Back In The Kitchen

I am so excited. I have been trying for a while to create my own veggie burger raw and cooked. I have used other people’s recipes. Some were good and others not so much or at least not to my liking. What are my motivations for making my own. I could just buy them. Right?
Motivation 1. Mastering my refrig

I also wanted to confidently create my own with whatever I had in the kitchen. That’s what so many said they did in their experiments so why can’t I?
Motivation 2 Cost

Buying them can be a budget buster. They are expensive. Here in Texas they are approximately $4.50 and up for 4 patties and they may or may not be vegan.
Motivation 3 Satisfying The Cardiologist

This is the hardest. Carl’s doctor has so many requirements. First it was raw so the body could heal itself. Then it was you can add in cooked but must be vegan,gluten-free, oil-free and clean as possible. Vegan was easy. We had already eliminated dairy and most flesh. Gluten-free required learning how to use different grains and seeds and the flours made with them to make waffles, bread etc. Keep in mind the raw, clean and oil-free parameters. Oil-free is easy to understand but no so eary to accomplish. You don’t want dry burgers, or dry anything. Still working on that one. Then what’s clean.

Clean eating is a deceptively simple concept. … At its simplest, clean eating is about eating whole foods, or “real” foods — those that are un- or minimally processed, refined, and handled, making them as close to their natural form as possible. fitnessmagazine

Minimally processed is the kicker. How can you know if it is minimally processed unless you make it yourself?

I finally found a recipe from The Spruce Eats that was very close to the #Dr. Praeger patties that I buy and fit within the parameters set by the Doctor. So with a little modification here is my offering.

Recipe

1 2/3 cup beans (this was a mix of kidney, lentils and leftover black)

1 cup cooked quinoa

1/2 c chopped on onion

1/2 c chopped yellow bell pepper

1/2 medium fresh jalapeño

1/2 medium avocado

1 Tbls brown rice flour

1 tsp chia seeds in 2 Tbls of water

3 Tbls of liquid aminos or to taste

Pinch of cayenne

Mix all ingredients in a food processor until well blend. Form patties and bake at 375° F for 45 minutes or desired firmness.

The brown rice flour made them a little crusty on the outside but were moist on the inside. I will try next time with oats instead of quinoa.

7 burgers that were 4″ in diameter and 1/4″ thick

The flavor was great and now that I’ve made them it will be a quick process next time.

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Use It All

Anyone that has purchased organic and non-GMO produce knows it is expensive by comparison to conventionally farmed produce. So why do I do it and how can I make it more economically beneficial? For me, I figured I could pay at the grocery store or I could pay at the doctor’s office. The toxins in the pesticides that are used in conventional farming build up in our systems and eventually affect our kidneys and liver, killing us slowly. So those vegetables you were eating to become healthier might possibly be the cause of your illness. Unfortunately you can’t wash away the pesticide that has been absorbed into the meat of the vegetables or the fruit.

So I had to get my money’s worth. I was lying in bed thinking about the root system in plants. (That’s another post). It occurred to me that the stems of greens that we throw away contain nutrients. Rather than throw them away I put them in a pot along with other almost expired veggies. Add to that some seasonings and you have the making of your own vegetable broth.

Then I thought what to do with veggies after the broth was strained. I poured the cooked veggies into the food processor and chopped them all together. It looked interesting.

I wondered if it would add creaminess to a homemade salad dressing blend. Or maybe, it could be used as flavor additive and binder to my veggie burger recipes. It remains to be seen, but the goal is to USE IT ALL.

Leave a comment if you have suggestions.