spicy black bean millet mushroom potato burgers

how many yummies can you squeeze into a bean burger? turns out, you can put a lot of goodness in 'em & they are ever so delicious. these spicy bean burgers were most excellent - while they were a little squishier than our butter bean burgers, the taste made up for the slight increase in squishiness. then again, who wants a bean burger that's too crumbly to eat?! :)

ingredients:
4 small new potatoes
2 cups of cooked black beans
10 mushrooms, chopped into wee pieces (we used crimini mushies & kinda minced 'em up a good bit)
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
1 bell pepper (ours was red), finely diced
1 fresh jalapeno, de-seeded & minced
1 cup millet
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
5 cloves of garlic, crushed & minced
2 tbsp brown rice flour
1 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp sriracha or your favorite hot sauce (use less if you're looking for a milder burger.)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
a few pinches of sea salt
1 tbsp olive oil, divided

what you'll need:
- small pot + lid
- baking tray
- large skillet
- big 'ol mixing bowl
- potato smasher
- olive oil cooking spray

what'cha gotta do:
dice the potatoes into bite sized pieces & toss with 1 tsp of olive oil and a few pinches of sea salt. roast the potatoes on 350 until they're cooked through & browned a little (it was about 30 minutes of roasting for us, and we used our little counter-top toaster oven). while the potatoes are roasting, pour the dry millet into the small pot, heat on medium-high & toast it until it starts to smell a little nutty. add in the water, cover with lid, reduce the heat to low & cook for 17 minutes. remove from heat, fluff the millet with a fork, & set aside. while your millet is cooking go ahead & get a move on the veggies... heat 2 tsp olive oil in the large skillet & saute the chopped mushrooms and finely diced bell pepper & onion on medium-high heat until the onion begins to brown. add in the jalapeno pepper & garlic - saute for another 2 minutes. add the black beans & all the spices (and sriracha) to the pan & saute for another 2 minutes. turn off the heat & stir in the tahini - combine well. take the whole sauteed mess of yum & toss it into the large mixing bowl, and throw in those roasted potatoes too. smash up the veggies, potatoes, 'n beans with your potato masher (not enough to completely pulverize 'em, but smash them enough so that about half of the beans are smooshed). add the cooked millet, flax & sesame seeds, brown rice flour, and cornmeal to the mixing bowl. combine it all together really well & adjust seasonings to taste. form burger patties with your hands, then wipe out the large skillet & spray it with some olive oil cooking spray. cook the burgers on medium heat until they get nice 'n brown on both sides. enjoy!

(i ate mine with ketchup & dan enjoyed his with some jarred jalapenos, ketchup, and more sriracha on top because he's crazy like that. these burgers would probably also be rock'n with some vegan mayo on top, but we had just run out of vegenaise. sadface.)

p.s. - this recipe makes for 4 biiiiiig burgers or 6 medium-sized ones.

some sadfaced tempeh cakes & happy meatlessballs!

last week i really wanted to make some tempeh cakes. our local natural foodz sto' makes them now & again and every time they have some i make sure to get one to enjoy. they're just so good. we attempted to make some last monday night, but they kinda fell apart & got fussy when we tried to remove them from their snug little places in the muffin tin. (disappointedface.) they tasted pretty darn good, but we want to tweak the recipe to make them hold up better & make them even more scrumptious - so there will fo 'sho be a tempeh cake recipe in the future. the little nubbies you see there are baked okra - yummers! all we did to make those little nubs of awesome was this...

ingredients:
20 okra pods, cut into bite sized pieces
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup brown rice flour
2 tbsp teff flour
2 tbsp flax seeds
2/3 cup plain almond milk
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
a pinch or two of cayenne pepper if ya like

what you'll need:
- olive oil cooking spray
- food processor
- 2 medium sized bowls
- baking sheet

what'cha gotta do:
place flax seeds in the food processor & grind until they're pretty much flax meal. add in the almond milk & whiz it all around for 30 seconds. pour into one of the mixing bowls. combine the flours, cornmeal, and all the spices in the other bowl. transfer half of your okra pieces to the flax-milk bowl & submerge them for a few seconds, making sure they get all gooped up. transfer the okra pieces to the bowl with your flours 'n such & get those okra pieces well coated. transfer the coated okra to the baking sheet that's been sprayed with a little olive oil cooking spray. repeat these steps with the rest of the okra then bake them in the oven (no need to preheat) on 375 for 20-30 minutes (until they start to brown up nicely). remove from oven & enjoy. so easy, soooo soooo gooooood!


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on the more successful side - meatlessballs! it's been waaaaaay too long since we've made tvp meatlessballs and we thought it was about time to make them again. we created a gluten free version & added in some new spices - the results were damn delicious! here's what we did...

ingredients for the non-meatballs (makes 10 large-sized balls. ahahahahahaa!):
1 cup dried tvp (textured vegetable protein)
1 cups water
1 small yellow onion, very finely diced
1/2 bell pepper, very finely diced (we used a yellow bell pepper)
3 large cloves 'o garlic, crushed & minced
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp liquid braggs
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tbsp very warm water
2 heaping tbsps ground flaxseeds (we just whizzed our whole flax seeds in the food processor for a bit)
1 tsp olive oil

what you'll need:
- small sauce pan
- small skillet
- large skillet + lid
- small mixing bowl
- olive oil cooking spray

what'cha gotta do:
bring 1 cup of water to a boil in the small sauce pan, add in tvp, cover with lid, and remove from heat. let this hang out for 10 minutes. combine the 2 tbsp of very warm water with the ground flax seeds & set it aside while you start on the onions 'n pepper awesomeness. in the small skillet heat 1 tsp olive oil on medium heat. brown onions & bell peppers, toss in the garlic & sauce for another minute. turn off the heat & add in tahini, spices, liquid braggs, and nooch. once the tvp is done drain off any excess water - then add your sauteed onion 'n pepper 'n spices mix to the sauce pan with the tvp and toss in the flax seed-water mix & brown rice flour. combine well. form meatlessballs and be sure to squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze 'em really hard in your hands so they don't fall apart while they cook (you can also put 'em in the fridge for a bit to firm up if you like). spray the large skillet with a little olive oil cooking spray & saute the meatlessballs on medium heat until the begin to brown. reduce the heat to low, cover the skillet with your lid, and cook for another 3-5 minutes (turning them once or twice for even cooking). (you can also bake on 350 for 30 minutes - turning once or twice throughout the cooking time so they brown up & cook more evenly.) remove from heat, cool for a bit, and enjoy!

local: green beans, tomatoes, bell pepper, garlic

garlicky white bean 'n marinara polenta stacks, dan's tempeh tater cakes, thai foodz, and mucho fun!

happy sunday!

while we're still keeping pretty busy we have been enjoying some really tasty eatz. wednesday night we made these gloriously good white bean polenta stacks & smothered them in homemade marinara sauce. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! they were garlicky & so darn delicious - and pretty easy to pull together as we had already cooked up some beans for the week ahead last sunday and had made a gigantical batch of marinara as well. w00t! recipe timez...

ingredients for the polenta (make ahead of time to give at least an hour for chill’n time):
3 cups water
1 cup yellow corn meal
1 tbsp margarine
1 tbsp tofutti cream cheeze (optional)
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp dried parsley

what you'll need:
- large pot
- baking sheet
- olive oil cooking spray
- whisk

what'cha gotta do:
put water in the large pot & bring to a boil. once boiling slowly pour in cornmeal, whisking while you pour. reduce heat to low and cook, stirring every minute or so, for about 10-15 minutes. turn off the heat, stir in margarine, olive oil, spices, pepper, sea salt, and cream cheeze. remove from heat. spray baking pan with a little oil cooking spray. transfer polenta to pan + spread out evenly (our polenta didn't take up the whole tray). cool for an hour - then cut into squares, bake on 425 for 20 minutes - flipping them over after 10 minutes.

ingredients for the marinara sauce:
12 roma tomatoes
1 large yellow onion
10 gigantical cloves 'o garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional)
1 tbsp tomato paste
30 leaves of fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp agave nectar
a few pinches of black pepper

what you'll need:
- large skillet (we use our cast iron skillet.)
- blender/food processor

what'cha gotta do:
heat the 2 tbsp olive oil in the large skillet over medium heat & saute the onions until they become clear (about 5 minutes). add in garlic & sea salt and saute until fragrant, but don't let it brown. add the balsamic vinegar & agave nectar and combine well. after a 30 seconds or so, add in all the tomatoes & let them cook down and get pretty darn soft (about 10-15 minutes). transfer the tomatoes 'n such to your food processor/blender and blend well (BE CAREFUL BLENDING HOT THINGS! you may want to let them cool down for a bit as sometimes it can splatter, make a mess, and burn you, too. supersadface.) return the blended sauce to the skillet, reduce heat to low, add in tomato paste, basil leaves, oregano, sage, and black pepper - cook for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes or so. remove from heat, stir in nutritional yeast & adjust seasonings to taste if you need to.

ingredients for the white beans:
2 cups cooked white beans
8 cloves of garlic, crushed & minced
1 tbsp oil oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced very finely
3 cups fresh spinach
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

what you'll need:
- large skillet + lid
- olive oil cooking spray

what'cha gotta do:
spray the skillet with a little olive oil cooking spray. saute onions for 5 minutes on a medium heat. add in sea salt, black pepper, & white beans - saute for another 3 minutes then make a well in the middle of the mix. drizzle the olive oil into the well & add the garlic into the oil. saute until the garlic becomes fragrant (about a minute or two) then add in the spinach. saute this for another minute, turn off the heat, cover the pan & let it sit (still on the burner) for 3 minutes. give it a stir, check to see if your spinach is nice 'n wilty (if it's not you can turn the heat on low for a few minutes while keeping the lid on). if your spinach has wilted remove from heat, put some beans over your polenta, then smother in marinara. yay!

thursday night dan made his amazing 'n awesome tempeh tater cakes & i couldn't have been more happyfaced! dan's tempeh tater cakes are hands down one of my top 10 favorite dishes - and you know i'm serious because these are the only tater cakes i'll eat sans ketchup. i don't bother with the ketchup because these tater cakes couldn't be any better. fo 'real! ;)

friday night julie & i headed to goode to visit my parents. dad & i were going for a run together saturday morning & i was going to help my mom with a few things around the house & play some scrabble! hooray! the run with dad was most excellent - it's hilly as hell where they are (they live close to the mountains) so we had a great workout, and for lunch mom & i enjoyed some tasty salads after we scraped some old paint off of the front door for a good bit. post lunch scrabble game with the pups keeing us company (both jasmine & julie look a wee bit bored, no?) - and here's our game - we both scored over 300! hellz yeah!

sunday dan & i treated ourselves to thai yummies for lunch. fried tofu 'n papaya salad for appies, then drunken fried rice & pad thai tofu for our mains. mmmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! such delicious summer days! hooray!


csa: tomatoes, potatoes, onions
local: green beans, garlic

gluten-free agave sweetened carrot-zucchini-walnut muffins

are you ready for some gluten-free agave sweetened (sugar-free) yumminesses?!?! hellz yeah! mmmmmmmmmm!

we made these muffins a few weeks ago and totally forgot to post about 'em. they were soooooo gooooooood! i made a gluten-free batch and a wheat batch (for dan & my parents) - and both were enjoyed & loved equally as much! superw00t! for some seriously good muffins give these a whirl!

ingredients: (this recipe makes 6 muffins, so double it if ya want a dozen!)
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
2 tbsp potato starch
2 tbsp tapioca
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/4 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup grated zucchini
1/4 cup raw walnuts, chopped well
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (we used plain almond milk)
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 tsp lemon juice
1/6 cup canola oil (or grapeseed oil)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

what you'll need:
- muffin tin
- olive oil cooking spray

what'cha gotta do:
preheat oven to 350. toss the flax seeds in your food processor & grind well until you've got flax meal (or something pretty darn close to it) - add in the almond milk & whirl about for 1 minute. add in the lemon juice & set aside for a few while you mix your dry ingredients together. in a large bowl combine the brown rice & sorghum flour, tapicoa, potato starch, xanthan gum, baking soda, sea salt, & baking powder. make a well in the middle of your dry mix & place in it the milk-flax-lemon mixture, canola/grapeseed oil, sugar, and vanilla extract. stir until combined then fold in the zucchini, walnuts, 'n carrots (you can totally add in some raisins if you wish to as well!). lightly spray the muffin tin with a little olive oil cooking spray and spoon batter into 6 of the tins. bake for 25-28 minutes (we gave 'em the 'ol "toothpick test" after 26 and they were done). cool the muffins in their tins for about 10 minutes or so (we tried to pop one out sooner and it wasn't happyfaced - so be patient.) then pop 'em out & enjoy!

so much veggie goodness!

veggies 'n more veggies - isn't summer the best? while i don't care for the crazy heat, we looooove all the veggies that come along with summer times! our csa's slowest month is august (right now they've got lots of tomatoes, melons, corn, salad mix, eggplants, herbs, and squashes available), but there are still plenty of other veggies available from local farmers. we can't wait for fall harvest to come along as well - root veggies galore & broccoli again - mmmmmmmmmm! since we got the camera on sunday i didn't get a chance to take a picture of the csa/market loot, but here's what we scored: eggplant, squash, corn, green beans, watermelon, bell peppers, onions, a ton of tomatoes, cucumbers, and spring mix (my fav!).


sunday night we decided to roast up some baby portobello mushies, squash, eggplant, and yellow onions. i had the oven on from baking a loaf of bread for dan & thought "roasted veggies would be yummers", and sure enough they were. we made roasted veggie stacks & topped them with pesto & marinara. sweet jeebus, they were marvelously fantastic! big 'ol csa salads were enjoyed as well - good eating, fo 'sho!

ingredients for the pesto:
¼ cup raw walnuts, soaked & rinsed (we soaked ours while away at work for 8 hours)
a handful of fresh basil
1 small clove of garlic, crushed
¼ - ½ tsp sea salt (adjust to taste, fo ‘sho!)
¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 tbsp cold-pressed olive oil
2 tbsp water (more if you like a thinner consistency)

what you’ll need:
- food processor/blender

what’cha gotta do for the pesto:
pulse walnuts, sea salt, & garlic together in your food processor until the walnuts are well ground. add in oil, nutritional yeast, & basil and give it a few whirls. add water & whiz about until you get the consistency you love the most (using less or more water – it’s all up to you)! enjoy!

ingredients for the marinara sauce:
12 roma tomatoes
1 large yellow onion
10 gigantical cloves 'o garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup nutritional yeast (optional)
1 tbsp tomato paste
30 leaves of fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp agave nectar
a few pinches of black pepper

what you'll need:
- large skillet (we used our cast iron. w00t!)
- blender/food processor

what'cha gotta do:
heat the 2 tbsp olive oil in the large skillet over medium heat & saute the onions until they become clear (about 5 minutes). add in garlic & sea salt and saute until fragrant, but don't let it brown. add the balsamic vinegar & agave nectar and combine well. after a 30 seconds or so, add in all the tomatoes & let them cook down and get pretty darn soft (about 10-15 minutes). transfer the tomatoes 'n such to your food processor/blender and blend well (BE CAREFUL BLENDING HOT THINGS! you may want to let them cool down for a bit as sometimes it can splatter, make a mess, and burn you, too. triplesadface.) return the blended sauce to the skillet, reduce heat to low, add in tomato paste, basil leaves, oregano, sage, and black pepper - cook for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes or so. remove from heat, stir in nutritional yeast & adjust seasonings to taste if you need to. enjoy!

tonight's dinner needed to be something quick 'n easy peazy - so stir fry it was. using some local 'fu we sauteed it up "cornstarch style" then used mel's sweet 'n sour tofu sauce (subbing in wheat-free tamari instead of soy sauce) for our veggies. we absolutely love mel's sweet 'n sour sauce - it's the perfect combination of spicy, sweet, 'n sour! so good! if you haven't given it a whirl yet - you're really missing out!

it's good to be back! squeeeeeeeeeeee!

csa: tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, spring mix, squash
local: green beans, bell peppers
garden: basil, oregano

spicy pastas, loot, & fried green tomatoes!

hiya! hiya! long time no post, yeah? sorry about that! we're busy bees of summer and our camera = broken. supersadface. here are the last of the photos 'o foodz until we get a new camera (hopefully it'll be this weekend! fingers crossed!).

last monday night we made Lisa's fantastically awesome spicy portobellas and pine nuts with spaghetti because dan is no longer a mushroom hater (superw00t!) and we share a love for spicy pasta gloriousnesses. mmmmmmmmmm! we absolutely love Lisa's recipes - they're all exceptionally rock'n, and this recipe rocks some serious socks! you've gotta give it a whirl and make your belly most happyfaced! yay! (csa salads to accompany the yumminesses.)


next up - a more spicy pasta! this was dan's thursday night dinner of deliciousness! he had the brilliant idea of taking some tofu pups 'n cutting them up all sausage-like. he sauteed some yellow onion, a goat horn pepper, a ton of garlic, & a red bell pepper in a little olive oil to add to the mix. that's brown rice pasta and the tofu pups were flavored up with a spicy blackened seasoning. dan added in some sriracha, garlic salt, and pepper to take it all up another notch. oooooooh - so freak'n delicious! dan = the best!

csa loot! (and you know i've gotta add in a w00t 'cause it rhymes! muahahahahahahahahaa!) this week i snagged a bunch of awesomeness from our csa & from another local farm at the market. here are the goodz... csa: sugar baby watermelon, carrots, cherry tomatoes, edamame (hellz yeah), potatoes, onions, eggplant, peppers galore, corn, and hanover tomatoes (they're the absolute best). other local awesomenesses: garlic, green beans, cucumbers, 'n green tomatoes. mmmmmmmmmm!

oh yes, and fried green tomatoes (that's a reuben made with portobellos 'n raw kraut on gluten-free bread) were enjoyed for saturday's lunch. i super puffy heart fried green tomatoes the most.

ingredients:
1 large green tomato
1 tbsp brown rice flour
1 tbsp teff flour
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 tsp garlic salt (less if you like)
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder
a few pinches of black pepper
1/4 cup plain almond milk
1/2 tsp lemon juice (or apple cider vinegar will do)

ingredients for the "dipping sauce":
1 tbsp vegenaise
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic salt
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a pinch of black pepper

what you'll need:
2 bowls (we just use our cereal bowls)
a small plate
large skillet
olive oil cooking spray

what'cha gotta do:
in one of the small mixing bowls whisk together almond milk & lemon juice (making a "buttermilk" here); set aside. go ahead 'n spray the skillet with olive oil cooking spray & heat to a medium heat. slice up the green tomato to the thickness you love the most. combine the spices, cornmeal, & flours in the other small bowl. grab a slice of tomato, dip in the milk mix, then dip it into your flour-cornmeal mix - coating the slice well. once more time now! - quickly dip the floured tomato slice into the "buttermilk" again then back into the flour mix. repeat with the remaining tomato slices then carefully place the coated tomato slices into the heated skillet and saute for 2-4 minutes on each side until they're golden brown.
while they're frying up you can combine all of the ingredients for the dipping sauce if ya like. remove tomatoes from pan when they're all browned up, serve with a little dipping sauce, and enjoy!

we hope to be back "up 'n running" with foodz 'n photos by monday! until then - toooooooodles! :)

beach eatz!

we’re all relaxed and refreshedfaced – hooray! saturday afternoon dan and i (and julie, too!) returned from our week long beach vacation on emerald isle where we met up with our friends for a week of fun times at the ocean! we had so much fun in the sun, veg’n out on the beach, riding bicycles everywhere, boogie boarding, lots of tasty drinks, go-karts, glorious foods, and the most excellent company! superw00t! dan & i made all but 2 meals back at the beach house – we made sure to keep our eats super easy and super tasty as we wanted to indulge a little, but not spend too much time inside (we didn't want to miss out on all the beachy fun)! here’s some of what we enjoyed last week....

lisa’s black bean hummus & tuna free salad were perfect for cool lunches on hot days.

katie’s tempeh wingz (we make 'em gluten-free! mmmmmmmmm!) are dan's absolute favorite so we had them for dinner one evening, and he's a huge spicy peanut sauce fan so we whipped up some peanut sauce serving it over carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, and brown rice pasta. huzzah!

cajun spiced tofu (so easy to make – just take your favorite cajun spice mix, rub it on to some drained & pressed tofu, and bake on each side for 15 minutes on 375 degrees), roasted veggie ‘n portobello salads (you read that right, mushrooms. dan is now a mushroom lover. i never thought i'd see the day!), and some "drinkyfaced nacho bowls" - drinkyfaced because we had some bourbon in the afternoon before lunch (hey, it was a late lunch! ahahahhahhaa!) so making lunch together was both fun & humorous. tee hee! end result – bowls of nachos smothered in cheeze sauce & topped with fresh salsa 'n guacamole! fantastical!
oh yes, and there was falafel, too!

to end our week we enjoyed vegan yummies @ ipanema saturday night and sunday we made millet-kale-tahini-white bean bowls. damn delicious! it was one week of so many yummies and so much fun, but i must admit - i'm glad to be back in my kitchen and we missed you all, too!