Julia Meyer

Dynamic self-correcting nucleophilic aromatic substitution

Dynamic self-correcting nucleophilic aromatic substitution, Published online: 03 September 2018; doi:10.1038/s41557-018-0122-8

Dynamic covalent chemistry offers promise for the formation of elaborate extended network materials in high yields, but the limited number of reactions available confines the scope and functionality of the materials synthesized. Now, nucleophilic aromatic substitution has been shown to be reversible, and thus self-correcting, enabling the easy synthesis of sulfur-rich materials.

New Cyanide and Happiness Comic

One of my favorite techniques for stretching my food budget is substituting half of the meat in my meals with beans. So, when I got an email from one of my readers, Lori, with a link to this Black Bean Turkey Burger recipe on Allrecipes.com, I had to go check it out. It looked super simple and tasty, but I wanted to make my own version. I took a cue from Lori, who said she liked to add her own spices, like cumin and sriracha, and decided to throw a southwest spin on the black bean and turkey combo.

I used a simple mix of chili powder, cumin, garlic, and cayenne to flavor the beans and meat, then added sliced green onion for some color, texture, and flavor. That’s it! That’s all you need to make an insanely delicious black bean turkey burger. You can eat these patties on a bun, but I opted for pita bread because they tend to be less expensive where I live. I added a few slices of tomato and made a simple avocado-sour cream sauce because avocado were on sale. The sauce was just for fun, really, so you can skip it if needed, or even just do sliced avocado if you’re short on time.

Why did I make them “mini”? Because A) they cook faster and B) two small patties will fit in my pita better than one large patty. So, feel free to make regular sized patties if you want, just know that they’ll like need to cook a little longer.

AND, if you want to be extra fancy, you can mix some shredded pepper jack into the meat and bean mixture for little pops of cheesy goodness in your burgers. HELLO YUM.

 

Step by Step Photos

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Rinse and drain one 15oz. can of black beans. Place them in a large bowl and use your hands or a potato masher to slightly mash the beans.

To the mashed beans add: 3 sliced green onions, 1/2 Tbsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt.

Mix the ingredients the bowl until the beans are well seasoned. If you’re using low sodium canned beans, or beans you’ve cooked yourself without salt, you may want an extra 1/4 tsp salt. If you taste this mixture now, it may be very strong or salty, but remember these seasoning have to spread throughout the turkey as well and will end up much more mild.

I’m not sure why ground turkey always comes in 19oz. packages, but they do (here in the U.S. anyway). If your packages aren’t 19oz, you can just use about 1.5 lbs.

Add the ground turkey to the bowl and mix with your hands until everything is evenly distributed.

Form the mixture into about 10 small patties, 2.5 inches in diameter and about 1/2 inch thick. There are several ways you can cook these patties, including a skillet, a grill, or something like a George Foreman Grill. I chose to bake them because Lori said she likes this method best and because they can just cook all at one time without much babysitting. I made a make-shift roasting pan by covering a baking sheet with foil (for easy cleanup) and placing two wire racks on top. This allows the hot air to circulate under the burgers and for the fat to drip away.

Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. After baking they should be browned and no longer pink in the center. You may need to sacrifice one patty and cut it in half to be sure. Remember, if you make a different sized patty, the baking time will vary.

While the patties are baking, you can make the avocado sauce. Add 1 diced avocado, the juice from half a lime (about 2 Tbsp), 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar, and 1/2 cup sour cream to a blender. Blend the ingredients together, adding water slowly (about 4 Tbsp), until you have a thick, smooth sauce.

To make the “burgers”, spread some of the avocado sauce inside half a pita, add a few slices of tomato, and two of the mini black bean turkey burgers.

Easy, delicious, and super healthy! Seriously, these burgers come together in just a few minutes and bake quickly, so this is a great weeknight meal option. :D

The post Mini Black Bean Turkey Burgers appeared first on Budget Bytes.

I’m starting a difficult challenge tomorrow where, like last year’s SNAP challenge, I’m going to attempt to eat only $4.50 worth of food per day. I remember how hungry I was last year, so I kinda wanted to have one last indulgent hurrah just before I started the challenge. What’s the best indulgent food, IMHO? Pizza, of course.

But this isn’t just any pizza. This is a thick crust, crispy edged, pan pizza topped with a rich and creamy spinach sauce, chopped up artichoke hearts, and a final layer of melted mozzarella cheese. Ohhhhh yeeeahhhh.

I decided to make this pizza with the no-knead pan crust, which needs to be started the night before, but you could always do this on a regular pizza crust, or even a super fast thin crust. It’s up to you. I used a 10-inch lodge skillet, but these toppings are enough for a 12-inch pan pizza, or even a 14-inch regular crust pizza. It’s pretty flexible, so you can use your favorite type of crust. I think the thick, fluffy pan crust is perfect with this creamy sauce, though. MMmm.

 

Step by Step Photos

If you’re using the pan pizza dough that I used above, begin the night before. In a large bowl (or pot) stir together 2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp instant or “bread machine” yeast. Combine 1 Tbsp olive oil and 3/4 cup water, then pour it into the bowl with the flour. Stir until a sticky ball of dough forms with no dry flour left on the bottom of the bowl. If needed, add one to two more tablespoons of water to help it come together in one single piece of dough.

Loosely cover the dough (that’s why I like using a pot, I just set the lid on slightly crooked) and let it sit at room temperature for 12-18 hours. As it ferments it will spread out and get very bubbly. It will still be quite sticky compared to most bread doughs.

On the day you’re making the pizza, take 1/2 lb. of frozen spinach out of the freezer to thaw (thaw at room temp, or in the microwave for a faster thaw).

Once the spinach is thawed, squeeze as much moisture out as possible. I just grab a handful and squeeeeze until no more liquid comes out.

Next it’s time to make the sauce (and begin preheating the oven to 450 degrees). Mince one clove of garlic. Add it to a small pot along with 1 Tbsp of butter. Sauté the garlic in the butter over medium-low heat until the garlic is soft and fragrant (about 1-2 minutes).

Add 1/2 cup milk, 4 oz. cream cheese, and 1/4 tsp salt to the butter and garlic. Continue to cook over medium-low heat, while whisking, until the cream cheese has melted in and a thick sauce has formed.

Add the squeeze dried spinach to the cream sauce and stir until it’s combined (break up any clumps of spinach as you stir). Remove the sauce from the heat and set it aside.

Spread 1 Tbsp vegetable oil in a 10 or 12-inch cast iron skillet (including up the sides). Use the excess oil in the skillet to coat your hands, then scrape the dough out of its bowl. Carefully stretch and press the dough into the skillet until it evenly covers the bottom.

Spread the spinach cream sauce over the dough from edge to edge.

Drain one 15oz. can of artichoke hearts. Take half of the can and give them a rough chop (the other half can be frozen or used for a second pizza).

Sprinkle the chopped artichoke hearts over the pizza. If you like things a little spicy like me, sprinkle on a few red pepper flakes.

Finally, top with one cup of shredded mozzarella.

Bake the pizza for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges are sizzling and the top is golden brown. Use a butter knife to loosen around the edges where cheese may have melted onto the skillet. Slide the pizza onto a cutting board or carefully slice it while in the pan.

Cut into six pieces and serve! This is pretty rich and filling, so two pieces goes a lot further than you think. ;)

The post Creamy Spinach Artichoke Pizza appeared first on Budget Bytes.

Nutella Brownies are perfectly thick, chewy, fudgy, and slightly gooey with a hint of chocolate hazelnut goodness. One of the best brownies I’ve ever had!

Running this blog as a full time business can often paradoxically mean a lot of time away from the kitchen. There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work that goes into everything. That sometimes means getting relaxed time in the kitchen is like a special treat. Until I make a giant mess and am staring down a huge stack of dirty dishes. But luckily when a recipe turns out the dishes are a small price to pay for a taste of something delectable. There’s a special gratification that comes from a homemade kitchen success and it feels that much better when it’s a recipe you’ve written and created.

Now, Nutella Brownies aren’t all that original. But this recipe is based off my Ultimate Brownie recipe which took SIX+ batches to perfect. I tweaked that recipe slightly by adding a bunch of Nutella, of course, and some other tweaks like a bit of cocoa powder to absorb some of the extra moisture. The result is something magnificent. I hope the photos really capture just how rich, fudgy, and gooey these brownies are. Nutella brownies + cold glass of milk = my idea of perfect. What’s yours?

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FULL RECIPE & MORE!Nutella Brownies

The post Nutella Brownies appeared first on Handle the Heat.

Boston, MA

To an audience of eager chemists, Professor Phil Baran of the Scripps Institute presented his future self from the year 2019 who in turn presented the results of his present self's eventual optimized total synthesis of maoecrystal v.  Baran, who will have had completed the elegant, 12-step route by late 2018, extolled on the difficulties of the project.

"Optimizing and cutting down on junk steps took almost two full years of work by seven post-docs.  From there, it was a trivial matter of correctly orienting the polarity of several flux capacitors, allowing me to be here with you today," said future-Baran.

Baran did, however, acknowledge some difficulties in implementing his time travel machine.  "It turned out the baryon transistors were exceedingly sensitive to tachyon magnetization.  The result was inconsistent end-points of time travel.  I regret to report that, in the course of debugging, two graduate students were lost, we believe sometime in the mid-to-late cretaceous period."

Upon completion of his talk, the future-present Baran system auto-annihilated, resulting in a singular meta-Baran, which itself transcended both time and mortality, as well as human consciousness.  

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