Black Bean and Nut Burgers

Hey, guys.  I'm back from the dead.  (All that SCHOOL WORK.  I literally have died 3 times since I last blogged)

 

 

With a really, really good burger.

 

And a single serving hamburger bun!  It's perfected!

 

Single serving bun, adapted from CCK:

 

Mix together:

• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 tbsp non-dairy milk
• 1 tbsp applesauce
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• a teensy bit of salt

Plop all of this on a baking sheet coated with nonstick spray, and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you want.  Stick into an unpreheated oven, and turn the oven to 420.  Bake for about 11-13 minutes, until it feels hamburger bun-like.  Done!  That was easy!

For the burgers (adapted from Oh She Glows):

Mix together, form into patties, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes:

• 1/2 cup onion, chopped, sauteed
• 1 clove garlic, minced, sauteed
• 2 1/2 tbsp flax seed + 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs (make sure they are vegan - some brands aren't)
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup cooked black beans
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds, toasted
• 1/3 cup sunflower seeds, toasted
• Soy sauce, cumin, oregano to season

Serve on buns with avocado and pickles

What's Up In My Kitchen - Recipe Round-Up (Finally!)

Ok, go glance at this article.  It will make you smile.

Blended chia pudding: if you don't like the texture of chia pudding, just blend it!  Makes all of the lumps go away, and it has the texture of yogurt.  Here, topped with piles of granola.

 

Made a batch of tofu feta.  Only this stuff is better than your normal tofu feta, because it's a LOT firmer.  Changes: 1/3 cup agar flakes, 3 tbsp olive oil (I ran out).  Wow, this stuff was good on a salad!

 

Pancakes... Mmmm... Sans frosting and raisins (which I left out and added a few pepitas), these make 2 292 calorie servings.  And the servings are HUGE!  I wanted to make the frosting, but forgot to chill my can of coconut cream... :(

 

 

 

Roasted Veggie Salsa - my first shot at homemade salsa.  I would recommend using less lime juice, but otherwise I loved this recipe.  Oh, and I used hatch chilis instead of jalapenos.  Because I have ALWAYS wanted to use those things...

 

Quinoa/Adzuki bacon.  Dang, this stuff smelled SO good in the oven.  Changed: cooked the beans, cooked up 1/3 cup quinoa to replace the buckwheat, Italian seasoning instead of thyme, and no oil.  It was a bit crumbly, but that was OK by me.

 

As for lunches... well, I've made a wrap with peaches, basil, lettuce, avocado, and sugar free blackberry jelly - yum!  Lots of fruit!

 

 

 

My other wrap has been peaches (can you tell I like peaches?) with the tofu feta, bacon, lettuce, and avocado.  Again, yum!  (adapted from Iowa Girl Eats)

 

 

 

Another new b-fast food: banana bread in a bowl.  Blendm, let sit for 45 minutes or so, and it's like ice-cream for breakfast.  Did I mention you should top it with chocolate (which turned out very good, by the way!)

 

 

 

 Salad dressing!  Good for using up a surplus of basil... Fat free and creamy basil blast for your salad!

 

And, finally, 100% whole wheat strawberry pepita muffins (adapted from Chocolate and Carrots)!  Mix:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup pepitas

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

1/4 cup stevia baking blend

1 cup almond milk

1 tbsp apple cider or white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup chopped frozen strawberries

 

Pour into muffin tins and bake (I have only a mini muffin pan - this made 24 muffins, 250 calories for 7 muffins.  Bake for about 17 minutes for mini muffins, probably 27 for regular)

 

 

What's Up Wednesday #7

Meh.  Sorry I wasn't blogging much last week... work just has me exhausted!  On both Thursday and Friday, I worked out in the morning for an hour, ate breakfast, went to volunteer at a food pantry for 3 hours, then went straight to work from 11.30 to 3... then I got to come home and make lunch... and cook dinner for M and I about an hour later.  And then Saturday was workout for 2 hours and work for 4.5 hours... yeah, that's why I've been MIA for the past few days.  Not to say I haven't been enjoying myself, I've just been too tired to blog!
But I'm back, now... for another week.  Then I'm off for a vacation - I'm so excited!  I'll be doing college visits/touristy stuff, so I'll see how that goes.  Lots of vegan eats where I'm going, so that shouldn't be hard.  But I can't not cook for an entire WEEK.  I mean, I am going to DIE.  ;)

Anyhoo, enough about my troubles...

Interesting two sentence article.  Totally made me laugh...

And I've decided to try to use fresh instead of canned tomatoes.  We'll see how long that lasts... but the principle is fairly simple.  You core the tomato, then cut a shallow X in the bottom of it, just to break the skin.  Dunk it in boiling water for ~45 seconds to loosen the skin, and voila - it comes right off!  Then you cut into fourths, work out the core/seeds with your hands, and plop them in your blender (Mr.V!).  Blend until desired consistency is reached - I made 'crushed' tomatoes, and used them in soup.  I could actually taste a very suttle difference.

Lemon banana pancakes! Used a flax egg, bananas in place of blueberries, regular stevia extract, and applesauce instead of oil. Comes out to around 280 calories for the entire recipe, and it's mighty big, my friends!

Have you heard of the new cookbook Vegan a la Mode?  It looks FAB.  And I really want it!  There's a giveaway for it over on Averie Cooks... and if you win, can we share? ;)

Lotsa Low-Cal Vegan Pancake

Sorry the pics are bad... I dunno WHY the stupid colour is off.  But I was in a rush this morning, and didn't really have time to fiddle with things...

So, anyhoo, here's the promised single serving, 10 minute, low cal (about 240 for the entire recipe), vegan pancake recipe.  This, I'm thinking, will be the base for sooooooooooo many other recipes \

Adapted from Soul Shine Vegan

Mix together 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1 tsp baking powder, and a pinch of salt.  In another container mix 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 tsp apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp flax meal, and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract.  Pour the dry into the wet, and mix well.  Add any additional ingredients now.  Let rest for 10 minutes.  Cook like normal pancakes: pour into a pan or something (I used the flat side of my panini press), and cook until firm on one side; flip and repeat.  Serve.

For this variation, adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie, I added chopped strawberries, bananas, and chocolate chips, and dipped the finished pancakes in my tofu sauce!  So easy, and so yummmmyyyyy!

Dessert Plate

Yes, I really did eat all of this.  No, I'm not fat ;)

So, I suppose you want to know what was on my plate of decadence!  (BTW: I work out for 2 hours every Saturday, so I eat dessert.  It all comes out a wash, you know?)

Going from left to right, top to bottom:

1) A PB pretzel bar

2) Single serving pb cookies from Foodie Fiasco (using PB2, and baking - I think microwaved things taste funny)

3) Home made candied almonds.  A work in progress, definately, but here's what I did (adapted from VegWeb).  In a small pot over medium heat, combine 2/3 cup water, 3/4 cup stevia, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp guar gum.  Bring to a boil-ish and add ~1/2 cup almonds.  Keep stirring, and the mixture will caramelize/reduce, and become more of a coating for the almonds.  At this point I stopped, dumped the almonds onto wax paper coated with nonstick spray, and cooled them.  Next time I will try baking them and see if the coating hardens up.

4) (next row) Lemon pistachio rice crispie bar from Chocolawty!  Woooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww!  These babies are amazing!  The lemon and pistachio is such a genious combination.  Changes: halved the recipe, used lemon zest in place of lemon extract, used sugar free maple syrup in place of rice syrup, pulverized pistachios in my Vitamix for the pistachio butter, used powdered stevia in place of stevia extract, skipped the protein powder (I might have used another flour in it's place, but I can't remember), subbed stevia + soy milk for the honey, used shredded coconut in place of the coconut oil, and skipped the jam (forgot it, actually).

Wow, that was a LOT! ;)

5) Cookie dough from Chocolawty!  This stuff is made with chickpeas.  I FINALLY got up my courage to make a dessert with chickpeas... and I won't lie, you can kind of tell it's not your normal flour and butter.  But that does NOT mean it tastes bad - it's just different.  I will totally be having more chickpea desserts in the future - they're good, in their own right.  Surprisingly good, really.  Changes: halved recipe, stevia + molasses for the brown sugar, used straight up almonds in place of almond butter, and used more stevia in place of the stevia extract.

6) PB pretzel nuggets, store bought goodness.  I REALLY can't get enough of these things.

7) Home made chocolate covered almonds.  You melt chocolate chips in the microwave and dip your almonds in there.  Hm... sounds hard! ;)  Hey, it just struck me, I should do double dipped almonds next time... they WERE a bit skimpy on the chocolate!

AAAAAAAANNNNNND...

8) Whew!  Ok, so I have redesigned these Chocolate PB Pretzel Sandwiches.  You mix PB2, stevia, and soy milk to form a paste, sandwich that between pretzels, and smother it in melted chocolate.  MUCH healthier, and I can now make just the right amount for me! 

What's Up Wednesday #2

Gingerbread Cookie Oatmeal.  That's right. So sweet!  A combination of Bottomless Oatmeal and Gingerbread Oatmeal (minus the molasses, lots of sugar free maple syrup, no coconut, steiva)

Been reading a good book: They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie. It's nice to actually read a book again, since I've been so busy with school work :D

I made these coconut flour sandwich thins (with guar gum and no nooch)!  Since the bread that I've been using had milk in the ingredients list (!) I knew I had to switch.  So, then I stumbled onto Foodie Fiasco - and WOW what a fabulous blog!  So many low-cal, healthy things.  Anyway, the sandwiches were super good.  Although, next time, I would make 8 pieces instead of 4, and then there would be no need to cut them in half. (UPDATE: I did make the 8 pieces yesterday, and it worked marvelously!)

Pineapple-Orange Setian - using oatmeal for the soy flour, mirin for the olive oil, and leaving out the nooch.  So, it was quite an ordeal to get this cooked!  First, I steamed it for 30 minutes.  It was still undone, so I baked it at 350 for 15 minutes.  Then I had it in a stir fry, but it was still super gummy.  the next day, I cut it into thin strips and grilled it on my panini press, and now it's OK! ;)  Next time, I would just steam it for 45 minutes and then grill it.  THAT should be muuuuch easier!

I've been enjoying this sandwich for lunch, on the sandwich thins that I made, with the Pineapple Orange Setian.

Super yummy salad dressing, a great way to use up that tomato paste in the fridge! ;)
(Of course with lots of changes: tomato paste for sauce, added LOTS of mirin, cider vinegar for the tarragon vinegar [have any of you ever seen this? I sure haven't], onion powder not juice, and Italian herbs in stead of dill)

And here's an interesting link that vegnews posted on facebook, in case you didn't read it: how being vegan saves water too!  Wow, we're sooo good! ;)
Ok, so another VegNews story.  Gross, or interesting?  You decide!

Sweets: Cookies, Pudding, and Pizzert!

Yum!  I have been doing a lot of sweet cooking/baking recently, as well as normal cooking.  I don't really have any recipes, but I'll just post a list of links.

First up, the Pizzert.  Can I say HOW AMMAZINNNGGGGGG this is?  It's FABULOUS.  Like, I think I will be having this for breakfast for the next few weeks.  Yeah.  It's good.  By Chocolate Covered Katie, the genius for sweets.  Each pizzert will come out to ~250 calories, toppings added in.  It's a lot of food for 250 calories ;)
So far I have made cinnamon + banana + chocolate chips ; cinnamon + banana + pepita;

Secondly, I made Chocolate Covered Katie's Cookie Dough Balls, which were gooood as well.  I followed the recipe to a t, only adding stevia and omiting the sprinkles (the only ones I saw had partially hydrogenated oils... boo hoo)

Lastly, I made HHL's Peanut Butter Banana Pudding.  Yes, it's tofu based.  Yes, it tastes awesome.  No, you can't taste the tofu.  At all.  Seriously.  I made a half batch, used PB2, sugar free maple syrup, and a splash of soy milk.  Blend it all together, and mmm mmmmm.  Yum, high protein puddin'!

Flavourful Lentil Bugers + Homemade Buns

I used the same recipe as I used for the slider buns I made a while back (subbing applesauce for the oil), only this time I made 18 buns - so it came out to about 120 calories per bun.  Not bad, eh? (and I sprinkled them with black sesame seeds, just for the fun of it!)

And... Ok.  So, I know that these don't look very attractive.  So.. your point?  They taste A-MAZING!!  So much flavour in such little patties ;)

Adapted from Keepin' It Kind

Soak 1.5 tbsp flax meal in 1/4 cup warm water until it gels up.  Chop and saute 8 oz criminis and a few cloves garlic.  Blend all of this (I used an immersion blender) with 1 1/4 cup cooked brown lentils, 1 tbsp tomato paste, 1 tbsp soy sauce, liquid smoke, basil, thyme, sage (fresh herbs, if you can), 1 cup Italian flavoured bread crumbs, and a few chili flakes.  Yes, it will be wet.  Plop pattie-sized glumps (yes, that is a technical term) on a sprayed baking sheet, and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until they start smelling good.  Serve on buns with pickles, lettuce, ketchup, and vegan cheese.

Tofu Sliders

Squee!  These were so much fun to make and eat... oh, yeah, they tasted good too... makes me feel like summer is here already.  Adapted from WTHDAVEA.

So, I basically used Vegan Dad's bun recipe, but skipped the oil and subbed butter, and doubled the rising time.

The burgers were ~14 oz mashed tofu, nooch, chili powder, liquid smoke, and a good amount of mixed parsley.  I also sauteed 1 small red onion (finely chopped) and 2 cloves garlic and added that to the tofu mash.  Vital wheat gluten was added to the mash until things were shape-able, then the patties were made. They were grilled on the panini press for about 15 minutes, until both sides were browned, flipping in the middle.  Serve the burgers on the buns, topped with vegan cheese, pickles, and tons of ketchup!

Thursday Night Pizza!

Who doesn't loooove pizza?  Healthy, veggieful pizza?  Heavily adapted from Mommy's Kitchen.

For the crust I made 1 batch of whole wheat pizza crust by I Eat Food.  Basically, you mix together 5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp yeast, 3 tbsp applesauce, 1 1/2 tbsp agave, and 1 3/4 cup water.  Mix until everything sticks together and starts pulling away from the side of the container, adding water or flour as needed.  Then let it sit for 5 minutes, knead for 5 more minutes, and then let it rise for a couple hours.  At this point you can use it immediately, or freeze it for long term storage.  I divided it into 10 balls for 10 pizzas, and froze 9 of them.

The pizza was vegan alfredo sauce (recipe), broccoli, mushrooms, onions, and "cheese".  The veggies were grilled on the panini press, and then the crust was cooked on the press as well.  The pizza was then spread with sauce, topped with veggies, and sprinkled with "cheese", and then grilled on the press for a few minutes.

Pizza

Christmas Dinner - Pizza

I used this crust (nixing the oil), which I had frozen some time ago, and grilled it for about 10 minutes.  The sauce was a mixture of tomato sauce, Italian seasonings, fresh parsley oregano, fennel seeds and garlic powder.  The veggie toppings consisted of grilled mushrooms, onion, and bell pepper, and some wilted spinach.  Topping everything was some black olives and vegan mozzarella cheese.  The whole thing was grilled for around 10 minutes.  Slice and serve!

Just an FYI - if you split the crust into 10 balls, each one will be about 200 calories.  Then you add your toppings etc., and split it with a friend.  You have yourself a 150 calorie pizza!

Vegan Whole Wheat Fat Free (aka super healthy) Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

So.  Just a note, in case anyone in the world ever gets around to reading this.  I got tired of writing on this blog, so much, so frequently, and no one read it.  So I stopped for a couple of months.  And then I ran into What The Hell Does A Vegan Eat Anyway - the most amazing blog in the world.  So, I was inspired to take up blogging again, only with a different format.  I'm not going to write that much - in fact, as little as possible!  So, here's to the new blog.

Christmas morning breakfast – Lemonpoppy seed muffins (whole wheat, vegan, fat free)
I used all applesauce and the optional ginger.  Make 1 bakers’ dozen (aka 13) mini muffins.

Shepard's Pie And A Pie Crust to Go With

For a while now I have been craving some sort of quiche-thing, something that is baked in a pie crust.  This old recipe that I have made once before popped into my head, and I decided to give it a go.  M was rather hesitant when I said I was making it, because she did not remember having liked it.   I plowed ahead, anyway, ignoring her...

And I am so glad I did!  As I was making it, I skimped on cooking in several steps because I got home so late that day, and it still turned out to be so much better than I remember.  And I think this new way that I made it is so much easier than I remember, too.  I really do think the key ingredient is the soy sauce- after it bakes and thickens, the sauce becomes so rich and delectible. 

The crust I used was hommade, too, and is something that I created from a whole jumble of different recipes.  And no butter what so ever!  It tastes so good- the sesame seeds add a really unique jolt to it, and I would use this with any recipe like this pie. 

If you have leftover filling, like I did, you can just stick it in a ramkin and bake it alongside the pie.  The filling still tastes so good it will blow your sock off, and warm you right up with its soy saucey and veggie goodness.

Sheppard’s Pie

Adapted from Allrecipes

Serves 6-8

• 1 of my pie crusts, or a store bought

• 3 small red potatoes, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped large

• 1 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms, or 1 cup king oyster mushrooms

• 1 cup water

• 1/4 cup soy sauce

• 1 tbsp corn starch
• 2 portobello mushrooms, chopped

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

• 2 teaspoons dried sage
• 2 large or several small stalks celery, chopped

• 2 carrots, cubed

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and cook the potatoes until tender-firm, about 13 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 on convection.

In a separate frying pan coated with nonstick spray, heat a couple tablespoons of water over high heat. Add the onion and oyster/shiitake mushrooms, and sauté for two minutes. Add the carrots and celery, and cook until almost tender. Add the portobellos, and cook until those are tender.

Add the water and corn starch to the frying pan, and cook for about 5-8 minutes, until it has reduced quite a bit. Add the seasonings, soy sauce, and cooked potatoes, and stir.

Pour this mixture into the pie crust, and bake for 25 minutes or so, until the sauce has reduced and is bubbling. It will smell amazing!

Easy Sesame Oatmeal Pie Crust

1/2 cup sesame seeds

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup applesauce, maybe more

Preheat the oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients in a bowl, adding more applesauce to hold it all together- it should be pretty moist.  Press into a pie baking dish, and bake for 12-14 minutes, until it smells nice, is slightly browned, and is firm.  Fill with delicious stuff.