2-minute Chili Burger

This recipe originated from my failed attempt at Jessica's sultry chili. It makes an approximate eff-ton of chili and, having read the recipe wrong, I added about 4 times as much chili as called for. This made things a little spicy, shall we say. In order to cut the heat and use up some of my ungodly large supply of chili, I made these. I cannot emphasize enough how easy they are. 

Makes: 2 medium burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 can of your favorite vegetarian chili (or about a cup of home-made)
  
• about 1 c vital wheat gluten 
  

Pour chili into a bowl and mash up the beans; more mashed usually works a little better. Add gluten, mix thoroughly, and start kneading. If your chili dough isn't staying together, add more gluten. Knead it until the gluten is clearly doin' its thang (this will make the dough look stringy), then taste it and make sure it tastes chili-y enough (not all chilis are spiced the same). Then divide and form patties. Pan fry or bake. As a person of little patience, I bake on a high temperature, and sometimes fry and THEN bake. Once firm, those babies are ready to eat. I like mine on toast with vegenaise. 

Southwest Corn Cowder

Ingredients:

• 1 can of corn (drained)
  
• 1 can of creamed corn (or another can of corn + some cornstarch dissolved in cold water)
• 3 medium potatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 can of beans (pinto or black, drained)
• 1 can of green chilies
• 2 cups broth (or 2 cups hot water + one bouillon cube)

Awesome optional extras: sauteed garlic, red bell pepper, carrot, celery, pickled jalapeño, or nutritional yeast.

Utinsels: nothing fancy

Directions:

1. Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces and start cooking them with too little water.
2. Sautee onion (and any optional vegetables you're adding).
3. Add corns, broth, beans, and chilies.
4. Once potatoes are mostly cooked, drain half of the water and mash them up a bit.
5. Add potatoes to rest of soup, cook until chowdery.

Extra notes for keeners:
Do not ever, under any circumstances, add a flour, cornstarch, potato starch, whatever, directly to your soup to thicken it. The outside of the balls of flour will cook instantly and you'll have soup that looks like bubble tea (in a bad way).