18 January 2011

When in Rome....Eat Roman Burgers!

This has come to be one of my favorite veggie dishes.
The ROMAN BURGER.
These are the patties that I put together. Its all beans and oats delish.
 You pan fry with just a little olive oil spray so they don't stick, about 5 min on each side medium heat
 garnish as you wish. Here I added onion, cucumber, tomato and a little homemade avocado mayo. All on a Ezekiel sprouted grains bun.
 Roman Burger Recipe courtesy of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Vegan Living

Real Roman Bean Burgers
1 cup onions, diced
1TB olive oil
1/2 cup carrots diced (I bought the shredded carrots and gave them a little extra chop)
1/2 cup red bell pepper finely diced
1/2 cup zucchini, finely diced
2 TB garlic minced (I buy mine in a giant jar already minced)
1 1/2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp rubbed (dried) sage
2 (15oz.) cans of Roman or Cranberry beans, drained and rinsed. (I could not find either of these so I used Pinto as they are a close second to Roman beans. I also threw a hand full of kidney beans that I had left over in the fridge. What ever works for you)
3 TB tamari (This is a soy sauce that is a little smoother tasting that actual soy sauce. Its made a bit differently. you can find out more HERE)
3 TB ketchup
2 TB Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt (I didn't add the salt as I am trying to cut back on salt)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
8 whole grain hamburger buns

1. Saute onions in olive oil, i usually use half the oil and add a bit of water for a water saute but that's up to you. After about 1 min, add the carrot, red bell pepper and zucchini and saute for 3 more 3 more min. Then add the garlic, basil, sage and oregano and saute till the veggies are lightly browned.
2. Place beans in large bowl and roughly mash the beans using a potato masher. Add tamari, ketchup and Dijon mustard, salt and black pepper. Stir well to combine. Add the sauteed veggies and fold them into the bean mixture. You can re-use the skillet for the burgers as long as you wipe it out first.
3. line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, portion out 8 burgers on the parchment. Press to flatten slightly . Chill for 30 min. (I make mine a little bigger so I get 6 burgers from it)
4. Using a little olive oil, oil the skillet and in batches cook the burgers until browned about 3 to 5 minutes on each side. Serve on buns with any sides that you like.

I had some extra cauliflower from a recipe that i had made earlier this week so I decided to try my hand at mashed cauliflower. I just boiled some up.
 then mashed it using my immersion blender on low. I added a little butter, diced red pepper and onion into the mix and some herb seasoning.
 Ta- Da Dinner -->
Lastly in case you were curious, my avocado mayo was put together like this

Avocado Mayo
1/2 an avocado
2 tsp of olive oil mayo
Mix till smooth.
Thats it folks

06 January 2011

Almonds - the other white milk


My love affair with Almond milk started in San Francisco. Across the street from my client's building was a little health food cafe and every morning I would stop in for breakfast. One day I tried a spinach banana smoothie made with Almond Milk and the rest is history. When I got home from my trip I went to Whole Foods and bought almond milk so I could make these smoothies at home. Soon I was using it for lots of things, cereals, adding it to pancake mixes, soups and so on. I actually very rarely keep Cow milk in the house now.
Although almond milk is my favorite, I also really like Rice Milk which to me seems a bit sweeter and not as creamy. I like to drink that straight.
I am not a big fan of Soy Milk, its texture does not appeal to me but many many folks love it. Also, I use other soy products such as tofu and tempeh and some experts believe that too much soy isn't great for you so I nix the soy milk since I have a happy alternative.

This is my new gadget. The Rotato Express. I hate to peel anything. and this pretty much does the work for me. It isn't perfect all the time, sometimes the peelers gets clogged and you need to stop and clean it out  but gets the job done fast.
Dinner last night was a bit of a dud. I am basically learning a new cooking style and I am struggling to not use salt. It started with a cute little salad. I threw in baby beets this time.
Next up was Lentil stew from a Dr. Furman Eat to Live Recipe, but it ended up being "Everything but the Kitchen Sink Lentil Stew"
Lisa's Lovely Lentil Stew - Changed into Everything but the Kitchen Sink Lentil Stew
http://www.drfuhrman.com/
Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

2 cups dried lentils

6 cups water

1/2 medium onion, finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

3 large ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

then I added - Half a can of corn, a few left over white beans about 1/4 cup and 1 1/2 cups of mushrooms. I also added some garlic and herb seasoning, garlic powder and a bit more black pepper.

This recipe was in desperate need of salt. But i could not add any. It was kinda a bummer and a little bit bland. If anyone has any idea on how to make this better let me know.

Instructions:
Place the lentils, water, onion, pepper and basil in a pot and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the tomato and celery and simmer for an additional 15 minutes or until lentils are tender.


The KGB was up and wandering about this morning. He is such a cutie pants

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

This recipe comes from a Blog on blogspot called "One Perfect Bite"

Check their site out as it has such great recipes!

I have some left over silken tofu in my fridge and a bag of chopped broccoli florets. I don't want them to go bad so I googled Broccoli and Silken Tofu and I was lucky enough to find this recipe.

Enjoy!
Here is the Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cups (14 to 16-oz.) thinly sliced onions

2 tablespoons (about 6 cloves) coarsely chopped garlic

1 (12-oz.) box lite silken tofu

1-1/2 to 2 pounds broccoli florets

2 (14.5-oz.) cans vegetable broth

1/2 cup water

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh lemon juice to taste (optional)
Directions:

1) Heat oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add onions; cook covered, stirring occasionally until onions are caramelized. Remove onions to bender jar. Add garlic to skillet; cook until garlic is fragrant. Add to blender jar. Puree. Add tofu. Pulse to combine. Return to skillet.

2) Add broccoli, vegetable stock and water to skillet containing onion-tofu mixture. Bring to a simmer; cover and cook for 10 minutes. Transfer broccoli, in batches to a blender jar. Puree. Season to taste to with salt, pepper and lemon juice if using.  Yield: 6 servings.

One Perfect Bite finds that this recipe needs quite a bit of salt but I am going to see if I can find a salt alternative as we are trying to lower our salt intake. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas - please send them along!

05 January 2011

Vegan is not a diet, its a lifestyle.....

Therefore I am not vegan....At All.
However, I have been using some vegan recipes. This is an effort CJ and I have been making to eat healthier.

 This was the start of a creamy veggie bean soup, I used organic tomato soup and carrot juice at the base. Added in some broccoli and spinach
and 4 cans of white beans, well rinsed 
Here is where the "creamy" creamy comes in. I took about 1/4 of the soup and added raw cashews in a separate bowl. I took my handy dandy hand blender to it to blend it all up. I know it may look a little gross but it really was Delish! I mixed it back into the soup and it added a "creamy" texture without using any dairy.

                                    Finished product, I added a salad and we had this for dinner.
 This my breakfast shake every morning, 1 1/2 cups of almond milk. 1/4 frozen spinach, a banana and your done. Yes its green but you don't taste the spinach. I love these!
                                           Prep items for last nights dinner, I was making Spicy Tempeh Burgers
 This is the finished product, I made the burgers from veggie tempeh, whole wheat flour and lots a random spices (basically what ever I had on hand) and instead of olive oil I used water. We are trying to limit our oil intake. I topped it off with a little salsa and filling I used from the enchiladas that I made the night before. ( green pepper, onion, black bean, corn)
Added some chopped raw veggies as a side with a red pepper dip I got from the whole foods website. Although I suggest that you add a bit more seasoning to this to give it a bit more kick. That can be done once the Red Pepper Cream in complete.


2 green onions, chopped

4 ounces extra-firm silken tofu, such as Mori Nu brand


1 roasted red pepper (water packed), drained and chopped

1 cup cooked no-salt-added white beans, rinsed and drained

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

4 ribs celery, cut into 24 2-inch pieces

6 pimiento-stuffed green olives, each cut into 4 slices

Method

Purée tofu, green onions, red pepper, beans and mustard in a food processor until smooth; cover and chill for one hour. Spoon red pepper cream onto each piece of celery, garnish with a slice of olive and serve. You can make the red pepper cream a day or two in advance; stir well and assemble just before serving.