Day 217 Naples Veggie Burger

Naples Veggie Burger

1 Carrot, shredded
1 Zucchini, shredded
1 Yellow Squash, shredded
1/2 Onion, diced
1 Tomato, diced
1 Cup Spinach, sliced
1 Sweet Potato, baked and diced
1/2 Cup Shiitake Mushrooms, diced
1 Cup Cooked Oatmeal
1/2 Cup Cooked Couscous
1/2 Cup Chickpea Flour
1 Clove Garlic, minced
1/2 Cup Herbs. Basil, Parsley, Thyme and Rosemary, chopped
1/2 Teaspoon Dry Mustard
Salt, Black Pepper, and Ground Cumin to taste
Salad Greens
Balsamic Vinegar

Kitchen Aid makes a useful hand tool for shredding veggies

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.

The burger mix

2. Thoroughly mix all the ingredients, except salad greens and vinegar. Form into patties and place on a baking sheet.  Cook for 30 minutes.

3.  Turn the oven to broil.  Broil for 5 minutes.  Serve over salad greens.  Splash with vinegar.

Goes well with an orange.

Soundtrack The Saint Johns - Dead of Night

Day 157 A Really Good Burger

A Really Good Burger

2 Pounds White or Cremini Mushrooms, quartered
2 Large Onions, roughly chopped
1 Cup Parsley, chopped
Large Sprig Fresh Basil, sliced
1 Tablespoon Fresh Oregano
1 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme
4 Cups Cooked Brown Rice
1/2 Cup Tomato Paste
1/3 Cup Soy Sauce
3 Tablespoons Miso
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Allspice
1 Tablespoon Salt
3 Cups Vital Wheat Gluten

Ingredients including fresh herbs from the garden

1. Pulse the mushrooms, onions, and herbs in batches in a food processor until minced but not mushy. Transfer to a large bowl and mix in the rice, tomato paste, soy sauce, miso, allspice and salt.  When everything is incorporated add the wheat gluten and mix well.

Mushrooms

2. Make patties as large or small as you like.  You can fry the in the skillet with a little bit of Earth Balance or bake in the oven at 350F for 30 minutes.

Frying the burger

3.  These freeze well when baked first.  Just pull out of the freezer and reheat in a skillet.

Goes well with Pumpkin Rolls, Dijon Mustard (Day 138), Oil Free Eggless Mayonnaise (Day 111), lettuce and tomato slices.

Soundtrack  Ultra Dance 17 - Various Artists

Day 129 Nut and Cheese Burgers

Nut and Cheese Burgers

1 1/2 Cups Cooked Brown Rice
1 1/2 Cups Walnuts
1/2 Cashews
Vegetables from the Green Stock (Day 126)*
Salt
4 Teaspoons Potato Starch
8 Ounces Dayia Cheddar 'Cheese', shredded
Pepper

Leftover vegetables from the green stock

* If you don't have the leftover vegetables, you can use onions, garlic, mushrooms and herbs that have been well cooked.  You will need at least 4 Cups

1.  Preheat oven to 375F.  Place cooked rice is a large bowl.  Grind the nuts in a food processor and add to the rice.

2.  Place the cooked vegetables and salt to taste in the food processor.  Process until the veggies lose their shape.  Combine with the rice and nuts.  Mix well.  Add the cheese, potato starch and pepper. Mix well.

Raw burgers

3.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper and oil.  Form the mixture into burger and place on the baking sheets.  Cook for 1 hour.  Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.  The burgers will still be soft.
Makes 9 to 12.

Serve on whole wheat buns with ketchup, oil free mayonnaise (Day111), lettuce and caramelized onions.

Pairs well with 2005 Shafer Cabernet Savignon Hillside Select

Soundtrack - The Beatles - Revolver

Day 13 Curried Cashew Burgers

Curried Cashew Burgers

2 Cups Water
3 Carrots, peeled and diced
1/2 Cup Red Lentils
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 Cup Raw Cashews
6 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Onion, chopped
Garlic clove, minced
2 Teaspoons Curry Powder (I make my own and store in a jar)
3/4 Cup Whole Wheat Panko Crumbs
Freshly Ground Pepper, to taste
6 6-inch Whole Wheat Pita Bread
Lettuce, for garnish
Cucumber Slices, for garnish
Cucumber Mint Raita (recipe below)

Burger Ingredients

1.  Combine water, carrots, lentils and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a large saucepan.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low.  Cover and simmer until the lentils are falling apart, 12 -14 minutes.  Drain in a colander and let cool to room temperature.

Toasted cashews

2. Meanwhile, toast cashews in a small dry skillet over medium heat, stirring until golden and fragrant.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Curried onions

3.  Heat 2 teaspoons of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and cook, stirring until softened.  Add garlic and curry, stirring for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and let cool.

4.  Make Cucumber Mint Raita.  Combine a 1/2 cup plain Coconut Milk Yogurt, 1/4 cup shredded Cucumber, and chopped leaves from a stalk of mint.  Mix well and let sit.

Cucumber Mint Raita

5.  Pulse the cashews in a food processor until finely chopped.  Add the lentils and the onion mixture: pulse until the mixture is cohesive.  Add the breadcrumbs, salt and pepper.  Pulse until just combined.

6.  Form the mixture into 6 patties.

Uncooked Patties

7. Using remaining oil, cook the patties in the large skillet until brown on each side and heated through.  Cut small ends off the pitas and open the pockets.  Serve burgers in pita with lettuce, cucumber and the raita.


Goes well with Orange Infused Green Beans

Soundtrack  The Lumineers self titled album

Thrive Forward

Wild Rice Yam Pancakes

So today is the first day eating on the new plan.  The food is very seed and nut oriented and it will be interesting to see how I hold up with this.  Breakfast was Wild Rice Yam Pancakes.  My nonstick griddle decided to stick today, so the pancakes did not look that good.  They were made with quinoa, sweet potato, spelt flour, wild rice, flaxseed, sesame seed, baking powder and pepper.  From a taste perspective, they could use some salt.  From a texture perspective, they were very pleasing.  I made 2 pancakes for breakfast, then took the rest of the batter and made muffins instead.  The pancakes were really thick and did not cook in the middle.  We will see how the muffins do at a later date.

Cucumber Pesto Salad

Lunch was a Cucumber Pesto Salad with Tomato Basil Dressing.  The salad was simple, mixed greens, cucumber, garlic, nutritional yeast and sesame seed topping, and pine nuts,  The dressing was the tastiest thing I ate today.  It was a blend of tomato, apple cider vinegar, EFA Oil blend, basil and agave nectar.  The salad was not filling.  It was difficult waiting 3 hours till snack time.

Tomato Basil Dressing

I had a Ginger Pear Smoothie for my afternoon snack.  This was a blend of silken tofu, pear, ginger, honey, banana, hemp protein and flaxseed.

Ginger Pear Smoothie

Dinner was an Almond Flaxseed Burger over mixed greens with a Red Pepper Pesto and an apple on the side.  The burger was made with almonds, flaxseeds, garlic, balsamic vinegar, EFA oil blend, and salt.  Lots of flaxseeds in these recipes. The burgers were baked with coconut oil in the oven.  The pesto was a blend of garlic, red bell peppers, basil, yeast and sesame seed topping, hemp seeds, hemp oil, and salt.  It was a good pesto, but would have been better in the peppers were roasted.

Pepper Hemp Pesto

My evening snack was Zucchini Chips. These were thinly sliced zucchini with salt, oregano and basil as  a topping and slow baked with coconut oil.  These were great.  I would not be able to eat 2 whole raw zucchini, but once they were dehydrated, the chips were tasty and crunchy.

Zucchini Chips

Addicted to Results 4/29

Breakfast was a Banana Apple Muffin with apple butter and an apple.  The muffin was made with apple butter and mashed banana.

Banana Apple Muffins

I had another the veggie burgers I made last week for lunch. I cut this one in half and made a open face sandwich on a black pepper roll.  One side has ranch dressing and spring mix.  The other has tomatillo salsa and slaw.  A little bit of ketchup went on both halves.

Veggie Burger

Dinner was leftover Shepard's Pie topped with sauteed onions and a mixed greens salad with ranch dressing.  I had a Banana Apple Muffin with Apple Butter for dessert.  It was such a icky rainy night, that a bottle of sparkling wine was in order.

Addicted to Results 4/23

I did a breakfast sandwich this morning.  I pulled the Acorn Squash Baguette out of the freezer and heated it up.  I used the end piece as a roll for mock breakfast sausages with butter lettuce and ranch dressing.  The sausages are from Field Roast which is still my fav of the fake meats.

At lunch I made a veggie burger.  This one used flaxseed, baking powder, rice starch and oil to replace an egg.  I added bread crumbs, roasted problano and jalapeno peppers, shredded carrot, parsley and veggie crumbles (faux ground beef). I topped it with a green chili sauce.

Veggie Burger

There was a salad on the side made with butter lettuce, tomato, avocado and topped with lemon vinaigrette.






Dinner featured a stuffed bell pepper.  The stuffing was made with brown rice, onion, veggie crumbles, garlic and tomatoes.  On the side were garlic haricot verts.  The beans were steamed in a mix of sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar and lots and lots of garlic.

Normally, this would have been an alcohol free night, but we scored a bottle of our favorite and hard to find champagne.  Charles Heidsieck rose.

Addicted to Results 4/15

 

Berry Bliss Smoothie

Breakfast was my version of Purple Haze, a Berry Bliss Smoothie.  This drink is made with a frozen banana, frozen blueberries, ground chia seeds, tahini, cacao nib and soy milk.  I did a mid morning gym workout with weights.  Today my triceps and legs feel it.

For lunch, I had one of my Black Bean Burgers on a Acorn Squash Roll. I browned some sweet onion while cooking the burger and also added vegan cheese, butter lettuce, cucumber slices, ketchup and sauerkraut.  Some of the barley salad is on the side.

After snacking on some almonds in the afternoon, I made a Spicy Sausage and Pepper Pasta for dinner.  The meat was a vegan version of Chorizo. It definitely had the spicy signature of chorizo. 

The sauce was made with onion, bell peppers, the chorizo, roasted tomatoes, red pepper flakes, kale salsa, cayenne spice mix, and red wine.

The sauce was served over whole wheat fusilli.  For an evening nightcap, we opened a bottle of Late Harvest Ice Wine.

Privateer Day

This was a beautiful day in Baltimore.  That meant walking down to Fells Point for Brunch and Privateer Day.  This day celebrates the small private ship owners who took up the cause of the US and attacked and boarded British ships during the War of 1812.  Some played the role of pirate and seized the goods of the boarded ships.  So there were a lot of folks walking around in pirate garb.  We started our day at Red Star for brunch. I had a spicy black bean burger with garlic fries.  Spicy and garlic are the key words here. 

 

Once home, I made a large batch of barley for future recipes.

Barley

The first of those would be a Barley Soup for supper.  I sautéed a mix of garlic, carrot, celery and mushrooms in olive oil.  Next, I added some white wine to soften and flavor the veggies.

To make it soup, I added my veggie stock, Beyond Meat 'Chicken', cayenne spice mix, pepper and green onions.   A toasted Acorn Squash Roll was toasted and we poured a little bubbly to complete the meal.

Barley Soup

 

After dinner we took a little walk to O'Donnell Square.  The plan was for some sorbet at Vaccaro's.  However they were packed and we did really want to wait.  Tommy got a pastry and the crepe shop and we were about to head home.  I wondered if Cup Love had a non dairy frozen yogurt, so we checked it out.  They did have a soft serve strawberry sorbet which I will try one day. But even better was a vegan Ginger Cupcake with pumpkin granache and banana frosting.  Great way to end the day.

Partially eaten cupcake.