I found this recipe on the Veggie Boards and thought it sounded interesting.  It is supposed to be a vegan “tuna” tasting spread, but I found it tasted nothing like tuna or like anything that came from the ocean.  As a sandwich spread, though, it was really good.  Even Emma ate some.

Vegan “Tuna” Sandwich Filling

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 TB vegenaise

1 TB dijon mustard

1/2 tsp kelp granules

1 tsp soy sauce

Mash the chickpeas.  You want them mashed, but still with some texture to them.  Add in the rest of the ingredients and enjoy.  I also added some relish to mine, which gave it a little zing, but you could really add in anything here.  Chopped celery or onion would be good too.

My falafel burgers turned out so well that I decided to apply the same principles for holding them together to a non-vegan recipe from Super Natural Cooking. The original recipe calls for 4 eggs… insane! Anyway, mine held together just fine, probably even better than the original.

They were really tasty, by the way, topped with Amy’s zucchini relish. I’m sorry to say (only because I know most of you reading don’t have any) that it made this burger. Yes, it was delicious on it’s own, but with the added sweetness and zing from the relish, I was in heaven. The golden tomatoes from my dad’s garden was also a nice treat. We had ours with some frozen fries (again) and some apples.

Chickpea Burgers

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight

1 cup chopped kale (about 2 small leaves), stems removed

1/3 cup cilantro (a generous handful will do)

Juice and zest from one large lemon (about 3 TB juice, 2 tsp zest)

6 TB flour

1/2 tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup grated red onion

Combine chickpeas, kale, cilantro, and lemon juice and zest in a food processor. Pulse until the chickpeas are pureed. Add the flour and S&P and pulse a few more times to combine. The mixture should be thick and somewhat dry. Stir in the onion. Cover and refrigerate for several hours.

When ready to cook, heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Pour in bout 1 TB canola oil. Form the chickpea mixture into 8 patties and pan fry on both sides until golden brown. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes to firm up the centers.

I’ve been craving a big, messy burger lately. There are only a few brands of frozen veggie burgers that I like and I didn’t have any on hand, so I decided to make falafel burgers. They were amazing! The falafel, v. 2 recipe is so perfect for this because the combo of the dried chickpeas and flour hold the patty together so well that it doesn’t slide off the bun or fall apart like other homemade veggie patties. These were also so filling that I could only eat half. I’m almost ashamed to admit that our side of fries came from the freezer section of the grocery store. Oh well… sometimes you need a little of that.

Prepare the falafel recipe as directed using the full 6 TB of flour. Refrigerate for a few hours before cooking. Shape 6 (even) patties out of it and lightly pan fry in a teeny bit of canola oil. After pan frying, place in the oven for about 15 minutes to allow them to completely firm up. My oven was set to 450 degrees because that’s the temperature my fries needed to cook at. One note of advice: try to get your patties as thin as possible because they will poof up a bit as they cook.

The sauce was a combo of Tofutti BTSC, lemon juice, some finely diced cucumber, and fresh dill. These were super good and so much easier than making the little balls for traditional falafel.

Nothing super exciting here, but a tasty idea nonetheless.  This is pretty much a reinvention of my panini sammies, except this isn’t cooked and is rolled up in a tortilla.  They turned out really good and I think I could scale this down a bit to make a pinwheel appetizer thing.

Mediterranean Style Wraps

(makes 1)

2 TB Tofutti BTCC

2 TB chopped fresh basil

2 TB chopped olives (I used a combo of green and kalamata)

1/4 cup roasted red pepper, cut into strips

1 leaf lettuce

1/4 cup tomatoes, diced

1/4 cup cucumber, diced

Mix the Tofutti and basil together, then spread on the tortilla.  Layer in all of the other ingredients and roll up.

Sadly, I do not have a photo of my new falafel recipe, but it turned out so well that I had to post it here.  My previous falafel recipe had served me well for years, but I always found it to be somewhat mushy in the middle.  It would fall apart if I tried to fry it, so I always had to bake them, but they were still mushy in the middle.  After reading Carrie’s blog where she had the same problem before trying a different recipe, I decided to merge both recipes to keep the elements of mine that I like, but adding more firmness from hers.  It really worked out well.

Falafel, v. 2

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight

4 scallions, cut into 1 inch pieces

3 cloves garlic

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/4 cup chopped mint

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp Tabasco sauce

4-6 TB flour

Puree everything except the flour in the food processor.  Add the flour, but start with only 4 TB at first.  You want the falafel mix to come together, but to not stick to your hands.  If it is too sticky, add the rest of the flour.  Cover and refrigerate for several hours.  To cook, form them into balls or small patties.  Heat a small amount of oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Fry the falafel in the oil to brown both sides.  Transfer to a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  You could also deep fry them.

I made up a batch of focaccia the other day and turned two big chunks of it into two panini sammies. I made them exactly the same way as I did before, except that I used vegenaise instead of mayo. That’s right, I finally used up all my mayo and switched to vegenaise. I was overwhelmed by all the types of vegenaise at the store, but went for the original and I have to say that it has exceeded my expectations. I hate Miracle Whip and anything that tastes like it, which is what I expected this to be, but it really does taste exactly like mayo.

To go with our sammies, we had a side of fruit salad and my Mexican style tabbouleh salad, which we’ve been eating leftovers of for days and days.  That stuff is so good!

I have been a fan of the tofurky products since becoming vegetarian way back when.  I haven’t had it in a long time, but picked up a pack of the hickory smoked variety at the store yesterday.  This stuff is so good.  It makes the best “turkey” tasting sandwiches– I’ve used it to make “turkey” cranberry sandwiches when I crave them at Thanksgiving time, and today, I used it to make a “turkey” avocado sammie:

Yummy!  A little mayo (still trying to use the stuff up), a little mustard, some sliced tomato, dill pickles and avocado.  Doesn’t get much better than that!

I came up with the idea for this soup when my mom asked me what uses there are for kale, aside from cooking it up and eating it as is.  She asked if it could be put in salads and, at the time, I didn’t know, but I can now assure you that yes, it is good in salads.  I sprinkle some in and mix it in with the lettuce and you can’t even tell that it’s there.

Lentil, Kale & White Bean Soup

1 onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

4 kale leaves, stems removed and chopped

1 quart veg stock

1/2 cup lentils (I used brown)

1 can white beans (I actually used pinto, as I was out of cannellini)

1 T red wine vinegar

S&P to taste

In a large soup pot, heat a few tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and add the onions, carrots, celery and garlic.  Cook for about 5 minutes, until they begin to get tender.  Add the vegetable stock, bring to a boil, and add the lentils.  Reduce the heat back to medium and cook for about 10 minutes.  Add the kale and continue cooking for about 30 minutes, until the lentils and kale are fully cooked.  Add in the can of beans (any kind will work) and let the beans heat through.  Remove from the heat and add the vinegar, S&P.  This was SO good and made just the perfect amount.  It was enough for three pretty large servings, or four smaller ones.  I love it when we don’t have tons of leftover soup to eat for days and days.

I actually make these panini sandwhiches all the time.  They are probably one of my favorite sandwiches.  I know that my photography skills could use a little work, but trust me when I say that my lame photo doesn’t do it justice.

Mediterranean Style Panini Sandwiches

(makes 4 sandwiches)

1 cup roasted red peppers, patted dry and sliced

A big handful of fresh basil leaves

6 green olives & 8 kalamata olives, finely chopped

1 large tomato, sliced

1 cup artichoke hearts, sliced

Sandwich rolls

Slice open the sandwich rolls and smear each side with a generous amount of mayo (or vegan mayo– I’m still using up my tub o’ Best Foods).  If you aren’t into mayo, a little drizzle of olive oil will do the trick too.  Pile on the sandwich fillings, but put the tomato in the middle so that your bread doesn’t get soggy.  Either use a panini press or a skillet to brown them up on both sides.  SO, so, so good.  I could eat these all day every day.

While visiting my parents over the weekend, my dad said that he’d never had a falafel before and didn’t even know what was in it.  I told him that I would make them the next time they visited and, true to my word, I made them tonight.  They ate ‘em up and even took some leftovers home.  They are so incredibly easy to make.  I wonder why we don’t have them more often?!

I’ve been using the same falafel recipe for a few years now and I’m not sure where it came from originally.  Sorry for not giving any credit to the original creator of my falafel recipe.

Falafel

2 green onions, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup fresh cilantro

1/4 cup fresh mint

1 15-oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I use whole wheat)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp Tabasco sauce

1 TB olive oil

Put everything into a food processor and process until smooth.  You can either make them into patties or balls.  I use a cookie scooper and scoop them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, or until they are golden brown.  You can also pan fry them, but I usually end up making a huge mess when I go that route– baking is much easier and less fatty.

Not the most attractive photo, I know (my plate is on an Elmo placement, by the way, in case you were wondering about all those words).  I served ours up on top of some middle eastern flatbread that I can always find at Trader Joe’s, topped with chopped lettuce, tomatoes, and some dill pickles.  I know, the dill pickles sound like an odd topping for falafels, but they are really quite tasty.  The sauce that I make to go with the falafels is made from 2 TB mayo (or vegan mayo), 2 TB Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream (thanks to Amy’s tip, I was able to find some at Whole Foods), juice of 1 lemon, 1/2 cup chopped cucumber, and about 2 TB chopped fresh dill.  Combine all of those ingredients and thin it out a bit with some plain rice (or soy) milk until it is the right consistency.

On the side, I threw together a quick tabbouleh, which turned out really good.

Tabbouleh

1/2 cup bulgar

1 cup water

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint

1 cup chopped kale

1 cup chopped cucumber

1 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1 cup diced red onion, soaked in several changes of water (optional, but I find that doing this removes the raw onion after taste)

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

S&P to taste

Cook the bulgar in the water.  Meanwhile, put all of the other ingredients into a bowl.  When the bulgar is cooked, add it in and stir.  Taste for seasoning and adjust, if necessary.

I know that kale isn’t a traditional tabbouleh ingredient, but it really has no flavor when it is raw (at least to me it doesn’t) and I thought it would be a good addition here to boost the nutrition of the dish.  The only thing it contributed was extra vitamins and fiber– if I hadn’t known it was in there, I wouldn’t have thought that anything was amiss.

I wasn’t really in the mood to cook anything last night, so I decided that some frozen veggie burgers were the way to go. The burgers were a “tex mex” variety- with corn, black beans, etc., and I decided to try out Carrie’s twist on tabbouleh for a side dish. I didn’t have her recipe in front of me and I was too lazy to turn on the computer, so I decided to wing it. The outcome was awesome! The leftovers are even better. Here is how I made my version of Carrie’s version of Mexican style tabbouleh :

Mexican Style Tabbouleh Salad

1/2 cup bulgur wheat

1 cup water

1 cup frozen corn kernals

1 cup beans (any kind will do)

1/2 red onion, diced and soaked in several changes of water *

1/2 tomato, diced

1/2 mango, diced

1/2 cup cilantro

juice of 3 limes

1/4 cup olive oil

Put the bulgur in a pot with the water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes until the water is adsorbed. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, add the frozen corn (no need to defrost- the hot bulgur will do that for you), beans, tomato, onion, mango and cilantro. When the bulgur is cooked, add it to the bowl too. Add the lime juice, olive oil and S&P. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

* I really don’t care for raw onion too much, mostly because of the gross after taste it leaves in my mouth. I find that by soaking raw onion in several changes of water before I add it to a salad, it helps to counteract the yucky after taste.

I especially loved the addition of the mango. When I was a kid, my mom would make pasta salad in the summertime and would either add in some chopped nectarine or some grapes. It was so tasty to have a sweet bite of fruit in the middle of a savory, refreshing salad and I thought the mango would serve the same purpose here. If I would have had a jalapeño on hand, I may had added it as well. I will totally be making this again!