Day 136- Challenge Results part 2

Mine, this time.

So, I cooked and I cooked, and I cooked, and then I ate. And cleaned up and took pictures, too! Yay, right?

I still only made it about 2/3rds of the way through what I planned. If I'd managed the last of it, I wouldn't have gone back for seconds of anything. Not bad, I thought.

So what'd I make?

• Homemade black bean burgers on
• Homemade buns/ bread with
• Sweet potato/ mango salsa and
• Fresh mayo-free, hand chopped coleslaw

What'd I miss? Haven't quite managed the mango "sticky" rice yet.

I made 8 burgers, and have enough mix left for at least 4 more. So I'm gonna start there.

Black Bean Burgers

idea from MELOMEALS

• 1lb dried black beans, cooked and 1/2 smooshed
• 1T +/- salt
• 4 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
• 1/4 onion, diced small
• 1/2 to 1C bean cooking liquid
• 1C flour
• 1/4-1/2C vital wheat gluten

Just dump everything into a bowl and mix it up. If it's still too sticky to work with (mine was but I didn't care by then) add extra flour no more than 1/4C at a time until you can shape them. Put patties on a nonstick baking sheet and cook in the oven at 350*F for about 25-30 minutes. I didn't, but flipping halfway through cooking might help get the insides crispier.

Oh, yeah- No added oil in this part! Just the salt. These could probably also be fried or grilled after some pre-baking so they hold their shape. Takes more time, though, so I baked them.

Homemade Buns/ Bread

• 3.5C flour
• 1T salt
• 1tsp yeast
• 1/2tsp sugar
• 1.5C warm water
• extra flour for dusting/ kneeding.

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl, and the yeast, sugar, and water in a separate bowl. When the yeast is dissolved, pour into the flour and mix in. when it gets too tough to mix with a spoon or fork, switch to kneeding, just until everything's mixed in. Let rise 1 hour. Add extra flour, maybe 1/4C, and kneed some more until the dough is nice and smooth, and holds together like a baloon or rubber band, that same kinda give. Cover the bowl and let it rise until it's at least doubled in size. The longer you let it rise, the better the flavor. Mine didn't sour at all, so tasted like white bread. When you've let it rise, chop the ball of dough in half, then either into chunks for buns (should make about 12), or into halves for bread. Shape, slice the tops, and let them rise a bit more. Bake in a 400* oven for about 25 minutes, or until they're a little browned on the top, and don't sound "wet" inside when you thump the bottom. Wrap and refrigerate extras.

Sweet Potato Mango Salsa

• 1 Sweet potato, peeled and diced (I only had 1 tiny one, so added 1 carrot, also peeled and diced)
• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1T oil
• 1tsp salt
• 1 mango, peeled and diced (directions all over the interwebs)

Fry the onion and sweet potato in the oil with salt until they're just about done cooking, and lightly browned and extra sweet. Turn off the heat and add the diced mango, stirring and letting it cook just a little bit. If your mango is *actually* ripe, you won't need to do this, you can just toss ripe mango chunks in cool veggie mix and have magic. This just mixes the flavors and softens the mango a bit.

Note- After almost a week on top of over-ripe apples on top of my fridge, the mango still wasn't ripe. It didn't taste like soap (like totally unripe ones do to me) but it was pretty woody. This could also be because it was so huge- anyone with more mango experience than me know? I'll be picking up a smaller mango from save-a-lot for the sticky rice. For some reason I trust them more for "exotics."

Mayo-free, Hand Chopped Coleslaw

First off, DON'T DO THIS! If you don't have a grater, it takes for forking ever!

• 1 small green cabbage, cored and chopped into ribbons
• 1/4 onion, sliced extra thin
• 1 carrot, peeled and "shredded" (with a veggie peeler and knife- don't do this, booooriiing)
• 1C vinegar (approx)
• 1/4C veg oil (approx)
• 2T sugar
• 2T salt
• 2T +/- spicy mustard

Mix veggies together, so they're all evenly distributed, and not clumpy. Add everything else and mix until evenly coated and combined. Best after at least 1 day. I love vinegar, so vinegar haters might want to cut that to start. Also, original recipes I looked at had 1/2C or more of sugar, but I thought it was almost too sweet with 2T. Maybe tomorrow it'll mellow, but if I make this again, I'll be cutting the sugar even more.

Ok, so that's it for what I actually made. Prices? Of what I used yesterday, only the wheat gluten, garlic, yeast, and veggie oil were (I think) over $1 a pound. I'll figure out how much a serving works out to when I figure out how many I have, and after I make the sticky rice (coconut milk was $1.02 a pound, so just over).

Out of pocket spend was a little over budget at about $5.30, including tax. It would have been lower (and had cilantro or another mango), but black beans are only available in 2lb packages where I get them. I think I'll have used about $2 of pantry stuff as well by the time I'm done, so round up to $8 for all supplies plus extras (won't use all the carrots or beans, for example).

And it only took me 5 hours!

Flour coated, scrawny looking j

So, anyone else (other than me and super challenge-doer Allie) make a meal out of stuff that's less than $1 a pound? Also, are either of these photos randomly huge for anyone else?