Hell-Bent Bean Burgers

You might think that this is a lot of work for a couple of burgers, but trust me when I say that this isn't your average veggie burger.


Mix 1cup of TVP (see Nacho Average Nachos), a teaspoon of tomato paste and slightly less the 1 cup of boiling water. Let this sit for 10 minutes while you mix the rest of the ingredients.

can of pinto beans, drained
1/4 cup of bread crumbs
2-3 cloves of garlic
oregano
splash of soy sauce
touch of tahini

Add this to the blender so that it looks like this.




Add the TVP mix and blend until it looks like this.







Now for the tricky part. I suggest using a spoon or spatula to get this mix out because it is very sticky. Place your burger shaped blobs onto flour covered wax paper, covering the burgers in flour and more wax paper again. Use a lot of flour. Let them sit in the fridge for at least an hour.

Cook these in aluminum foil and cover them in more flour before cooking them. Use lots of flour. I cooked mine in the toaster oven, but if it wasn't a snowy blizzard outside I would have barbequed them. It took about half an hour.

Don't make this recipe if you're expecting a fast food veggie burger. This is a very soft burger and is probably not what you're expecting but it was extremely satisfying. I garnished my burgers with red onion, tomato, romaine lettuce, barbeque sauce and roasted red pepper hummus but you can put on whatever toppings tickle your fancy. I made a spinach, orange, apple and pear salad to go on the side. It would eat well with an orange or balsamic vinegarette.

Oh yeah, use lots of flour.

Enjoy!

Hot and Cold Fettuccine Spinach Salad

This is my favourite way to eat spinach. It's not cooked and shrivelled but it's also not raw and uninteresting. This is spinach my way, and it's all too easy to make.

Spinach

(Roma) Tomatoes

Red Onion

Fettuccine

Zucchini

Green Pepper

Garlic
Oil

Boil the pasta with the garlic, green pepper and zucchini for 8-10minutes. Strain and add a bit of hot oil. Top it all onto the fresh tomatoes, onion and spinach. Simply put;

+

=

Enjoy!

Nacho Average Nachos

This is a delicious alternative to the party nacho platter. It also makes a great, very filling meal.

Here's what I use:

Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)

Barbeque Sauce

Soy Sauce

Moosehead Lager

Salsa

Garlic

Green Pepper

Jalapeno Pepper

Onion

Mushrooms

Tortilla Chips

To start off, you need to rehydrate the TVP. Make a mix of barbeque, soy sauce, salsa, water and any acidic liquid (cooking vinegar, beer, wine, apple juice). The acid is just to help the TVP absorb all of the flavour. I make the mix just over half Bbq sauce. Make the same amount of mix as you use TVP. 1 cup is plenty.

Cook this in some oil and add your vegetables. Obviously the amount here is to your discretion. Once the veggies are cooked you can throw it on top of your nacho chips. I layer my plate as follows: Chips, topping, chips, topping. Then I top with vegan cheese and melt it in the microwave or toaster oven quickly. (I didn't have any in the fridge today.)

Note: If this isn't obvious, don't add Jalapenos if you don't like it hot. If you do use them, make sure not to touch your eyes before you wash your hands thoroughly. This advice stems from personal experience. I used two peppers and it blew my taste buds away. Enjoy!

Delayed

I'm sorry that I haven't posted more. I have cooked two meals in two days but I botched them both. I promise I will have something more up soon.

If you have any cooking suggestions or recipes you'd like me to try, email me.

dodd.alex@gmail.com

Green Tahini Tofu For You

I went to Planet Organic, my new employer, today for the first time to do my grocery shopping. When I came home, this is what I created from the contents of my plastic grocery bags.

Let me explain:
Two pita wraps
One head of Broccoli
Half of a Green Pepper
Half a package of Extra Firm Tofu
Honey BBQ Sauce to cover tofu
Tahini
A touch of soy sauce

Pan fry the tofu in oil with the sauces to start and add the vegetables later. Spread tahini on the open wrap and stuff with stir fry.



The sauce is really what makes the meal. If you change the sauce, you change the entire encompassing taste. Choose whatever flavoured sauce you prefer, but make sure that you add salt or pepper if it lacks in whatever sauce you choose.




Also, make sure that your broccoli is cut small enough and cooked well enough so as not to make your chewing too labour intensive. Make sure that you put the broccoli in the pan well before the green peppers, or perhaps blanch them before frying.

Could this meal be any easier to make?