Curried Quinoa and Adzuki Bean Burger Wraps

August 27, 2012 by aprilcball

You’re probably saying adzuki what? That’s what I said when I first heard about these little red beans. Burgers are a staple in our house lately (easy finger food for our 1-year old) and I’m always up for a new bean so I added some to my last Nuts.com order. To be honest, these burgers came out a little bland so I decided to spruce them up a bit with a few toppings and WALAH… YUMMY GOODNESS!!! Okay… enough with the caps lock, you get the picture 😉

Curried Quinoa & Adzuki Bean Burger Wraps

Both of our kids love these burgers smeared with a little hummus and topped with chopped avocado. I prefer the wrap thing myself. My best friend came over for dinner with her nephew a few nights ago when I served these burgers… he wasn’t a fan but our son was happy to eat his share!

First bite… not sure yet (Friend is NOT amused with these burgers!)

He likes them!! YES!!!! (Friend still not amused)

“Hey if you don’t want your burger, I’ll eat it…”

“No really… TAKE IT!”

Yummy! (Friend still not amused)

LOL!!! Had to share those pics, they’re too funny! Okay… onto the burger recipe.

NOTE: Once you make the burgers, here are the ingredients I used to make the wraps:

* Collard Greens – pick larger ones for wraps

* Mango Chutney (from Trader Joe’s)

* Plain Hummus (I make my oil-free hummus or use Trader Joe’s Mediterranean Hummus in a pinch)

* Lentil Sprouts (See my sprouting post)

* Avocado

Original burger recipe from Choosing Raw… great site!!!

Curried Quinoa and Adzuki Bean Patties (vegan, gluten free, soy free)

Makes 6-8 Burgers

1/2 cup quinoa, dry
1 3/4 cup cooked adzuki beans (I buy mine from Nuts.com – $3.99/lb for organic)
3/4 cup chopped onion
1/4-1/2 cup chickpea flour
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
Black pepper to taste
Cooking spray (I use the spectrum brand) or a scant amount of coconut oil for sauteeing and grilling

1. Bring 1 cup water to boil and add the quinoa. Lower heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes WITHOUT OPENING THE LID! Remove from heat and let sit, fluff with a fork.

2. Sautee the onion till golden and tender.

3. When quinoa is done, add quinoa, onion, chickpea flour, and adzuki beans to a food processor. Pulse quickly until the mixture is forming a dough that is uniform and sticks together, but still has some texture. Add spices and pulse a few more times to incorporate. If at any point you feel as though you’re overprocessing, you can transfer the bean and quinoa mixture to a bowl and mix with your hands!

4. Shape mixture into six patties and spray a skillet or pan with coconut oil. Cook for five minutes over medium heat, flip, and continue to cook for another five minutes or so.

Add cooked quinoa, onion, chickpea flour, and aduki beans to a food processor. Pulse quickly until the mixture is forming a dough that is uniform and sticks together, but still has some texture. Add spices and pulse a few more times to incorporate.

Spoon mixture into hot pan and smash a bit to resemble burgers

When burgers are done, let cool a bit then assemble your wrap. I did this order: collard green. hummus, burgers, mango chutney, avocado then lentil sprouts. Ready to wrap!

Pretty little wrap!

Time to eat!

Brown Rice & Lentil Burgers

July 17, 2012 by aprilcball

Hey there!

Sorry I’ve been absent lately, operation “Daily Toddler Energy Drain” is in full effect this summer which means I haven’t been spending a ton of time at home. We’ve also been camping quite a bit since we bought our RV. So much fun!

I haven’t done a ton of cooking lately but I decided to make these burgers tonight since I need a burger recipe for our upcoming camping trip. Our son is turning one soon and I also needed a new menu item for him to try. These burgers were a hit all around, our kids LOVED them! I ate mine in a lettuce wrap with horseradish mustard, Habanero Sauce, avocado, relish and heirloom tomato slices. YUMMO!!

Brown Rice & Lentil Burgers

Kid Tested AND Approved!!!

The original recipe is from the blog For The Love of Food. I altered it a bit and I may continue to do so the next time I make them. I want to play with the spices a bit, maybe make a spicy batch next time.

Brown Rice & Lentil Burgers

1/2 cup dried green or brown lentils, rinsed (I used brown)

1/2 cup brown rice

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 carrot, grated

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground sage

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/2 cups water

1 cup vegetable broth

1 cup quick oats

Combine the lentils, brown rice, onion, carrot, garlic, cumin, sage, and salt in a medium-size saucepan. Add the water and vegetable broth. Cover and bring to a boil then reduce the heat and boil gently until the rice and lentils are tender and all the liquid is absorbed, about 40 minutes.

Drain in a colander to remove any excess liquid. Add mixture to large mixing bowl and add the quick oats, stir until combined. Let cool until able to handle. Form into 8 large burger patties.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper – you can spray the paper with a little cooking spray if you’re worried about them sticking (I did). Bake them for 15 minutes and flip. Bake an additional 15 minutes and remove from oven. Let cool slightly, they will harden a little and become easier to handle.

Add ingredients to medium-sized saucepan, cover and bring to a boil. Lower temp and continue to cook at a low boil for about 40 minutes.

Cook until lentils and rice are done and liquid is almost all absorbed.

Transfer to mixing bowl, add quick oats and combine. Let cool until able to handle.

Form patties and place on parchment paper (spray if you wish). Makes 8 large patties, I had to make them in two batches!

Almost done! Mini patty for our one-year old 🙂

Yummy!!!

Chipotle Lentil Burgers (kidtestedfirefighterapproved.com)

Unprocessed Creamy Artichoke Spinach Dip

June 16, 2012 by aprilcball

Yah, I know it’s a terrible pic but who cares because WOW this was DELISH!!! We had a pre-Father’s Day party today so I decided to serve this dip I’ve had my eye on for a while now. It was SO GOOD! Everyone enjoyed it! I made a double batch and the bowl was licked clean! It’s so nice to find a good plant-based spinach artichoke dip, especially one without some type of fake mayo or processed vegan product. Our toddler LOVED this and devoured it along with carrot and zucchini sticks.

I would’ve taken better pictures if I wasn’t slapping hands out of it first! Small price to pay for a good recipe!

Creamy Artichoke Spinach Dip

The original recipe is from Deena Burton’s Plant-Powered Kitchen Another AWESOME blog you need to check out ASAP!

Creamy Artichoke Spinach Dip

Ingredients:

3/4 cup raw cashews (unsoaked)

3/4 cup plain unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1-2 medium-large cloves garlic (I used 2)

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp dry (ground) mustard

freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 cups frozen artichoke hearts, partially thawed (helps for pulsing in blender) – I used canned, turned out GREAT!

2 cups (loosely packed) spinach leaves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425. In a blender, first add cashews, milk, lemon juice, garlic, salt, dry mustard, and pepper. Blend until very smooth.

Add artichokes and spinach and just PULSE through. Do not fully blend, keep some chunky texture! Transfer to an oven-proof baking dish, and bake for 17-20 minutes.

** NOTE: I found that transferring the mixture to the food processor BEFORE adding the artichokes and spinach worked better than trying to pulse them in the blender since I can’t really pulse anything in my Vitamix.

Combine everything EXCEPT artichokes and spinach into high-powered blender

Blend until smoooooth

Add artichokes and spinach and pulse until combined yet chunky (I used my food processor at this point), place in oven safe dish and bake

I couldn’t take a picture fast enough! People already started digging into the dip before I could make it look somewhat pretty…. trust me though, IT’S GOOD!!!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

June 11, 2012 by aprilcball

I haven’t made any sweets for A LONG TIME (as you’ve noticed on the blog) so I figured it might be time to dabble in a little sweetness. These cookies are really good and really easy to make. I think they taste best when warm so make sure to warm up the leftovers before eating, if you prefer. I tried to bribe our daughter to go on the potty with these cookies and it worked! Well… it worked one time anyways. Potty training is rough!

These are grain-free, gluten-free, white sugar free, oil-free, flour free…. all sorts of FREE!!!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

I found this recipe on Texanerin Baking site. I can’t wait to see what else she has in store!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups canned or cooked chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons natural peanut butter
1/4 cup honey OR 1/8-1/4 cup agave, if you prefer
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn’t have salt in it
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they’re combined. Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky. With wet hands, form into 1 1/2″ balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. Bake for 10-15 minutes. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly before baking

Process ingredients until smooth, scrape sides along the way

Add chocolate chips, pulse a few times to combine

Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet to bake

Yummy!

Dill Pickle Roasted Chickpeas (Oil-Free)

June 11, 2012 by aprilcball

I try to keep some type of crunchy snack in the house at all times… let me rephrase that… HEALTHY crunchy snack. I’m a crunchy snacker, I can destroy a bag of chips in no time flat if given the opportunity so I’ve learned not to set myself up for failure. Roasted chickpeas are such a great snack, nice and filling with a satisfying crunch! I’m always searching for new roasted chickpea recipes (I’m currently experimenting with a roasted buffalo “wing” chickpea recipe because I LOVE buffalo wing sauce!) so when I came across this one, I had to try it! Our toddler loved these too which kinda surprised me considering the vinegar taste.

Dill Pickle Roasted Chickpeas

More please Mommy!! (Forehead boo-boo. She fell running through the sprinklers at a friend’s house today, poor kid!)

Original recipe from Bitter Sweet blog, need to check out more of her recipes!

Dill Pickle Chickpea Crunchies

Basic Brine:

1/2 Cup Cold Water
1/2 Cup White Vinegar
1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
2 – 3 Teaspoons Light Agave Nectar

3 Cups Cooked Chickpeas OR 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed (SAVE THE LIQUID!)

Seasonings:

2 Tbsp leftover bean cooking liquid OR canned chickpea liquid
1/4 Cup Roughly Chopped Fresh Dill
3 Cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
12 – 1 tsp Coarse Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Mustard Powder
1/4 tsp Ground Coriander
1/4 tsp Celery Seed
1/8 tsp Ground Black Pepper
Pinch Red Pepper Flakes

Place all of the ingredients for the brine in a medium-sized jar, including the chickpeas, shake it up, and place it in the fridge. Allow the brine mixture to infuse into the beans for 12 – 24 hours. As one might presume, the longer the chickpeas soak, the more strongly they’ll be flavored with vinegar. It’s up to you whether that’s a good or bad thing. Bear in mind that the bite will mellow significantly after a trip to the oven, so don’t be afraid of having very vinegary beans at this stage. I let mine sit for a little over 24 hours and they turned out GREAT!

Once the chickpeas have been “quick pickled,” drain them thoroughly but do not rinse. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees while you measure out and prep the seasonings. Toss the chickpeas into a bowl along with the bean liquid and all of the aromatics, stirring so that every last bean is thoroughly coated. Transfer to a jellyroll pan or large baking dish (anything with sides- These edible marbles will want to roll right out otherwise) and spread them evenly in one layer.

Bake for 45 – 60 minutes, stirring every 15 or so, until the chickpeas have shrunken in size and are golden brown, with darker spots in some areas. It can be hard to tell when they’re done since the chickpeas will continue to crisp up as they cool, but listen closely and they should rattle when you shake the pan. Remove from heat and let cool completely before snacking and/or storing in an airtight container.

Mix beans with brine ingredients and place in fridge for approx 24 hours

Drain your beans well, chop dill and assemble spice mixture

Don’t forget to drain them well!

Here’s the infamous bean cooking liquid! Great oil replacer!

Coat beans with bean liquid and spices

Bake for 45-60 minutes, turning every 15 minutes

Ready to eat!

Portobello Mushroom Pizzas

June 11, 2012 by aprilcball

Life has been so crazy lately, I feel like I can’t catch up on the things I need to do! It’s been a great summer so far… our 10-month old is kinda almost walking and our 2 1/2-year old is hilarious with her ever growing vocabulary. Sorry I’ve lagged on posting recipes lately but things have been nuts! Hope all is well with you and your family!

Ok so pizza, who doesn’t enjoy pizza?! Pizza on portobello mushrooms? What’s better than that! No bloated processed pizza crust feeling, no processed food headache… you can have pizza ALL THE TIME this way!

Portobello Mushroom Pizzas

My hubby loved this so much he asked me to make it again this week. His last favorite, Ancho Lentil Bowls with Low-fat Vegan Cheese is fading out of heavy rotation here so we needed something new. Our toddler LOVED this pizza too, she ate a whole one and asked for more. We felt bad since we had already eaten the rest so I’ll have to make more next time.

Portobello Mushroom Pizzas

* 6-8 Portobello mushrooms (allow for at least two per person… three if you’re really hungry)

* 2 cups pizza sauce – I LOVE the Muir Glen Pizza Sauce when I don’t have time to make homemade. Use your favorite.

* Cashew Basil Cheese (see recipe below)

* Chopped roasted red & yellow peppers – I used half a jar of Trader Joe’s fire roasted red & yellow peppers in water

* 1 green pepper, chopped

* 1 medium onion, diced

* 1 can black olives, chopped

* fresh basil, chopped (add on top OR use dried italian seasoning)

* 1/2 – 1 tsp red pepper flake

Directions:

* Preheat oven by setting the broiler on low or just broil if that’s the only setting you have.

* Take a baking sheet and cover with a silicone non-stick baking mat or parchment paper for easy clean up.

* Make your Cashew Basil cheese (see below). Set aside.

* Remove stems of Portabellas and gently rub Portabellos with a wet cloth to clean. Place Portabellas ‘belly’ side up on the baking sheet.

* Spoon about 2 tablespoons of pizza sauce into each mushroom. Now spoon about 2 – 4 teaspoons of Cashew Basil Cheese on top of the pizza sauce (see recipe below).

* Top the portobellos with remaining ingredients, sprinkle with fresh basil and/or italian seasoning and a sprinkle of dried red pepper flake.

* Broil in the oven on the lowest temperature setting on the middle rack for about 10-12 minutes, watching closely as broiler temperatures vary. Serve immediately and enjoy!

The cashew nut cheese is an excellent addition to these pizzas! You could also use the Pizza Cheese recipe from a few weeks ago, that would be GOOD! I changed the original recipe to suit our tastes and nutritional needs. I plan on making the Goaty Cashew Cheeze (Thank you Melomeals!) next time and experimenting with different toppings. The possibilities are endless!

Cashew Basil Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cashews

• 1/3-1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt, to taste

• 1/2 tsp leftover bean cooking liquid (or liquid from canned beans…. or water, that will work too!)

• 1 fresh basil leaf – I didn’t have this last time I made it so I added 1 tsp dried basil

• 1 small clove garlic

• 1.5 tbsp nutritional yeast

• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

* 1 tsp yellow miso paste

Directions: Place 1 cup of raw cashews in a bowl of water, cover, and soak overnight in the fridge. When cashews are ready, drain and place all ingredients (cashews, Himalayan sea salt, bean liquid/water, basil, garlic, nutritional yeast, miso and lemon juice) into a food processor and process until smooth, stopping to scrape sides of processor as necessary. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.