I woke up this morning to a post by Annie at An Unrefined Vegan. She has joined over 200 food bloggers to unite against hunger. We can thank The Giving Table for organizing this effort to increase awareness about the difficulties families face and encourage more people to take action to protect our nation’s food stamp program and other programs that help put food in children’s bellies.
There have been many times when my sisters have been so grateful for the help of food stamps, school lunch programs and the WIC program. There are so many families that can’t put a meal on the table without government support and children who go hungry because they don’t have the support they need. Learn more at Share Our Strength.
What actions can you take? Please take 30 seconds and send a letter to congress asking them to support anti-hunger legislation. Watch the film A Place At the Table. Check here first to see if it’s playing in your city or watch through itunes or amazon.
I just happened to have this recipe all ready to post, so I thought I would contribute it to the cause. I make patties weekly, all shapes, sizes, flavors and textures. They are almost always eaten right up and once you have the basics down, they are a great way to use up leftovers. Just throw some combination of grain, bean and vegetable in a bowl, add a little flour or bread crumbs, some seasoning and you have a delicious, low-cost meal.
In general, I prefer these type of patties fried, but these ones are too tender to fry up. They just fall apart. They work perfectly baked, though. I wrote the recipe so it wouldn’t have flour, but if you add a little flour I think the consistency will work for frying. Yum! For instructions on frying check out lentil and rice balls.
White Bean and Carrot Patties with Dill
1 1/4 cup large chunks of carrot
1 1/2 cups canned or cooked white beans
1/4 onion, minced
1 tsp dried dill
2 pinches sea salt
2 tsp mustard (I like Eden brand)
1/2 cup oats
1. Place the carrots in a pan with a small amount of water and a pinch of sea salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook until soft. Remove from heat and drain.
2. In a large bowl, mix the carrots with the rest of the ingredients. Get out your potato masher and mas until the mixture comes together and most of the beans and carrots are mush. Don’t put in your food processor. The texture works well if the patties are a little chunky.
3. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. Keep in mind that the flavors will intensify while baking.
4. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment. Form golf ball size patties and place on cookie sheet. Flatten to about 3/4 inch thick. Brush each patty with oil. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350°. They are done when they feel a little firm on the top. Remove from oven. Take care to not over bake or they will get too dry.
5. Serve as is or with sweet vegetable jam or beet ketchup.
Other low-cost recipes:
Rice and Pinto Bean Patties
Mashed Root Vegetables
Breakfast Porridge-4 Ways
Pressed Salad
Sweet Vegetable Jam
Simple Barley Soup (use broth, shoyu, more salt or a bullion cube instead of the miso)
Nishime Style Vegetables
You can also check my recipe index because a lot of my recipes use basic and low-cost ingredients.