You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘celery’ tag.
Bird-Friendly White Bean Burger (GF) with barbecue sauce.
Well, this is #3 in my bean burger series. When I discover a formula that works, I go with it!
Burger #1 had a Mexican flavor. Burger #2 had an Italian quality.
Now, burger #3 has seasonings that most people associate with poultry (i.e. dead chickens and dead turkeys.)
In December 2008, I was newly vegan but the rest of my family was still eating animals. My niece was 4 years old. While preparing dinner for Christmas, my sister made a comment about the “bird” in the oven. A few hours later, my little niece sat down to eat and said,
“But mommy, I don’t want to eat a bird.”
I’ll never forget that. Fortunately, that was the last turkey that my niece had to eat. My family no longer cooks birds. We have Vegan Holiday Meals.
Here is a savory burger that you can enjoy without causing chickens and turkeys to die.
I’d like to stop seeing the chicken trucks regularly, when I drive to work.
Bird-Friendly White Bean Burgers (GF)
WET INGREDIENTS
2 C (or 1- 15 oz can) white beans (Cannellini (white kidney) or Great Northern beans)
1 large clove garlic, minced
1/3 C chopped onion
1/3 C chopped celery
2 T tahini
1 T tamari (GF)
DRY INGREDIENTS
1/2 C oat flour (GF)
1/4 C ground sunflower seeds
1 T nutritional yeast
1 t EACH: dried parsley, thyme & sage
1/2 t paprika
1/4 t EACH: ground *rosemary, celery salt & black pepper
dash garlic powder
(*I grind dried rosemary to a fine powder using a coffee grinder)
ASSEMBLY
Use a small food processor to puree the wet ingredients.
In a large bowl, combine the wet puree with the dry ingredients.
Divide the burger “dough” into 4 balls or 4 portions. You can do this right in the bowl using a spoon, or you can pour a drop of olive oil on your hands to handle the balls manually.
The burger dough will be very sticky and soft- don’t panic! Create 4 patties (see the other burger recipes for pictures of this phase). If you want to keep your hands clean, just spoon the dough balls right onto parchment paper and flatten them there.
Refrigerate the patties on parchment for at least 30-60 minutes before cooking. The time will allow the excess moisture to soak into the oats, which will bind the burgers. Trust me!
Cook the patties on medium heat in a saute pan using the oil of your choice (I use coconut oil). It should take about 10 minutes per side. Shake the pan periodically to make sure they aren’t sticking.
Try these with some barbecue sauce or mushroom gravy.
Thank YOU for caring about birds of all kinds.
Kauai Chicken – May 8, 2011
I first learned about “blended salad” from Dr. Joel Fuhrman. If you don’t know who Dr. Fuhrman is, be sure to click the link! In my opinion, his book “Eat to Live” is one of the best books on nutrition. I love his “nutritarian” approach to health. It’s all about nutrient density.
A blended salad is basically another type of green smoothie. My morning green smoothie contains a lot of fruit. My evening blended salad contains mostly vegetables.
Here’s what I put in my blended salad last night (serves 2):
Parsley, spinach, zucchini, carrot, cucumber, apple, red pepper and lemon juice (frozen).
PREPARATION
These are tips for preparing lots of vegetables ahead of time. This cuts down on the amount of work involved. If it’s too much work, then you probably won’t make blended salads regularly. Not good!
1. Buy several bunches of parsley. Discard the thickest stems. (I don’t need that much fiber!) Rinse, spin dry, and freeze on parchment paper. Store in a freezer container.
2. Have dark leafy greens in your fridge at ALL times. Rotate through kale, spinach, chard, collards, etc. Rinse the leaves and remove the tough stem. Most of the time I throw the stem away, but sometimes I mince it up for soup.
3. Buy a large variety of vegetables and apples. Wash, chop (2″ pieces) and freeze most of it. Always save some of everything for the fridge. Don’t forget about tomatoes, celery, and avocado. Keep the tomatoes and avocado fresh.
4. Use a citrus reamer to juice a whole bunch of lemons at once. Freeze the juice in ice cube trays.
5. If you have a juicer, you can also juice some of the vegetables and freeze the juice in ice cube trays. Using some vegetable juice instead of all whole veggies will cut down on some of the fiber (if getting too much fiber is an issue.) Save your carrot pulp for other uses (like these muffins).
5. Blend everything in a high-powered blender like a Vitamix. Add at least a cup of water per serving.
It’s interesting to read nutrition charts showing the percentage of protein, carbohydrate, and fat found in fruits and vegetables. People are surprised to learn that fruits contain protein and vegetables contain fat.
Please repeat after me:
ALL PLANTS CONTAIN PROTEIN.
PARSLEY: 27% protein, 57% carb, 16% fat
SPINACH: 39% protein, 49% carb, 12% fat
ZUCCHINI: 25% protein, 67% carb, 8% fat
CARROT: 8% protein, 87% carb, 5% fat
CUCUMBER: 19% protein, 69% carb, 12% fat
APPLE: 2% protein, 95% carb, 3% fat
RED PEPPER: 13% protein, 78% carb, 9% fat
LEMON: 7% protein, 90% carb, 3% fat
(Protein, carb, and fat percentages are from the book, “Becoming Raw: The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets,” by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina. This is another excellent book on nutrition. You don’t need to be “raw” to read it.)
Happy blending!
Ski road trip time!
In this post, let’s talk about what vegan skiers can do to eat a quick, healthy breakfast without leaving the hotel room.
We just spent a long weekend at Big White Ski Resort. Thanks to my Visa Rewards, we stayed for free in the White Crystal Inn.
When we arrived on Thursday March 14th, our view looked liked this:
Sunday March 17th we woke up to this:
Our “standard” room had no kitchen, but it did have a coffee maker, mini fridge, microwave, and toaster.
For our trip, I packed a couple bins full of the essentials, including a small cutting board and knife.
We brought a cooler to transport our green leafies, celery, apples, non-dairy milk, nut butter and jam. I brought our Vitamix blender so we could make green smoothies right in the room.
Large “beer cups” are handy for smoothies in the morning and apres ski beverages in the evening.
I brought our toaster, not realizing that the room already had one.
Eric likes to have toast with his breakfast smoothie.
I could have brought some oats to make oatmeal in the microwave,
but this time I opted for cold cereal with walnuts, raisins and non-dairy milk.
Segmented grapefruit is easy to prepare in the room.
I brought my grapefruit knife, some travel bowls and a set of utensils.
Time to get some untracked powder…
This chili soup recipe is VERY flexible. Today I made it with the veggies I noted, but on other occasions I’ve included cabbage, cauliflower and/or kale. I’ve also had success using a package of soy chorizo for the meaty component (be aware that different brands are more or less spicy). Of course, you can omit the meatless meats if you need to make it gluten free. Substitute some mushrooms instead! Feel free to use what you have or what you like. According to my palate, this is “medium” spicy. It has tons o’ flava!
NOTE: Use a very large soup pot. My largest pot (8 quart) was full to within 2 inches of the top.
CHOP/SET ASIDE THESE VEGGIES:
1 onion
1 green or red pepper
2 large carrots
2 celery stalks
6 cloves garlic (mince)
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes
1 pkg (12 oz) frozen corn
COMBINE THESE LIQUIDS:
~5 cups veggie broth or water
28 oz can crushed tomato with basil
14 1/4 oz can diced tomato (no added salt)
15 oz can tomato sauce (no added salt)
2 T tamari
SET ASIDE THESE VEGGIE MEATS:
*6 cups cooked beans (i.e. black, pinto, kidney, red, garbanzo)
1 link (chopped) Field Roast Mexican Chipotle Sausage (these are very spicy on their own)
1 pkg meatless ground (Gardein or Yves)
*Note: 3 cups dry beans yields about 6 cups cooked
COMBINE THESE SEASONINGS:
2 T brown sugar (organic)
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
1 T basil
1 T nutritional yeast
1/2 T smoked paprika
1/2 T coriander
1/2 T oregano
1 t taco seasoning blend
1/2 t salt
1/4 t chipotle
1/4 t garlic powder
4 t salt free broth powder + 1 cube broth (omit if using liquid broth)
ASSEMBLY:
Saute the veggies (except the frozen corn) and the seasonings in 1/2 T coconut oil for several minutes (medium heat). Gradually add everything else. Simmer until the potatoes are done, about an hour. Portion in pint size jars and freeze. Makes…a LOT! (about 13 1/2 pints)
Dilled Untuna Sandwich with Cucumber & Red Leaf Lettuce
DILLED UNTUNA SALAD SANDWICH
Chop the following:
1 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
small wedge onion (to taste)
1-2 medium pickles
1/2 red pepper
optional: add some purple cabbage or cauliflower
In a small bowl, combine:
1 thawed “ice cube” of fresh lemon juice (about 2 T)
2 T vinegar from the pickle jar
3 T Vegenaise
1 t mustard
To the small bowl add dashes of:
sea salt
celery salt
lemon pepper
black pepper
nutritional yeast
ground cayenne
garlic powder
AND
1/2 t dill weed
1/2 t parsley
1/4 t turmeric
Mix everything together and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Serve on a hoagie or your favorite bread. Add some Sriracha to give it a kick!
