Monthly Archives: April 2014

Chickpea and quinoa Thai-style vegeburgers

Posted in Cooking, Quick and Easy by

Before you start thinking that I’m here to replace all of your actual meat burgers with quinoa, know that I am not.  I grew up eating various iterations of vegeburgers, some excellent and most not so excellent.  As for the idea that a Boca burger is a reasonable substitute for actual meat, I firmly disagree.  Unless you’re a vegetarian, if you want a burger, you want a real burger and no matter how delicious, a vegeburger isn’t going to cut it.

To that end, I’m selling you on this the same way I sold my husband on vegeburgers: an alternative sandwich option.  Sort of like a snowcone and a chocolate brownie are both delicious desserts, but if you want chocolate a snowcone won’t do.

We had ours on a bun with the slaw and peanut sauce, but if you’re vegan  (or just not a fan of carbs, whatever), they really aren’t necessary.  And know that they don’t resemble the sad little pre-formed quinoa/boca/TVP you’re picturing in your head.  There are 3 components: the patty, the slaw, and the sauce.  You can easily make the slaw while the quinoa is cooking and then mix up the sauce while the patties are cooking.

Chickpea and Quinoa Thai Burgers

makes about 8 patties

for the patties:

1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

1 cup water

15 oz can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans)

3/4 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup cornmeal (I substituted grits since it’s what I had)

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. paprika

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp. sesame oil (or olive)

1 egg

1 bell pepper

1/2 of a small red onion

olive oil

 

for the slaw:

1/2 head  of purple cabbage

3 carrots

handful of cilantro

 

for the sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter

2T honey

2T soy sauce

2″ piece of fresh ginger

1/2 tsp red pepper

1 lime

2 T water

 

1. Toast the uncooked quinoa in a tablespoon of olive oil over medium high heat for about 3 minutes.  Add in the cup of water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, pulse the chickpeas, cornmeal, oatmeal, salt, paprika, garlic and sesame oil together in a food processor until well combined (it should look a bit like wet sand).

2. Transfer to a bowl and add stir in the egg.  Finely dice the bell pepper and onion (I put them in the food processor) and stir them into the mixture.  Then fold in the cooked quinoa to create a thick, cement-like mixture.  If it needs a bit more moisture to hold it together, add in a tiny bit of olive oil.

3. Shred the cabbage and carrots, and chop the cilantro.  Toss together to make the slaw.

4. Form the quinoa mixture into 8 patties and fry in a tiny bit of oil over medium high heat.  Alternatively, you could use an electric skillet with no oil at 350.  Fry them for a few minutes on each side until they start to turn golden brown and crispy.

5. Whisk all of the sauce ingredients together to make the sauce.  To serve, top each patty with a heap of slaw and drizzle the sauce over the top.  Serve with or without a bun.

 

 

Almond Poppy Seed Bread

Posted in Baking, Quick and Easy by

Before you go any further, let’s just get one thing straight: this is “bread” in the sense that a bellini is a “fruit smoothie”, but eating bread for breakfast seems so much more reasonable than eating cake for breakfast and it IS baked in a loaf pan.  This comes together really quickly, uses pretty basic pantry ingredients, and smells absolutely divine while it’s baking.  Pair it with your favorite coffee for breakfast, or with a hot cup of tea for an afternoon snack and you’ll feel super decadent, even for a Tuesday.  Of course, pair it with a bellini and you basically have toast and a fruit smoothie – super healthy breakfast!

Almond Poppy Seed Bread

3 cups flour

2 tsp, baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

1 Tbsp poppy seeds

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 Tbsp melted butter

for the glaze:

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup orange juice

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract

1. Preheat your oven to 350.  Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir in the oil and eggs until well combined.  Mix in the sugar and milk.  Fold in the poppy seeds, extracts, and butter.  The batter should be a thin, not at all dough-like.

2. Divide the batter into two greased loaf pans.  Bake for 50 minutes, until the tops begin to crust.

3. As soon as you remove the bread from the oven, stir the glaze ingredients together in a small saucepan.  Cook over high heat until the sugar melts (I brought mine to a boil, which was fine), stirring constantly.  When the glaze has cooled a bit, remove the bread from the pans and drizzle the glaze on top, stopping occasionally to let it soak in.  I recommend doing this on a plate or over foil because it will drip over the sides.  Allow the bread to cool before serving.