“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” –Mahatma Gandhi

I love this quote and have been looking long and hard for something that has this on it for my kitchen.   I know, it’s a weird thing to want in one’s kitchen, but I want something to keep me on track, a constant reminder of how I want to live.  It’s also the message I’ve been trying to instill in Emma who, whenever we walk by the meat or fish counter at Whole Foods, makes some comment about wanting to tell people not to eat meat.  In simpler terms that she can understand, I explain to her that the best way to do that is to lead by example.  It’s a difficult concept for her to understand since she’s never eaten meat.

After what seems like hours spent combing through various websites that sell wall art, I came across this piece and it was perfect.  It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for and is also artsy and interesting.  Other wall plaques I’ve seen with this quote on it are drab and ugly.  I was so excited to have found it, but was a little freaked out when I saw how much it was.  Well, I had been telling Matt how much I wanted one and when I told him that I had found the most perfect one, he bought it for me as a Valentine’s Day gift.

And I love it!!  Besides his unconditional love and my two girlies, it’s the best Valentine’s Day gift ever.  Isn’t it so pretty?!  I hung it up first thing this morning, about 5 minutes after opening the box.  It’s hanging right above the sink and I get to admire it every time I’m cooking or washing dishes.

And in return, I’m trying really hard to get the house cleaned up… okay, you caught me.  I’m not trying all that hard since I’m sitting here writing this blog post.  But, I have folded and put away the laundry.  Next I’m going to tackle the mess on my desk.  And maybe I’ll even make it to the kitchen before Amanda wakes up from her nap or before I need to leave to pick up Emma from school.  Not likely, but it’s the thought that counts, right?

Emma has a pretend kitchen and she likes to cook stuff in it– pretend food, dolls, whatever.  The other day, she “cooked” one of her little dinosaurs pretending it was something else and she offers me some. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: “no, thank you, I don’t eat dinosaurs.”

Emma:  “don’t worry, it’s vegetarian.”

Me: “cool!  Do you know what that means?”

E:  “not made out by animals.”

Me: “yes!  and do you know what vegan means?”

E: “it means it’s on sale.”

LOL!!  She cracks me up.  When we’re not cooking pretend food and vegetarian dinosaurs, we have been making some yummy gluten-free, vegan stuff around here.  I’ve tried a few brands of bread… some are better than others, but most are okay when toasted.  I also picked up the fixin’s for english muffin pizzas the other day while shopping.  I got some GF, vegan english muffins, a jar of sauce and some Daiya.  They turned out really good…

I’ve been enjoying these for the last few days and my favorite way to eat them is topped with a sprinkle of dried basil, dried oregano and some chopped jalapeno (the kind from the jar).  They’re super good!  I first toast the english muffin in the toaster, then top with the sauce and cheese.  Then I bake at 425 degrees until bubbly.  Side note: my toaster now has a designated GF side.  I put a little label on there to keep it separated from the gluteny side.

That’s all for now.  I do have some cake photos to post.  Will do that soon, hopefully.

In my last post, I commented how the GF pancakes I made with the GF Bisquick baking mix tasted pretty much like nothing. My friend, Jen recommended throwing some mashed banana in there, so I tried it and it was awesome!! Mashed banana is actually a good egg replacer, so I didn’t need to use anything else to serve that purpose and while I was at it with the banana, I put in all the stuff I enjoy in banana bread. These tasted exactly like my favorite banana bread recipe. The recipe for pancakes is on the back of the box, but since I made some changes, I’ll post it here with my changes.

Gluten-Free and Vegan Banana Bread Pancakes

1 cup Gluten-Free Bisquick Baking Mix
1 cup milk (I used half unsweetened So Delicious coconut milk, half unsweetened rice milk)
1 ripe banana, mashed well
2 TB oil
1/2 heaping tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
pinch salt
Raw pecan halves or pieces

Combine wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients and stir well to combine. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto hot griddle. Press pecans into batter. When edges are dry, flip over and cook the other side. Pour on some maple syrup and enjoy!

This is bound to be a long post. Hang in there.

About a month ago, I decided to go gluten-free. Since the holiday’s were coming up and we were moving, I didn’t want to go cold tofurky and have been easing into it. As I reflect back on all of the dietary changes I’ve made in my lifetime (vegetarian, then vegan, now gluten-free and vegan), this really has been pretty easy for me. By far the hardest change I ever made was when I went vegetarian about 10 years ago. I was in college and living at home at the time and my whole way of eating up until then was totally S.A.D. (Standard American Diet). Meat was the center of every meal. We rarely, if ever, had vegetarian meals. I had no idea what lentils were. Aside from Mexican and Chinese foods, we never ate anything besides American foods. Once I was comfortable being vegetarian, it was really no big deal. Getting comfortable with it was the hard part. Going vegan was no sweat. Going gluten-free has also been not that big of a deal. I can see that eating out will be the hardest part; the second hardest part will be continuing to bake gluteny cakes and not being able to taste them (I have this weird phobia where I have to taste everything that leaves my kitchen). The baking business is really starting to take off. Had it not been getting any busier, I may have nixed the gluten cakes and specialized only in gluten-free, but since I’m getting busier and people are starting to hear about me, I can’t do that.

One of the first (baked) things I made was Meghan’s Oatmeal Banana Bread, with a few slight modifications:

1. A flax egg for the eggs (doubled the flax egg recipe to replace the 2 eggs).
2. A combo of brown rice syrup and agave for the honey. I’m not super strict on honey, but I never have it in my house and have not bought it in years. And since we were moving, I didn’t have enough of any one liquid sweetener on hand, otherwise I would have probably used all agave since it’s cheaper. I never think to use brown rice syrup, even though I usually have it in the fridge but it’s probably better for me than agave. I use it so seldom that I really don’t even care.

This recipe turned out fantastic and I highly recommend whether you are gluten-free or not. Emma loved it and ate an entire piece of it the first night I made it, then asked to have it for breakfast the next morning. Matt also really enjoyed it. (Meghan, if you’re reading this post, now is the time you should probably stop since you won’t like this part. )

I had some leftover vanilla frosting that I tried with it and it was sooooo good. I’ve also turned this recipe into cupcakes (below), but used canola oil in place of the coconut oil and all brown rice syrup for the sweetener. They were yummy! As a bread, I love the addition of the oats (and I was sure to use certified GF oats), but as a cupcake, it’s too much texture. I may try to swap out the oats for coconut flour next time and see what happens. I’m new to the gluten-free-baking-from-scratch-thing and am still learning what all the different flours, starches and gums do. Experimenting has been fun!

While on the subject of cupcakes, I’ve also been relying on this gluten-free vanilla cupcake recipe. My plan is to play around with it to develop a chocolate recipe. I also want to see if I can make it a lemon cake since the base for my gluten lemon cake is my vanilla cake recipe:

I’ve tried a few different variations:

• Rice milk, soy milk and coconut milk for the almond milk. My favorite is coconut milk (the unsweetened So Delicious, not from a can).
• I always use canola oil. This works fine for me.
• Quinoa flour for the almond flour. I’ve always made it this way and it turns out great. I love that the coconut flour gives the cupcake a little coconut flavor and the quinoa flour gives it a little nuttiness.
• I use certified GF vanilla extract for this one. I’ve seen vanilla both ways and thought I’d go with the certified GF one, although, I’m not sure why vanilla extract would contain gluten. Perhaps the alcohol in it could be contaminated with gluten? I just recently learned that some brands of wine may be contaminated and not considered gluten-free. It’s a good thing I don’t spend more than $3 usually since my cheap wine is unlikely to contain any gluten particles.

I actually made this batch for a rainbow themed birthday party today. Here is my little friend topped with her rainbow “hat.”

Brownies… yum…

Christmas was upon me, I was a little stressed out with getting all of our shopping done, and I knew there wouldn’t be any vegan, let alone gluten-free, treats for me on Christmas day. To keep me from really cheating, I bought the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Brownie Mix.

To make them vegan, I used Earth Balance for the butter and substituted 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce for the egg. These were super good and I will buy again, or else figure out how to make my own from scratch.

Pancakes

I’ve tried a couple of different pancake recipes and had the most success with this one. I’ve found that I don’t care for most gluten-free stuff like pancakes unless they have a gum in them (either xantham or guar) so I added 1/8 tsp xantham gum to the recipe. I think it could have used more like 1/4 tsp or maybe even 1/2 tsp. I thought it also could have used more salt and would suggest increasing that to 1/2 tsp. I also added blueberries because I like blueberry pancakes better than plain. These were okay. Not really like gluteny pancakes. I just purchased the Bob’s Red Mill GF Pancake Mix to try and will post a review of that once I use it.

Just this morning I made pancakes using the Gluten-Free Bisquick (above) based on a friend’s recommendation of that product. They turned out good, were kinda chewy like regular pancakes, but they still need a little something. I always make blueberry pancakes and even with the addition of the blueberries I thought they were just a little bland. Matt took 2 bites and that was it. He said they tasted like rice cereal made into a pancake. We seem to agree on this one that they are super bland. Maybe next time I’ll put in a little pinch of salt or some cinnamon, or both. The pancake recipe calls for milk and an egg. For the egg, I used Ener-G because I was too lazy to look up the ratio for the flax egg (can never remember how much flax to water) and coconut milk for the milk. I suspect that the coconut milk might have been to heavy or thick, so next time I will use half coconut milk and have rice. The insides of the pancake were a little gummy.

Muffins

These muffins are amazing! In one day, we managed to eat all but 4 (one recipe made 15). I think if I were to leave out the raisins and carrots that it would be a great base for adding in blueberries or chopped apples. Even with the raisins and carrots, this recipe is definitely a keeper. I made no modifications the first time around, but I think I will increase the cinnamon the next time. I may also add some nutmeg and allspice. Matt’s cousin came over for dinner the other night and we had these with our soup. Her comment on the photo of them that I put on Facebook: “Those muffins were soooooooooooooooo delicious .” Really, they are that good. Not just good for being gluten-free, just good in general.

Tips

While I’ve not made the jump to complete and total gluten-freedom, I have been making several small changes over the last month. The small changes have added up so that I’m pretty 100% gluten-free at home. Here are some tips that have made the transition easier:

• Buy one gluten-free item every grocery shopping trip: Gluten-free flours, pastas, cereals, breads, etc. are more expensive than their gluteny counterparts. Purchasing one every shopping trip breaks up the expense a bit. Also, most gluten-free baking recipes require several different flours and starches and making sure you’re stocked up on at least a few ensures that you’ll have what you need (or at least a suitable substitute) when the baking urge strikes.
• Keep some convenience foods on hand at all times: It’s so handy to have foods that can be whipped up quickly for times when you don’t have the time or the energy to cook something elaborate. Since I keep a loaf of gluten-free bread in my freezer and cereal in my pantry, I know that I will be able to have a snack at all times. I’ve also made it a point to have nuts, dried fruits, frozen fruits (for smoothies), and hummus and veggie dippers on hand most of the time for quick snacks or meals to go.
• Plan ahead: This is key to sticking with any diet. Make sure your kitchen is pretty well stocked most of the time. Keep things in the freezer or pantry for ease. Plan to bring your own food or a dish to share if invited to a friend’s house for dinner (and, for that matter, don’t be afraid to tell the host of your new way of eating; most people are happy to accommodate or, if they aren’t, will tell you to bring your own food). The list goes on and on, but the bottom line is be prepared.
• Don’t be offended if people don’t “get it”: Remember, most people would rather take a pill than change their diet/lifestyle. Humans are lazy like that. Many won’t understand why you’re making changes and some may not even be supportive. Don’t let it get to you; in the grand scheme of things, who cares?!
  
  Also, don’t be surprised if one of these people is your own doctor. Doctors don’t really have a clue about nutrition and many don’t embrace alternative therapies. One of my own doctors (my OB when I was pregnant with Amanda) pretty much told me that there are more important things in life to worry about since I’m doing well on my current medication and dosage when I mentioned wanting to try the gluten-free thing to see if it helped/prevented further damage to my thyroid. I still do have thyroid symptoms despite having normal labs (insane amount of hair loss, for example– I’m not balding, but I can pull out handfuls of hair whenever I wash it to the point that I bought a hair trap for my shower drain), so I wouldn’t agree with her assessment. It didn’t bother me, but I did make it a point to find a doctor who seems to be a little more open minded when I needed to find a new family doctor. While I’m on this topic, remember that your doctor works for you. If you don’t like him/her for whatever reason and are able to switch, don’t be afraid to.
• Be informed: Visit the library and do some reading about making changes. Borrow cookbooks to introduce you to your new diet. If you’re on Facebook, “like” different groups or organizations that share your interests. That’s how I came across that awesome muffin recipe. Start following blogs. The information is out there, be sure to find it. Blogs have been a great resource in helping to introduce me to new recipes and new ideas. Open a Google account and start a blog reader so you can keep track and keep up. Some of my favorite gluten-free and gluten-free-friendly blogs, in no particular order, are listed below:
  • Kristen’s Raw.
  • Making Love in the Kitchen.
  • Alisa Cooks.
  • pure2raw.
  • A Celiac’s Adventure Through Food.
  • Elana’s Pantry.
  • Gluten Free Girl and the Chef.
  • Gluten Free Planet.
  • Gluten Free Vegan.
  • Cake Maker to the Stars.

  There are lots of great blogs/sites out there, those are just the ones that I follow. Have any that you’d like to recommend? Please do. I love finding new blogs to follow. They need only be interesting, funny, entertaining; it doesn’t have to be vegan, gluten free or even about food.

  So there’s my update on how things are going. I suspect that by the end of the month that I will be completely gluten-free. I’ve been meaning to get to the doc for another blood test and that’s the only reason I haven’t cut out gluten totally already. It could mess up the results if I were not eating gluten, I guess. Anyway, my celiac test was negative, but I want to have another one done just to see if it confirms a gluten intolerance. Seeing as how I have Hashimoto’s, it’s likely that I do have a gluten intolerance, but I’m curious to see if I can get some concrete evidence. Also, it “sounds” better to tell people that I have a gluten intolerance instead of I’m trying this new diet to see if…

  What about you? Do you have any tips for people wanting to change their diet or lifestyle to improve their health?

I just can’t get enough of my lentil burgers. They’re so easy to make with ingredients that I normally keep on hand that it’s been my go-to when I don’t know what else to make. They are good on top of bread, with salad, or eaten plain dipped in ketchup. To stretch the recipe even more, I made them with brown rice last time and they held together even better than when I make it without. I may add the brown rice from now on. This last time, I also dredged them in some rice flour before pan frying. It made the outside extra crispy.

Lentil Burgers with Brown Rice

1 cup dry green/brown lentils (about 2 cups cooked)
1 cup brown rice, uncooked
1 small onion, peeled
1 medium carrot, peeled
1/4 cup raisins
2 TB hemp seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 TB garbanzo bean flour

1. Begin by cooking the lentils and rice: bring 4 cups of water to a boil, add lentils and brown rice, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until water is absorbed and lentils/rice are tender. If lentils and rice are done cooking before all the water has been absorbed, just drain off any excess.
2. 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. Add raisins, hemp seeds, sunflower seeds, salt and pepper to the mixing bowl.
3. When lentils/rice are cooked, drain off any excess water and pulse a few times in the food processor. Transfer to the bowl of ingredients and stir to combine, adding enough flour to hold everything together. You’ll probably need about 2 TB, but may need more depending on how wet your veggies are.
4. Form into patties and either pan fry or bake in the oven. I pan fried mine in a teeny bit of oil after dredging in rice flour first. If you opt to bake them instead, you may want to brush both sides with a little oil so that they get crispy.

In the photo, mine is on top of a slice of Rice Pecan bread that I found at Whole Foods. With the whole gluten-free thing, I’ve had a hard time finding breads that don’t have egg in them. This type of bread is one that I tried and liked and is also vegan. It’s kept in the freezer section. It’s a little bit denser than wheat bread (as I’ve found is the case with all gluten-free baked goods), but it’s pretty good and makes fine toast. I don’t eat a ton of bread as it is, but it’s nice to have some type of convenience food on hand to keep me on the gluten-free path. An update on my road to gluten-freedom coming soon! EDIT: Update can be found here!

I’m a big fan of those bean soup mixes– you know, the kind that come with the dried beans, some dehydrated veggies and the spice pack mix. I made one last week that I thought was really good, but have since not been able to find it again in the store. It was one that I had bought at Whole Foods a long time ago and found when I was packing up the old house. I guess it’s now not something they carry. That got me thinking, it can’t be that hard to make, so I decided to give it a try myself this week. It turned out so fabulous and since I made it myself, I know exactly what’s in it. This stuff is seriously good and makes a lot. I love having leftover soup; remember, it’s the same amount of work to make a gigantic pot as it is to make a small pot. Make a huge batch and freeze some for later.

(Sorry for the yucky photo. Had to use the flash.)

Easy Vegan Minestrone Soup

1 cup kidney beans, dry

1 cup cannellini beans, dry

1 cup chickpeas, dry

1/4 cup olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, chopped (roughly 1-2 tsp)

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 TB dried basil

1 TB dried oregano

1 tsp dried sage

2 quarts veg stock

1-28 oz. can diced tomatoes

1 head cabbage, chopped

4 cups baby spinach, lightly packed

Any pasta type or shape that you like

S & P to taste

1. Begin by soaking the beans and chickpeas 12 hours or overnight.  After soaking, drain off soaking liquid and rinse with fresh water.  Drain.  Add to slow cooker.
2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add all the veggies and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.  Add herbs and saute another minute.  Add to slow cooker.
3. Add the stock and tomatoes to the slow cooker.  Cook on high for 4-6 hours or until the beans are cooked through.
4. Add the cabbage, spinach and pasta* and cook another 1-2 hours.  Season with S & P to taste.

* I prefer to cook the pasta separately and add to each bowl of soup.  I find that cooking it in the soup only makes it super mushy if you have leftovers.  For this recipe, I used quinoa pasta, but you could use whatever you like.

If you want to do this on the stove top, it will probably only take half the time.  Keep a watchful eye on it and add more liquid as necessary as m0re will cook off on the stovetop than in the slow cooker.

Well hello there, dear readers! As of this last Monday, we are moved into our new house. I love it here!! My kitchen is enormous compared to my last one and we’re just so happy here. Yay for finally being moved! Now that the move is over and we are somewhat settled, I hope to have more time to cook and more recipes to post.

Matt has been working late all week and I haven’t really prepared and elaborate meals. Last night, though, I wanted to cook up a kabocha squash that I bought yesterday and I really, really wanted to make a Thai yellow curry sauce to go over it. Why? I don’t know. It just sounded like a good combo.

First, the squash:

Cut in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds. Place cut-side down onto a lightly greased baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the inside is very soft.

Next, the sauce:

I followed my yellow coconut curry soup recipe as the base, but I let it reduce down a lot. This intensified the flavors and made it so good. Like, seriously so good that I was eating spoonfuls of it out of the pot– you know, just to make sure it was perfect *wink, wink*.

Thai Yellow Curry Sauce

1 TB olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped (about 1/2-1 tsp once chopped)
2 tsp Thai Red Curry Paste
2 tsp turmeric
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup veggie stock
2 TB brown sugar (firmly packed)
2 TB Tamari*

In a small sauce pan, heat the olive oil over low heat and saute the onions, garlic and ginger. Once softened, after about 5 minutes of cooking, add the curry paste and turmeric. Saute for another minute or so, then add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine then simmer for 15 minutes until the liquid has reduced by about half. Using an immersion blender, blender or food processor, puree the sauce until smooth. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or Sriracha if desired.

*I use Tamari here to keep it gluten-free. If you don’t care about that, go ahead and use soy sauce instead. (Did you know that soy sauce contains wheat?)

I was all out of brown sugar, so I used regular sugar and a small drop of blackstrap molasses. It worked fine. Also, I think this would have been even better with a little lime squeezed in at the end. I’ll be sure to do that next time.

I served our squash with some red quinoa and simple sauteed spinach. For the spinach, I heated a tiny bit of olive oil in a skillet, put the baby spinach in and lightly sauteed until just wilted. Then I put some salt and pepper on it.

The title says it all… I was getting ready to head to Target when Amanda fell asleep on the couch. Rather than disturb a sleeping baby, I’m taking advantage of this time to get some blogging done. If only there was some kind of dictation iPhone app for wordpress– I’d blog like every minute!

I have a couple of announcements to get out of the way first:

1. We’re moving! Same city, just different house. I know some of my local friends read this and it’s so new that I haven’t told many people yet, so there you go. We’ve been wanting to move for a while now and saw this house on a Friday, decided we liked it on Saturday, put the deposit on it on Monday and now we’re just waiting for the lease to come through. That means January will be very busy for me and I probably won’t get around to blogging very often (so really no change in my blogging pattern, but now you know why!). We need more space and the elementary school that I want Emma to go to is in that district and will be easier to get in to (hopefully). It’s a Spanish Immersion school and she’s in Spanish Immersion pre-K now and really likes it. I figure I can teach her everything she needs to know (reading, math, etc), but I can’t teach her Spanish.
2. My second big announcement is that I’ve decided to go gluten-free. I’ve been toying with the idea for a few months, but didn’t want to do anything drastic while I was pregnant and couldn’t really handle anything that major in the first few months following Amanda’s birth. I have mentioned a couple times on here that I was considering it and now I’m ready to take the plunge. With our upcoming move and just dealing with life in general, this will be a gradual transition and I don’t suspect I’ll be fully gluten-free until probably February. My kitchen and pantry are not equipped to handle gluten-freedom yet and I don’t want to go out and buy a bunch of different G-F items just to pack them up and move them. And having priced out different G-F foods at places like Whole Foods, I suspect that I’ll be able to buy things online in bulk for much cheaper. When I’m ready to buy them, I want to have them shipped to the new address.

I bet you’re wondering why I’ve decided to cut out the gluten.  Well, I read that book up there and it suggests that hypothroidism can be helped by eating a gluten-free diet. I’ve had hypothroidism now for about half my life and just recently was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, an auto-immune thyroid disorder. According to this book, people who suffer from Hashimoto’s are also gluten intolerant and because gluten and thyroid “look” similar to the body, it goes on a rampage destroying everything resembling gluten. Something like that. So, to prevent further damage to my thyroid, I’m going to give it a try. Besides that, as the title suggests, I do have thyroid symptoms despite my labs being “normal.” And I can’t help but think that I have more than I realize because I’ve lived with it so long that I’ve come to accept it as feeling “good.” Know what I mean?

Anyway, I haven’t finished reading the book yet, but it’s certainly an interesting experiment. For the record, my Celiac test was negative, but it’s still possible to be gluten intolerant and not have Celiac. I’m still working on getting some more blood tests done and I’ll report those once I get them done. I’ve also read that soy is not good for the thyroid, so I might go soy-free too. One thing at a time, though, but in the meantime I will work on reducing my soy intake and totally avoiding foods that contain super processed soy.

I also have some food to blog about, but Amanda’s awake now and I don’t have time to get the photos off the camera. The quiet was nice while it lasted, but now it’s time to get to Target.

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!!

Well, vegan mofo came and went and I’m pretty disappointed with my performance. I started out strong, but wasn’t able to keep up in the end. The worst part is that I actually did some cooking and have some recipes to post, I jut don’t have the time to sit at the computer and write them. *sigh*

This weekend, I was hired to make cupcakes for the Redwood City Mother’s Club holiday party. This is my second year doing it and it’s a lot of fun. Emma and I stayed for the party after setting up and we had so much fun. She got to do some art and play with her friends and we got to spend some time together, just the two of us.

Flavors: apple spice with salted caramel buttercream, pumpkin with cream cheese frosting, vanilla with vanilla buttercream, and lemon with lemon buttercream.

This year, I also made some gluten-free vanilla cupcakes following this recipe. I wanted these to also be nut-free, so I made a few substitutions and omissions: soy milk for the almond milk (I’ve also used rice milk and they turned out fine); omit almond extract, add extra vanilla; and quinoa flour for the almond flour. I have to say that these cupcakes are so delicious! It might be my new favorite. I want to play around with this recipe and try to develop a chocolate one.

I’ve got one more holiday party to do this Saturday and after that I should have more time for blogging. I have a yummy recipe to post!