Meatless Monday Patties in Mushroom Sauce

One of the best little things you can do for sustainable food is devote one night a week to a meal without meat.  It seems small, stupid even...but this little act can have major impacts when you multiply it by the number of people in your family, the number of weeks in a year, and the number of people willing to make this tiny sacrifice. We instituted Meatless Monday a while back, but we aren't always good about remembering it...sometimes in the delirium of hunger and exhaustion from a day of work, I don't even realize that it's Monday by the time I finally make it home. (This semester, Mondays have been my longest day...comprised of 8am and 9am classes on one campus, a seminar class on another campus at 2:30, and ending with a lab back on the original campus that conflicts with my seminar by half an hour...I'm definitely not responsible for my lack of brain activity by the time I get home around 6pm or 7pm.)

Do I want to be more consistent about having a Meatless Monday? Absolutely, but the biggest selling point lately hasn't been the environmental impacts...those are just perks...the motivation has been the fact that meat is expensive.  We have been eating less of it just because we have to wait for most things go on sale before we can fit them into our budget. The other exciting thing about Meatless Monday, for me, is the challenge it presents.  Though difficult in my Monday-mindset, it is always fun to create something hearty and delicious without meat.

Yesterday, I achieved this lofty Meatless Monday goal.  I made something I had read about weeks ago, but never got around to doing.  Like anything else I make, I deviated a bit from the original recipe.  However, these turned out way better than I expected...and I expected them to be pretty good!

I really think they need a more appetizing name, but I haven't come up with anything that I like yet.  Oat and Cottage Cheese Patties in Mushroom Sauce is barely palatable,  but I give you my word, they were delicious!  These little babies are packed with fiber from the oats and gave a nice umami flavor combo because of the onion soup mix and cottage cheese combo...not to mention the mushrooms, which pretty much define umami anyway.  I used low-fat, small curd cottage cheese because that's what was on sale last week.  I also used canola oil for frying, which is slightly more healthy than frying in vegetable oil.  I suppose EVOO would be the best to cook in, but I don't usually fry things in it since it is a little on the high-cost end.  Low-sodium condensed mushroom soup is also a little better for you than the regular kind if you can get it! Anyway, I served these with green beans and a side salad, and three people left the table happy.  Hope you enjoy this one as much as we did!

Oat/Cottage Cheese Patties in Mushroom Sauce

*Disclaimer: Ingredients are listed in relative amounts.*

3 eggs

1&1/2 cups whole oats

1 to 1&1/2 cups cottage cheese

1 pkg onion soup mix

a few pinches of rubbed sage

canola oil

1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup

water

black pepper and paprika to taste

1) Preheat oven to 350° and set out a 9x13 glass baking dish.

2) Beat eggs in a medium bowl, then add oats, cottage cheese, onion soup mix and sage.

3) Pour a small amount of canola oil  into a skillet and turn heat to medium high.

4) Combine ingredients in bowl well by hand and form into palm-sized patties.

5) Gently lay patties into hot oil and brown on each side.  Once done, move patties to the baking dish.

6) After all patties are cooked, whisk mushroom soup and one can full of water together in another bowl.  Season with black pepper and paprika.  Make sure to whisk out any lumps!

7) Pour soup over the patties.  It should cover them completely.

8) Place dish in oven (uncovered) and back for about 20 minutes or until the soup is nice and bubbly.

9) Rescue from oven and serve while hot! :)