Curry Burgers

I found these and they inspired these:

 
(not  pretty, but VERY tasty!) 

2 tablespoons of Chia Seeds (ground)
6 tablespoons water
make Chia eggs set aside for a minute



1 big carrot
1 cup oats
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 tablespoon curry
1/2 teaspoon tumeric
1 teaspoon cumin
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt (use less salt if your beans are already salted)

2  (15 ounce) cans of unsalted garbanzo beans

Put the carrot in the food processor and process until small chunks. Add the oats, and all the spices.  Process to the textutre you like.

Add the drained garbanzo beans. Process. My food processor had a hard time with all the mixture so I had to pull out 1/2 of the carrots/oats and do 1/2 at a time.

Form into patties. I made 12.5.

Bake at 350 in a convection oven if you have it, or regular if you don't. I baked each side for 15 minutes.


We love these buns for our burgers.

Our Sunday night dinner with some leftovers.  (I <3 leftovers.)

Here are the Nutrition facts.  I don't know why this got an A-.

Another dessert: Brownie Bites

This time from Dreena Burton. I love all the recipes she's created (that I've tried). They contain whole foods, no added oils, usually not too much sugar, and are EXCELLENT.

Kira took this picture on her Dad's birthday. He requested these for his birthday treat. (I had made them 3 or 4 times since finding the recipe.) The recipe has been approved by several non-vegans, so if you're looking for something healthy and tasty, I highly recommend it.  It's gluten-free using oats and almonds as the flour. We don't avoid gluten, but it's nice to have some delicious recipes in your back pocket for times when needed. We all seem to really like the combination of almond and oat flour.

Here's the recipe copied from Dreena Burton's site with my (very slight) modifications. (I increased it to make slightly more dough and changed some of the proportions. For example, I cut some of the almond flour (proportional to the recipe), increased some of the oat flour, and decreased the sugar slightly. I probably increase the chocolate chips, too with my method of making the bites. I also just use my food processor, no mixer like she does, to make this recipe so my instructions are different from hers.)

3/4 cup pitted dates
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tbsp almond butter or other butter of choice (cashew butter, peanut butter, etc)
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup almond meal
1 1/4 cup oat flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp (rounded) sea salt
3-4 tbsp non-dairy chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees (not 350). In your food processor, place dates, maple syrup, almond butter (or other), and vanilla and process thoroughly so it's a smooth mixture with very few date chunks. Next, add almond meal, oat flour, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Process until mixture comes together. The mixture will be sticky, and that’s the idea. These are dense, brownie-like cookie bites. 

I made VERY big brownie bites with this recipe and got 18 that were probably 2.5 tablespoons of dough. I put in 2-3 chocolate chips (actually mine are chocolate chunks) in each bite as I form the bites (I have to actually form the bites with my hands to get them to stick together).  I baked for ~14 minutes.

If you make smaller bites (1 tablespoon or so), then bake for less time ~12 minutes. Make sure to use a slightly cooler oven (325 is recommended) so that the more delicate almond flour doesn't burn. 

 
A picture from an earlier batch with gooey chocolate!  

Carmel Apples!

So it's not exactly the season for carmel apples... I will be so READY this fall!

2 cups pitted and packed medjool dates (I used 22 dates)
2 tablespoons earth balance butter
1 tbsp creamy cashew butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp sea salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup water (makes it smoother)

Place all the ingredients except the water in the food processor.  (Maybe soften your vegan butter a little.) Process away.  If you want a creamy carmel, add water.  I added probably 1/3 a cup, but I didn't measure.  Add water (a tablespoons at a time) until you get the desired texture.  I wanted a "dippable" carmel.

We spread it on apple slices. Then we ran out and put it on graham crackers. It is so good.  Hint: quit eating before you feel ill.  Next time I make it, I'll take a picture.  Tonight we all (all 5 + a kid here on a play date) were standing around the food processor fighting over the knife to spread it on our apples.  Seriously YUMMY.

Spicy!

Someday I'll get back to blogging.  In the meantime, enjoy the video.
Here's a link to a write-up.  Maybe you should drink some tumeric tea while watching the video (or right after).

A yummy birthday present

 

Wow, in February, you'd think I could have managed to post this, a picture of one of my tastiest birthday presents! Thank you Audrey and Don!  

Nope. Apparently the ski trip took all I had.  (Oh, and a big meeting for work.)

OMG it's March

I only posted once in February. Whoa. I'm sure I made more new things than just the breakfast cookies. Oh, I know! We went skiing. We stayed in a condo so we could cook and not eat out that much. I was going to tell you about that and document (for myself and you if you want to know) what works (and doesn't work) for next time.

We had 3 nights in the condo.

One of the Amazing Greens canisters. The kitchen at the condo had a blender (the wimpiest blender you've ever seen), but I was able to blend soy milk, the powder, ice, and a banana. The girls drank this every night. We didn't finish the whole canister. Next time, I'll order the single serving packets for short trips.

I took spices (a little jar of the salt, cumin, and garlic) to make pinto beans. We had 5 cans; next time, I'll just buy 4 cans (for 3 nights).

We bought whole grain pasta and a jar of organic pasta sauce.
Lots of bread (my girls and husband love the stuff. I don't.)
Chocolate covered almonds.
1 bag frozen Kale and 1 of frozen broccoli.  Next time, maybe just one bag total, or two smaller bags.
Pre-made hummus from whole foods (2 kinds--Kira and I ate them both! I'm not sure if any one helped us.)
Pita chips (1 bag, but don't buy a HUGE one next time.)
One 16 ounce tub of fresh salsa

A jar of PB.  Sadly, this was the biggest fail and we didn't eat much of it at all.  Next time, get individual serving packs.

A jar of honey. We used it up! I made hot soy milk with honey drinks for the girls. I bought 5 boxes of soy milk and we really only needed 3-4.

We bought lots of other chips and snacks, and we ended up bringing home a few bags on the plane.

This summer, we have a trip planned to France and England and I'll post about what I plan (and then actually do) to keep my vegans fed on that trip. (If you have any suggestions, let me know!)

 

More cookie recipes coming soon!