

Sorry about the upside down receipt.

Apple Swirl Cake

No real recipe.  

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease an 8” cake pan.

Sprinkle a generous amount of brown sugar in the bottom.

Arrange several paper thin slices of butter (or coconut butter substitute) over the brown sugar.

Arrange apple slices in a spiral.

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Top with a mixed (per directions) cake mix.

(I used a 15 oz gluten free yellow cake mix from Aldi — made per directions except we wanted to omit any butter so I used shortening.)

Bake — my oven took 38 minutes.

Cool about 12 to 15 in pan on a cooling rack, then invert onto platter.

I didn’t get photos of the serving plates.

I simply sliced it into wedges, added a dollop of whipped cream, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

This was a hit with both the family and guests.

Stock Up for Thanksgiving Week

We had a wonderful week with our grandson.  I had forgotten how lively a four year old makes life.  He and I spent some time watching some cooking videos.  Afterwards he decided he wanted to try one of the recipes — sweet potato carbonara.  We did, and he even tried the results.  He said they were “okay, but not his favorite”. LOL. Soooo grown!  I, on the other hand, loved it.

This is the recipe we used.

Sweet Potato Carbonara

Saturday we met his parents halfway, and he headed home.

I miss him....but I must confess I went to bed early Saturday night.

Sunday I went ahead and picked up groceries for the week.

I forgot to photograph it, but I picked up four things from Aldi:

A ham (my contribution to our extended family Thanksgiving Dinner)

A box of candy canes to go with hot cocoa

A pie plate ($6.99 to replace the one I broke and in my favorite red)

1 box of Aldi brand sodas for my daughter

Total was $19.45

Then I did my stock up for the week at Lidl.  

2 cartons of milk

Coffee creamer

Ricotta cheese

Shredded Parmesan cheese

Cottage cheese

Red onions

Celery

Spaghetti squash

Eggplant

Bananas (organic because the others looked riper that I like)

Zucchini

Avacadoes

Cauliflower

Bella Mushroom Slices

Kiwi

English cucumber

Mint plant — a splurge for myself.  I love fresh mint.

Watermelon

In my effort to use down things, over the last few weeks I had used up every freezer/storage type bag I had.

The freezer bags are for portioning items out and for freezing leftovers.

The sandwich and snacks bags seem to be the most convenient way to pack my daughter’s lunches.

For lunches for daughter:

Chocolate oreos (I make her snack pack sizes in the bags)

Turkey for sandwiches

For the coffee lovers and pantry storage:

2 bags of mocha and mint coffee

4 boxes of stevia

1 can of decaf coffee

Total spent $70.38

My family will be home for 5 days straight and that means larger meals.

I had plenty of meats, grains, pastas, and canned items.

I really wanted plenty of fresh items on hand, too.

(We already had apples, carrots, broccoli, and bell pepper.

I have plenty of fresh eggs — a gift from my brother.

Plenty of popcorn and snack type items.

So basically I think we are set for the week and into next week.)

Quiet Week

This week is going to be a quiet blogging week.  We had guests over the long weekend (ranging from Wednesday to Monday for us), celebrated my birthday, and our grandson stayed behind to spend the week with us.  I’ll be back next week.

Library Books

I’m a pretty voracious reader.

Unless I have company in the evenings, I normally read right on up until bedtime and can finish a book per night.

This is this week’s selection.

Last night I read Con Law, which I enjoyed.

I liked the mix of politics, law, and mystery.

I enjoyed the debates about the Constitution and the “founding fathers’ “ intentions.

Pressure Washer

Carol, over at CTonaBudget, asked about the pressure washer we decided to buy.  We knew we didn’t need a heavy jobs one because our goal is to do regular maintenance to keep jobs from getting too big.

We made a list of what we considered reasonable things to look for in one and our list went something like this:

1.  No more than around $100 in cost.

2.  Lightweight enough I could carry it around and use with no problems.

3.  Easy to operate and also “intuitive” to operate.  (Aka nothing too complicated)

4.  Wish list — soap option for outside windows and cars

5.  We also wanted something that would take up the least space for storage when not in use.

6.  I also wanted to avoid having to buy extra garden hoses and just use the ones we have.

We tried out a couple and worked with a friend, who had a much higher pressured one.  They didn’t really meet our list — they were expensive and cumbersome.  However, the one we recently borrowed did.  It was originally purchased at Lowes several years ago, but they no longer have them.  I began an online search and settled on the one that was comparable on Amazon.

This is what we decided to go with.  

It does not have a reel for hoses or things like that, which was fine with us.  

It is light weight and has the nozzles and capabilities we were looking for as well.

They do have models with higher pressure and other features, and depending on a person’s needs their prices are still good overall.

I do feel like I should say that I haven’t had mine long enough to know how well it will hold up.

However, the one we borrowed is several years old and still going wrong, so I am hopeful that we will be as fortunate.

Small Appliance Purchase

Schedules are getting crazier around here.

In the past, I have always relied on the crockpot for busy nights, but I am finding that downsizing to cooking for two is a bit of a challenge because none of us want to spend days eating the same meal over and over.

My original plan was to invest in a simple flat griddle.

I wanted a small one — for both family size and for storage ease.

I checked in Target and all they had was the really large griddles.

Instead I opted to invest in this Cuisinart Griddler and to buy the waffle plates to go with it.

The reasons included:

The price was only $19 less than purchasing this from Amazon.

The storage space required is much smaller.

I can cook a variety of items on this far easier than I can on a flat griddle.

I made waffles with no problem, too.

We’ve made panini of mulitple varieties.

It does well with both my daughter’s wheat bread and my gluten free bread.

My daughter’s favorite includes turkey and a variety of fixings.

I also made “pizza” sandwiches — basically an Italian sub on a smaller scale.

We’ve used it for grilled cheese sandwiches.

(Photo below — I’ve been freezing my homemade GF bread in slices.  

I just took two out, spread them with margarine, and put shredded cheese in the middle.

Cooked on panini setting — it was excellent.)

I’ve made pancakes (blueberry and gluten free).

I cooked French toast — regular and gluten free.

I’ve cooked boneless chicken breasts with barbecue sauce.

We also had one night where we simply made bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches.

My daughter likes hers lightly toasted.

We’ve been pleased with each dish we have tried.

(I’ll let you know how the waffle plates do.)

The bonuses for us are:

1.  It heats quickly, unlike the oven.

2.  It is small and stores easily.

3.  I can cook small amounts with ease.

4.  It lends itself to quick dishes like hot sandwiches.

5.  I can put frozen meat on it to cook.

Last of Oct/First of Nov

Frugal happenings for last week include: 1.  Sunday trip to the library. 2.  Monday was a day at home and a no spend day. 3.  Tuesday —

• I picked up candy for trick or treaters.  While I was at Sam’s Club I found a huge beef roast and two packages of boneless pork chops that looked great. They were on mark down so I picked them up.  I also picked up the eggs, cheese, sandwich meat, and some bread (for my daughter’s lunches) that we needed for the week.
• I pulled together a pot of taco soup from on hand ingredients to be my contribution to our annual chili dinner.

4.  Wednesday 

• I paid bills online to save on postage.
• I wrote out a menu and corresponding shopping list for our upcoming visits.  I was able to divide it into a couple of stores based on the sales flyers that came out in the mail.

5.  Thursday 

• I ordered my husband three shirts from Lands End.  With a combined coupon and a discount for ordering three, I managed to get not only free shipping, but the third shirt for free.
• I used a gift card balane to order a book from Amazon.
• I placed a Walmart order and received free shipping.  I ordered a replacement cookie jar (on sale), a shower liner, a large decorative candle lantern (which was far less expensive than Hobby Lobby’s version), and 4 large coffee mugs that were reduced by $26.00.  My entire order was less than the cost of the candle/lantern I looked at at Hobby Lobby, and I did not have to go across town so I saved on time and gas.

6.  Friday

• I changed the menu slightly to use up some things we had in the refrigerator and made a large lasagna with plans for leftovers for lunches for the first half of next week.
• We hung laundry to dry.

7.  Saturday

• We mixed some leftovers in with a jar of my home canned soup to make a hearty stew.
• We spent the day painting.

8.  Sunday

• On our ride back (two hours) we stopped and picked up coffees.  We opted for 99 cents cups that were on special.  We also got rewards points for these that we will use in the future.
• We talked about grabbing breakfast on the road, but opted to wait until we were home and make waffles.
• We picked up books from the local library.
• We had a quiet night at home — watching online movies and eating popcorn.

On the not frugal at first glance side —

1.  We ordered a small pressure washer.  We are required by HOA ( and want to even if we weren’t required) to keep our house pressure washed.  We have been either renting, borrowing, or even paying someone to do the pressure washing of the house.  That did not include the drive maintenance.  With the costs continuing to rise, we decided to invest in our own.  The plan is to be here at least 6 more years.  Knowing that, we have opted to invest in a modest sized and modest priced pressure washer and do the work ourselves.  One year’s costs will pay for it and the other 5 will just be icing on the cake.

2.  I paid $30 for a beef roast that was on sale.  Yes, I know.  However, I am comparing this to the cost of taking 8 or 9 people out to eat.  This still is the more frugal option.  The plan is to make “oriental” beef and serve it with broccoli and rice.

Weekend Baking

We are continuing to work our way through the recipes in the gluten free muffin cookbook.  This weekend we decided to go with the gingerbread muffins, which I made per the instructions with the exception of not sprinkling extra sugar on top.

These are excellent muffins that have a great texture and fabulous taste.

So far every recipe we have tried has been a winner.

I’m actually looking forward to deciding which one to try next.

Weekend Plans

We have guests coming in next week, and my plan had been to take care of a few details this weekend.

However, you know what they say about best laid plans....lol

The weather is supposed to be beautiful so we will spend our time painting.

No big deal....I’ll do the bulk of the work I wanted to do at the house today and next Monday.

I’m reserving Tuesday for grocery shopping and a final scrub of all the bathrooms.

Wednesday morning I’ll do the last minute fresh linens and some baking.

By Wednesday midday we should have the first arrivals.

So with the change of plans I altered the menu slightly.

Instead of white lasagna, I decided to do a tomato based one.

Tonight’s supper is now lasagna, which is sitting in the refrigerator waiting to be baked.

This is what I refer to as “use it up” lasagna.

My noodles were getting near their experation date.  Food waste is bad on any budget.

Plus, anyone who buys gluten free products knows they aren’t inexpensive — so wasting them hits hard.

 From the fridge I had some items to use up:

3/4 or so of a container of ricotta cheese

2/3 of a bag of shredded mozzarella

A bowl of leftover pizza sauce (homemade)

A bowl of steamed veg (broccoli/cauli/carrot/squash)

From the freezer:

The last pound of my frozen ground turkey from Zaycon

Then from food storage:

An onion lingering on the counter

Some Dollar Tree mushroom slices

1 can of Italian seasoned tomatoes

Two eggs to help the ricotta stretch

I put together a simple lasagna, but I didn’t have quite enough sauce.

The can of Italian seasoned diced tomatoes worked perfectly.

I just dumped them on top and sprinkled with cheese to finish it off.

I have actually stuck to the menu plan all week!

Next week all bets are off though because we will have a lot more input and mouths to feed.