Chickpea-and-Corn Patties

In an earlier recipe of the Autumn medley my mom had asked if it was a main dish or a side. It is a side. In fact we made that side with this recipe for Chickpea and Corn Patties and I liked the mix. We got this from cookinglight.com too.. We actually cut corn off the ears like it says but I'm sure you could get away with canned or frozen corn just fine. We put some tabasco on ours as well. Here are ours on a new tray we bought at the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival on Sunday.


Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 3 ears)
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon minced fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 (19-ounce) can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons cornmeal, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
Cooking spray

Preparation
Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add corn, onion, and thyme; sauté 2 minutes. Place onion mixture, chickpeas, breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons cornmeal, salt, and red pepper in a food processor. Pulse 2 times or until combined and chunky. Divide chickpea mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty; dredge patties in 1 tablespoon cornmeal. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add patties; cook 5 minutes. Carefully turn patties over; cook 5 minutes or until golden.

Yield
4 servings

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 253(19% from fat); FAT 5.4g (sat 0.7g,mono 2.4g,poly 1.6g); PROTEIN 10.3g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 54mg; SODIUM 488mg; FIBER 5.9g; IRON 3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.1g

Autumn Vegetable Medley with Rosemary and Nutmeg

Here is the recipe that insipired the food blog. I didn't have any parsnips so I left them out. We got a fennel bulb at our local Farmer's Market. Very easy and soo delicious!

1 (9-ounce) fennel bulb with stalks
2 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash
1 1/2 cups (1-inch-thick) slices parsnip
1 1/2 cups (1-inch-thick) slices carrot1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Dash freshly grated nutmeg
Cooking spray
1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 425°.

Trim tough outer leaves from fennel. Cut fennel bulb in half lengthwise; discard core. Cut each half into three wedges. Combine fennel, squash, and next 7 ingredients (through nutmeg) in a large shallow roasting pan coated with cooking spray.

Bake at 425° for 35 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle vegetable mixture with cheese, if desired. Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 3/4 cup vegetable mixture)

CALORIES 106 (22% from fat); FAT 2.6g (sat 0.4g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 2g; CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 78mg; SODIUM 237mg; FIBER 4.2g; IRON 1.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 20.9g Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2007

You can print out a recipe card from:
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1662871

Joey's Guacamole

What's more fitting for the premier DailyAvocado recipe than Guacamole? I'm happy with my recipe. There is one key choice you will need to make:

Can you take the heat?:
Sometimes it is great to spice it up so it can hold its own as the lone ranger salsa in front a bowl of chips. On the other hand Los Morales tend to make a bunch of salsas at once which span a large range of heat. In this case guac is a great refresher from the spicy alternatives. Decide what you are preparing for. Consider whether or not there are spice-wimps who will be eating.

Ingredients:
3 Avocados
1/2 Medium red onion - diced
1 Handfull of fresh cilantro (not dried coriander - and this is key) - chopped
Fresh lime juice to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste
1-2 Roma tomatos (cut out the gelatenous blob and dice the tomato wall into small squares).
1 Medium clove of garlic - minced or pressed.

If you can stand the heat:
1 Small Habanero - diced
1 Jalapeno - diced
(These peppers heat different places of your mouth for different lengths of time. Together they carry the spice smoothly as you masticate and ingest your dip and chip).

Directions:
1.) Dice the tomatos, hot peppers and onion.
2.) Chop the cilantro.
3.) Peel the avocados and put them in a mixing bowl with the chopped ingredients and a pressed garlic clove. Mash and stir this with a fork occasionally adding dashes of salt and pepper. Squeeze in limes until you feel you have the correct salt/lime combo. these are the two flavors that typically tune the guac to the correct taste.

Selection of Ingredients:

Avocados: Hoss avocados are very good and easy to find.

Hard or Soft? You can press your thumb and make a dent but it only makes a dent. It doesn't alter the shape of the entire avocado.

Peel: I'm particular about thickness of avocado peel. If too thick it can create a gap between the peel and flesh. The avocado flesh in this gap can turn brown and mushy and eventually starts to taste like bacon. On the other hand I don't like it when the peel is too mushy and becomes part of the avocado itself. These are very difficult to manipulate with a knife. The skin should be between the two extremes. The skin should dent along with the avocado leaving no air pocket between the flesh and peel - but you should definitely be able to feel that the peel is an independent piece of the fruit.

Limes:
Key Limes are superior if you can find them. They are more juicy and have a more Mexican flavor. This also applies for lime use in Mexican Beer.