Kidney Bean Burgers

This was the first of many veggie burgers to come. At least until I find "the one." You can find vegan veggie burgers in the stores but even those are often full of fat. This was a very quick burger that was a good base for toppings. Because the toppings was pretty much what made it good.

http://www.vegfamily.com/vegan-recipes/entrees/kidney-bean-burgers.htm

I took one can of dark red kidney beans, rinsed, and mashed them up good. I added 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 3 or 4 shakes of low sodium soy sauce and 1/2 cup of oats. I formed this into 3 patties and cooked them on medium heat in a skillet with about a tbl of vegetable oil. Top with whatever you normally top a burger with. Even my meat loving husband thought they were good (although he planned on making a steak later.)

I served this with green beans roasted with olive oil and garlic (425 oven for 15 minutes.) Much better than fries!

Beet and Carrot Salad

I've never even thought of eating raw beets. This sounded like a nice update of the standard carrot salad.  It's tangy and goes nicely with some hummus.

I omitted the tabasco sauce and I took a couple handfuls of baby spinach and tore it up into the salad. Some crunchy rice noodles would also be good here.

If you let it sit for a while there will be quite a bit of liquid.  I got tired of grating carrots and started just using a peeler but I eventually went back to the grater. What you see in the picture is how much I made using 2 carrots and one small beet.  (I was making this for one.)  I also combined the beets, carrots and spinach before dressing them. I didn't need to be concerned about the beet color "bleeding" since this was just for me.  It's very filling.  Recipe courtesy of epicurious.com.

14 cup shallot (minced) 2 tbsps peeled fresh ginger (minced) 1 garlic clove (minced) 14 cup rice vinegar (Asian markets and some supermarkets) 1 tbsp soy sauce 12 tsp toasted sesame oil (Asian)

tabasco (taste) 12 cup olive oil 4 cups shredded carrots (finely) 4 cups beets (finely shredded peeled raw, 34 pound) 1 leaf spinach (washed thoroughly for garnish if desired)

1	In a blender purée shallot, ginger, and garlic with rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and Tabasco. With motor running add olive oil in a stream and blend until smooth.
2	In separate bowls toss carrots with half of the dressing and beets with remaining half. Divide carrot salad and beet salad among 6 plates and garnish with spinach leaves.

Black Beans and Quinoa

Had my first quinoa tonight. Black bean soup, a can of black beans (rinsed and  drained), corn, picante sauce, green onions all cooked with quinoa. It was tasty. Not sure what I was expecting exactly. I knew it was a grain but I thought it would be….puffier? I figured it would expand more like rice does. So the quinoa itself was basically tasteless. But it was good with the rest of the mix. (Original recipe on vegetariantimes.com)

I was having too much fun playing with my almost 2 year old (!) to focus too much on the food. She loves playing in her play kitchen and her new word is "wonderful!" Everything is "wonerful!" So awesome.

California Ensalada Burritos

This meal tried to do me in. Lesson learned: mandolines are sharp! I also dropped almost 1/2 the avocado mix on the floor AND realized I'd forgotten to get baby salad greens.

But it turned out to all be worth it because man was this good. It tasted so fresh and clean.

Recipe from Vegetariantimes.com

California Ensalada Burritos

Makes 4 burritos

30 minutes or fewer

1 small red onion, thinly sliced into rings (1 cup)

¼ cup distilled white vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

• ⅓ cup plus 2 Tbs. fresh lime juice, divided
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¼ cup cilantro leaves
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 Tbs. olive oil
• 2 small avocados, cut into large chunks (2 cups)
• 3 cups mixed baby greens (accidentally omitted)
• 1 ½ cups shredded cabbage
• 4 radishes, thinly sliced
• 1 tomato, quartered and sliced
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into matchsticks
• 6 Tbs. toasted pepitas, optional (didn't use these)
• 4 7-inch low-fat, low-sodium tortillas, warmed

1. Stir together onion, vinegar, 1/3 cup lime juice, and salt in bowl. Cover, and chill 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Meanwhile, blend cilantro, garlic, and remaining 2 Tbs. lime juice in blender until garlic is minced. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. With blender running, slowly pour in oil until dressing is well blended.

3. Toss avocado chunks in separate bowl with 1 Tbs. dressing. Season with salt, if desired.

4. Toss baby greens, cabbage, radishes, tomato, and carrot in large bowl with remaining dressing.

5. Arrange greens mixture and pepitas (if using) in center of each tortilla, then spoon avocado chunks over top, mashing down lightly to keep from spilling out of burrito. Remove onions from marinade with fork, and divide sliced onions among tortillas. Roll up tortillas, burrito style.

I used the mandoline to slice the radishes (goodbye part of thumb!), red onions and the tomato.  It's a lot of steps but it really didn't take that long. It would be great just as a salad.  

Ancho Black Beans with Peppers and Rice

Adapted from a recipe found in Vegetarian Times Magazine.

1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 each red, yellow and green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
3/4 cup cooked brown rice
1 1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder (less or more to taste, it gets pretty hot)
1 1/2 teaspoon cumin (less or more to taste)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Saute minced garlic in oil. Add black beans and spices and peppers.  Cook until peppers are crisp tender.  Add rice and cilantro and heat through.

This is super fast and very tasty. It's spicy so mind your chile powder!

Chocolate Blueberry Banana Green Smoothie

I threw together this smoothie for lunch:

1 cup vanilla almond milk
1 banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 tbl unsweetened cocoa
1 scoop green superfood powder or 1 handful spinach

Blend all for 30 seconds. I strain mine to get any leftover chunks out. It's sweet but not overly so.

mmmmm…….

Avocado Spinach Panini

The couple of people who actually check out this blog might be wondering why I do it. Basically, I'm the heaviest I have ever been and the only way to get the weight off is to eat right. And to eat right I have to completely change my approach to food. That involves serious motivation and I've found that I stick to it better if I document it here. Lately I've had great success drinking green smoothies (try incrediblesmoothies.com for great smoothie ideas) for lunch and breakfast and having a vegetarian meal at night. I was a vegetarian many moons ago but since I didn't enjoy many vegetables it was a sad existence. I'm enjoying it much more this time around.

This recipe was adapted from a Vegetarian Times recipe.

1 flat bread cut into sandwich sizes
1 avocado, sliced
red onion slices (about 1/2 a small onion)
raw spinach leaves (I used about 1 loosely packed cup for 2 sandwiches)
California Sun Dry Sun-Dried Tomato Spread (or julienne sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil)

Cut open the flat bread (or bread of your choice) and spread the tomato spread on both pieces. Layer the rest of the ingredients.

Use a panini press or cook them in a skillet the way you would a grilled cheese. You want it really flattened out though. I struggles with this because half the time the ingredients ooze out more than I'd like but I think the bread has been too thick for my cheap panini maker!  It still tasted great. I love the crunch of the bread with the creamy avocado.  And the sun-dried tomatoes give it zing.  The onions were perfect and I couldn't even taste the spinach. I added bacon to the sandwich for the non-vegetarian eater in the house.

Squash and Goat Cheese Pizza

This is a take on Vegetarian Time's Zucchini Goat Cheese Pizza. I had squash I need to use up so I substituted it for the zucchini.  It was really simple and absolutely delicious. I served it with a quick spinach and red onion salad.

Pizza

• 2 Tbs. olive oil, divided
• 8 oz. (½ pkg.) prepared refrigerated pizza dough or pre-made crust
• 
  
• 1 3.5-oz. log goat cheese, thinly sliced or roughly chopped
• 1 summer squash, peeled into thin strips
• 1 small red bell pepper, cut into rings

Sauce

• 1 6-oz. can tomato paste with garlic
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• ½ tsp. red wine vinegar

1. To make Pizza: Preheat oven to 450°F. Brush large baking sheet or pizza pan with 1 Tbs. oil. Spread pizza dough in prepared pan.

2. To make Sauce: stir together all ingredients with fork in small bowl.

3. Spread Sauce on dough. Top with half of goat cheese. Spread squash strips over goat cheese, 
top with bell pepper rings, then remaining goat cheese. Drizzle with remaining 1 Tbs. oil. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Cool 10 minutes, then cut into 6 slices

Before baking….

After baking.

I should have cooked mine longer to melt the cheese better but I was hungry! And it smelled so good it didn't matter. This was the first time I used this crust. It was very good. Not too thick or thin.  There were 2 individual sized crusts in the package. I could eat this again and again. 

Tex-Mex Squash Casserole

Original recipe can be found at Eatingwell.com. It didn't have black beans and just used cheddar, but I wanted a protein and didn't have enough cheddar.

This is as good as any nachos I've had and much healthier. It was also an excellent way to get squash into my diet since it is not a favorite. I couldn't even taste it.

Pre-heat oven to 400.

3 summer squash (yellow squash), cut into quarters and diced
1/2 a medium yellow onion, diced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeds removed, diced
1 can chiles, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 to 1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
3 tablespoons flour

Mix all of the above ingredients to coat with the flour. Place in casserole dish and cover with foil. Cook 25-30 minutes.

Remove from oven and spoon 3/4 cup salsa in top. Cover in shredded cheddar. Bake for another 20-30 minutes.

I served this with tortilla chips and could have eaten half a pan. It would be great over rice or in tacos or tortillas.

Cedarlane's Burrito Grande with Salsa Roja Review

Having zero ability to cook this week, I stopped at the local Nature's Market and picked up a few vegetarian frozen meals. It's been over 15 years since I was a vegetarian. There is so much more variety now. I still prefer to skip processed foods of any kind but some nights require the convenience. At least until I can get organized.

This was an excellent burrito. Full of black beans, corn and basmati rice. It had a salsa like sauce and was smothered in organic cheddar cheese. It cooked in the microwave for 5 minutes. I enjoyed every bite. Granted I could easily make this at home. But I needed my hands free tonight so this was a good alternative.

Health wise it contains no trans-fats, 9 g of fat, 220 calories, 27 g carbs, 9 g protein and 619 g sodium. The sodium is pretty high but the suggested daily requirement is 1500 g a day and I'm still way under at the end of the day.

As for it being filling, well yes, I suppose it was. The trouble is, I've gotten so used to the American way of overrating until I feel sick, that I felt like I wanted more. I made myself wait and eventually my brain caught up to my stomach. A good meal to end the day. If I could have made a salad it would have been perfect.

Banana Pudding Smoothie

I've embarked on a new way of eating for the next month. 2 green smoothies a day and a vegetarian meal at night. Today's morning smoothie ended up tasting like banana pudding!

1 banana
1 cup almond milk
1 6 oz container of vanilla Greek yogurt
1 small squeeze of honey
2 generous tablespoons of smooth almond butter (I prefer Barney's)
1/2 scoop of Garden of Life's Perfect Food Raw green supplement (working my way up to a whole scoop)

Blend until smooth.

I can't believe how good this is. It's more like a dessert.

Cherry Smoothie

I've been wanting to make more smoothies for breakfast and came upon a recipe for a cherry smoothie. I modified it some:

1/4 cup pitted strawberry cherries
1/4 cup raspberries
1/3 cup sugar free cranberry juice
3 oz honey Greek yogurt
1 squeeze of honey
1 small handful of baby spinach

(made about 6-8 oz)

It was sweet and tart. The only thing I need to do is get a fine sieve to pour it through so there will be no seeds.

I also bought a juicer and today I juiced a carrot, an apple, a 1/2 piece of fresh ginger, and 2 small handfuls of spinach to make a delicious fresh juice. It's gingery and apple-y. Really good, which surprised me. I'm thinking of going on a juice fast and wanted to see if I could tolerate the taste of vegetable juice. I still have some experimenting to do but this was a great start!