This would be another menu item if I owned a cafe. This is really easy to make and one of my favorites. It’s also only about 350 calories!

The trick is the tofu– you have to buy the firmest you can find that’s not packed in water. It comes in the vacuum sealed packs and has a much better texture than the kind packed in water. It also doesn’t require and pressing. Take two slices off the brick of tofu and put in a preheated skillet over medium heat. Brown on both sides. Reduce heat to low and add enough BBQ sauce to generously coat both sides of the tofu. Cook for another few minutes, then slice.



While that’s cooking, prepare your bread/tortilla/whatever. Warm it a little, spread a little Vegenaise and BBQ sauce on it, top with tofu slices, and add any produce you like. I used baby spinach here, but have used salad mix, cabbage, cole slaw mix, and broccoli slaw in the past. Anything works.

This has been my new favorite recently. I make a big batch of them and enjoy the leftovers as a quick lunch the next day. And you can make lots of these for much cheaper than you can buy frozen veggie burgers. Besides that, these taste so much better. I used garbanzo bean flour in them to keep them gluten-free, but I suspect you could use regular all-purpose or whole wheat flour too. I’m not gluten-free, but I have considered it and so I’ve been making things G-F whenever possible to lessen my dependence on gluten flours to make the transition smoother should I decide to give it up. Crazy run-on sentence there. You get the point.

These are great as burgers, by themselves dipped in ketchup or BBQ sauce, as wraps with extra veggies, or as a topping for salad. Super versatile and super healthy for sure.  The recipe here is just a guide, really.  Feel free to add your favorite veggies, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc.

Lentil Burgers
1 cup dry green/brown lentils (about 2 cups cooked)
1 small onion, peeled
1 medium carrot, peeled
2 leaves chard, stems removed
1/4 cup raisins
2 TB hemp seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup garbanzo bean flour

Begin by cooking the lentils: bring 2 cups of water to a boil, add lentils, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until water is absorbed and lentils are tender.  Meanwhile, chop the onion and carrot in the food processor.  Throw them in, pulse a few times until finely chopped and transfer to a large mixing bowl.  Do the same with the  chard leaves.  Add raisins, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, salt and pepper to the mixing bowl.  When lentil are cooked, drain off any excess water and puree them in the food processor (just pulse a few times until most of the lentils have been pureed).  Transfer to the bowl of ingredients and stir to combine,  adding enough flour to hold everything together.  You’ll probably need about 1/4 cup, but may need more depending on how wet your veggies are.  Form into patties and either pan fry or bake in the oven.  I pan fried mine in a teeny bit of oil.   If you opt to bake them instead, you may want to brush both sides with a little oil so that they get crispy.

Because there is no egg holding these babies together, they will probably fall apart when you are cooking them or when you try to flip them.  If that happens, just use a spatula to smoosh them back together.

Here is a leftover one that I chopped up on top of a salad. I threw in some leftover steamed sweet potato and dressed it with my balsamic dijon vinaigrette. Delicious!!

Hello all and Happy World Vegan Day! Today also kicks off Vegan MoFo (Month of Food)– an event that I have put off every year since I started blogging, telling myself that I’d do it for sure the following year. Well, I told myself that last year and again this year with the rationale this time that with the new baby and my lack of blogging the last 7 weeks that she has been with us that I wouldn’t contribute much anyway. Then I had the thought maybe this is exactly what I need to get my butt in gear and return to blogging more regularly so, by the skin of my teeth, I made the sign up deadline and am now officially a part of Vegan MoFo! Woo hoo!!!

And to start things off, I have an awesome recipe to share… but no photo of said awesomeness. Sorry! Hey… at least I’ve got a post for today. It’s a step in the right direction, right?! And, just so you know that I’m not a lazy bum, I’ll describe to you the scenario that is my life at this moment in time:

Emma, my 4-year-old is so generous that she brought home something from preschool and shared it with me– a yucky cold! Aaah! I tried my best to keep Amanda, my 7-week-old, from catching it, but she caught it too and it’s hit her pretty hard. I took Amanda to the doc today and he did a nasal swab to determine just what virus is making her nose so stuffy and he thinks that she has broncholitis. There’s not much I can do for her aside from what I’ve been doing, so we just have to let it run it’s course. She’s not sleeping well, which means I’m not sleeping well, but things should improve soon. So, I have her snuggled fast asleep in my Ergo Baby (I LOVE this thing!!) while Emma is sitting on my bed talking to me without pausing for a breath.  I also haven’t finished unpacking the groceries that I bought yesterday and my kitchen is a mess. The joys of motherhood!

Ok, back to the food…

I’ve been making these sandwiches lately and they’re so darn delicious that I just had to share the recipe, even without a photo.  Instead here’s a photo of the world’s cutest kids (I’m a bit biased, I’ll admit).

Broiled or Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

For the Sandwiches:

Bread, whatever kind you like (I like using foccacia or ciabatta; anything with a soft crust works well)

Eggplant

Zucchini

Red Onion

Red Bell Pepper (*see note below)

Portobello Mushroom

Lettuce leaves

Tomato Slices

For the Herbed Mayo Spread:

1/4 cup vegan mayo (I use Vegenaise)

Juice of 1/2 small lemon, about 1 TB

1 TB chopped fresh chives

1 TB chopped fresh tarragon or basil

S&P to taste

Prepare the veggies (except the mushroom, lettuce and tomato) by slicing them to 1/4″ thickness, brush with olive oil and sprinkle with S&P.  Put onto a hot grill or place under a preheated broiler and allow them to char a bit before flipping.  Once they are charred on both sides and tender, remove and set aside.  After cooking the mushroom, slice to 1/4″ thickness.

Prepare herbed mayo by mixing everything together.  Spread a thin layer on both sides of your bread, pile on the veggies and top with lettuce and sliced tomato.  Voila!  You can cut these large to serve as a meal or cut them small and stick some toothpicks or skewers into them to serve as appetizers.

*Note:  I buy red peppers already roasted because it’s easier and sometimes cheaper to buy them that way instead of fresh.

Well there you have it!  I’m off now to finish unpacking those groceries and clean up the kitchen so that I can make some muffins.  I’ve been making muffins lately and Emma has been loving them no matter what kind I make.  Her favorites have been banana, carrot spice and pumpkin.  I welcome any opportunity to sneak extra veggies into her so today’s muffins will be extra veggified.  Stay tuned for that… and I just may get that post up tomorrow.

There are so many recipes of this sandwich filling floating around, most calling themselves a faux tuna spread.  I’ve even posted my recipe here.  Well, to me it’s not really fishy tasting and not really that much like tuna, but it is so darn tasty that we had it for dinner the other night.  Seriously, you can’t beat this stuff.  It’s easy to make, cheap!, and full of good stuff– protein, vitamins, etc.  This time, I added some nutritional yeast, celery and sweet relish to my recipe and we had it on some yummy homemade bread!  My husband commented: “hey!  this turned out really good,” which is a total win in my book.  He’s not picky at all when it comes to food and he’ll eat pretty much anything I make (or at least try it), but when he actually says something tastes good, you know it’s awesome.

Okay, I’m sure I’m not the first person to come up with something like this, but it was so darn easy and tasty that I couldn’t help but blog about it.  We don’t have any vegan bread in this house and I’ve been too lazy (and it’s been too hot) to make any.  Even just using the bread machine heats up the house.  Anyway, what I did have were some tortillas left from last night’s burrito fest, so I made a PB&J-dilla.  And it was SOOOOOOO good!!

Spread some natural (organic) PB on one side of your tortilla.  Top with J of choice (I used strawberry).  Add some fruit, if you want.  I added some sliced banana and green apple.  Fold.  Place in a hot skillet and toast about 2 minutes per side.  Remove from pan and enjoy!

I’ve made a variation of these chickpea burgers before, but thought I’d change it up a little this time.  The idea was inspired by a recipe in Super Natual Cooking, which calls for 4 eggs!  I still can’t get over that…

Anyway, my solution for this is pretty simple- use dried, soaked chickpeas in place of cooked and add a little flour.  In any bean burger recipe, I really don’t care for the texture when cooked beans are used.  It’s usually mushy and weird.  These turned out really tasty and even Emma ate some of it!  I don’t know if it was willingly, but she ate it.

Lemon Basil Burgers

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked 8-12 hours

1/2 tsp salt

Juice and zest from 1 large lemon

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

4 TB flour

Soak chickpeas.  Drain and rinse.  Place in a food processor with the salt and process until smooth.  Remove from food processor and put in a mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients.  Mix well and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Form into patties and pan fry in a little bit of oil for 5-8 minutes per side, or until golden brown.  I suppose you could also bake these, but I have not tried that method.  Makes 5-6 patties.

I’ve tweaked my Nutburger recipe a little bit– not enough to change the awesome Nutburger-ness of them, just enough to give them a subtle twist.  Man oh man!!  I love these.

I followed my same basic recipe, but used a combination of tahini, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, pecans, and almonds as the “nut” part of the Nutburger.  For the “burger” part, I used lentils, chopped yellow bell pepper, one grated carrot, half of a grated onion, and a handful of dried cranberries.  Yummy!!!  I also baked them this time instead of frying and I like how both sides got really crispy.  They still fell apart a bit when I flipped them over, but I was able to squish them back together.

I’ll warn you that the grated onion provides most of the moisture for this recipe.  If you put in too much, the burger will be mushy.  I’ve made this mistake before, and I’m not sure I made a point of writing about it.  If the burger mixture seems too wet, add a little more flour.  The mixture should be pretty dry, but should stick when packed together firmly to form patties.  And, this recipe yielded 6 burgers for me last night.

On the side, we had some homemade veggie chips– parsnips, carrots, and potatoes crisped up in the oven.  They’re nothing to waste blog space about since I managed to burn them almost to the point of being inedible.  They weren’t horrible, but were certainly “extra crispy.”

This weekend was all about keeping things light and healthy.  Lots of veggies and grains– filling things that aren’t packed with tons of calories.  Actually, we ate some form of a wrap for lunch and dinner Saturday and Sunday and I have more planned for the week. For Christmas, I was the lucky recipient of several cookbooks, one of which influenced my weekend wraps.

The first is I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle of Cafe Gratitude from Cafe Gratitude in San Francisco. A good friend of mine, Brianne, introduced me to this place and I love it! It’s a bit on the pricey side, but you have to remember that you’re filling up on good food and good food is often more expensive than bad (don’t expect $1 cheeseburgers here!). Anyway, I was so happy to get their book because now I can make that stuff at home.

For my first attempt at Raw food preparation (I guess you can’t really call it “cooking,” can you?!) I went for the marinated vegetable recipe because it was one that didn’t involve fancy machinery like a food dehydrator. You take a combination of vegetables– I used carrots, radishes, zucchini and grated broccoli stems– and marinate them in garlic, ginger, cilantro, and lemon juice. Amazingly enough, the recipe can be found here.  Flip through the rest of the preview, this book is great even though some of the other recipes are a bit complicated.

I opted to wrap the veggies in a romaine lettuce leaf because (1) it’s a lot easier than making their spinach tortilla recipe and (2) I had them in the fridge!  One thing that I changed to the recipe is that I used about a teaspoon of cold pressed flax oil in place of the olive oil because I didn’t want to use 2 TB as the recipe suggests and I wanted to get more Omega 3 bang for my fat and calorie buck.  These were great and I will definitely make them again.  You get great flavor from the garlic, ginger, and cilantro and very few calories.  I even made the Jalapeno Mint Chutney to go with it, but thought the wraps were better without it.

For lunch on Sunday, I made a Tofurky wrap. I’ve made these lots of times using whole wheat lavash, but thought I could save myself the 110 calories by wrapping it up in a romaine lettuce leaf. It wasn’t quite as good, but was still tasty. I could definitely get used to wrapping things up in a lettuce or cabbage leaf instead of bread. I’m sure it’s much better for my waistline too.

I’ve really resisted going grocery shopping this week.  Instead, I want to use up what we got and make more stuff homemade.  The other night, I had some kale that was about to turn to seaweed and some lentils, so I threw it all together in a soup.  It was FANTASTIC!

Lentil Kale Soup

(click here for a printer-friendly version)

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 TB olive oil

2 small carrots, pealed and chopped

4-5 kale leaves, stems removed and chopped

1 cup dry brown lentils

3 cups veg stock

3 cups water (or more veg stock)

S&P to taste

Saute the onions and garlic in the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the carrots and cook a few minutes more.  Add the lentils, stock, water and kale and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes to an hour until the lentils are tender.  Taste for seasoning.

I boiled up some noodles separately to stir in just for fun.  I thought it might be more appealing to Emma that way.  She ate a couple of bites but wasn’t too wild about it.  I like to keep the noodles separate in soup because they get mushy and gross in any that is leftover.

To go with it, I used more freezer and pantry items in my Mediterranean Panini Sammies.  I didn’t have any tomatoes on hand, so these just had artichoke hearts, Vegenaise, olives, roasted red peppers and basil.  These are SOOOO good that I could probably eat 5 of them in one sitting.

I’ve blogged about Nutburgers before.  They are my favorite burgers, hands down.  I still think they would be my favorite even if I still ate beef- that’s how good they are.  I decided that it was time to revamp my recipe and the result was AWESOME!  They are a bit crumbly, so be forewarned that you must pack them together very tightly before frying.  For those of you who may be inclined, resist the urge to add an egg.  They come together fine and will hold up well after they are cooked.

Awesome Nutburgers

1 cup cooked lentils (about 1/2 cup dry)

1/4 cup raw walnuts

1/4 cup raw pecans

1 medium carrot, grated

1/4 of a large white onion, grated

1/4 cup roasted red peppers, chopped

1 TB flour

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

In a food processor, pulse together the lentils and nuts.  In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and add the lentils and nuts.  Stir together to combine well.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  When ready to fry, use a non-stick skillet sprayed with cooking spray.  Form patties out of the nutburger mixture and pack them together tightly.  Fry over medium-high heat for about 7 minutes per side.  If they fall apart when you flip them, use your hand or a spatula to push them back together.