Proteinous Veggie Burger

This is a recipe I adapted from Garrett Weber-Gale's recipe for a delicious and uber healthy veggie burger.  For a delicious snack I spread some sweet and spicy, Indian chutney (from the farmer's market) on a small slice of my Basic Breadmaker Bread.  Grill up one of these burgers with a slice of poblano pepper and make an open face sandwich, mmm.

Shamburger:

1 cup black beans, rinsed
1 cup garbanzo beans (no salt added)
1/8 cup garbanzo bean flour
2 slice Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain Bread, Low Sodium, processed to bread crumbs
.5 cup corn kernels
1 package Lite Silken Tofu
1 cup orange bell pepper, finely diced
1/2 medium white onion, finely diced
1 shallot, finely diced
1 red potato, grated
.5 medium sweet potato, baked
3 large egg whites - or 3 tbsp egg replacer powder
1 large oyster mushroom, diced

1 tbsp garlic powder (optional)

Put bread in a food processor and make bread crumbs, place in large bowl. Use the food processor to finely dice the onion, shallot and the bell pepper. Shred red potato, dice the mushroom, then bake and dice the sweet potato. Put all of the vegetables into a pan to cook on low. Process the tofu and garbanzo beans together. Pour the black beans and egg white in with the bread crumbs. Once the vegetables are cooked enough to release their flavors, let them cool. Add the vegetables to the beans and bread crumbs mixture, then pour the tofu mixture on top. Mix together and add the garbanzo bean flour as needed until the mixture is more sticky than watery.  Form into balls and arrange on a George Foreman grill, let cook for 10 minutes before checking so that the burgers don't fall apart.  They are done with they brown on both sides.  The garlic powder is optional because, without it, no seasonings have been added so you have a blank slate for cooking with this patty.  It can easily be added to any type of cuisine, although I love garlic and would add it to my ice cream so this doesn't apply to me.

Egg White Sandwich

Too many eggs?  We go through about 3 dozen a week these days..  I got a breadmaker for Christmas so my first loaf was a healthy modification of the basic white bread.  Then my husband and I proceeded to make amazing egg sandwiches with the bread.  We used a jalapeno, artichoke goat cheese we bought from the farmers market, 4 egg whites, and black pepper.

Basic Breadmaker Bread:
3 cups King Arthur All Purpose Flour (unbleached)
2 tsp Dry Active Yeast
.5 tbsp Madhva Agave Nectar (light)
1.5 tsp nusalt (or salt)
1.25 cups water
1 tsp garlic infused Texas Olive Oil

Add the wet ingredients first, then the salt, then the flour.  Make a small well in the flour to pour the yeast into so that it does not get wet.  Start the breadmaker, 1.5 lb loaf, dark crust.

A version of the open faced sandwich with leftover Soy and Seitan Roast, tomatoes and baked sweet potato "chips" on the side.

Egg White Migas

My obsession with egg whites continues.  When my husband and I first moved to Austin we were told of this signature Texas dish called migas, ever since we had been trying to find the best in town.. or one that we actually liked.  I find that all the ingredients added to migas take away from the dish and make it taste like a salsa casserole or something.  So yesterday I came up with a delectable dish that uses all of the traditional Texas style migas ingredients but keeps the flavor intact.

Egg White Migas:
4 egg whites
.25 cup firm tofu, diced
.25 cup corn kernels (I used frozen)
1.5 corn tortillas, torn or cut into small slices
.5 small tomato, diced
2 tsp cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp cheddar cheese, grated

Lay the tortillas and tofu down on a non-stick cooking surface and heat until the tortillas are crisp and the tofu has boiled some of its water out.
Add corn and cook until the kernels defrost.
Pour the egg whites on top of the mixture and let cook until the sides are firm and you can easily flip the mixture, flip.
Cook for another minute.
Spread diced tomatoes on plate.
Place migas on top of tomatoes and sprinkle cheddar and cilantro on top.
Enjoy immensely.

For moister migas stir or scramble the egg mixture after the egg whites are poured on top.

Banana Nut Bread - Coffee Companion

This is a delicious banana nut bread made with agave instead of sugar and baked in a cookie tray.  The method makes for a firmer bread that is dippable, has a shorter baking time and of course I used a Christmas themed cookie tray so it's festive.

Shanana nut bread:
.5 cup agave
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp organic vanilla extract
2 egg whites
2 bananas, hand smashed
.5 cup unbleached all purpose flour
.75 cup whole wheat flour
.5 tsp nusalt (or salt)
1 tsp baking soda
1 handful of whole pecans, then chop them
1/8 tsp cinnamon

Mix together wet ingredients in one bowl and dry in another, make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet.
Use your hand to make sure the dough is fully combined, add nuts
The dough should be viscous, not watery or doughy.
Spoon in dough until cookie mold is covered
Bake at 350F for 15 minutes
Dip in coffee, eat and try not to finish them all in one sitting.

Christmas shapes!

Christmas Breakfast

Recently, breakfast has become my favorite meal.  I have always hated it because I didn't like milk, eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, waffles, or most cereals.  Now I am obsessed with farm fresh egg whites, they are so good!  So in the holiday spirit I bought a mini pancake maker with santa shapes on it, this lead to the BEST breakfast ever!  For Christmas eve we made a soy and seitan roast and some vegan gravy, mmm.  We bought some cheddar from the farmer's market, some spinach, garlic infused olive oil, and of course, Smith farms eggs (they're the best of all of vendors).  So to start you make "crepes" which is a basic crepe recipe but the batter is poured into the mini pancake griddle so they are not thin like crepes, it may seem like this is just a pancake but the bland flavor makes these more versatile than regular pancake mixes.

BEST BREAKFAST EVER:

Whole wheat crepe cakes:
1 cup whole wheat flour
.25 cups almond milk
.5 cups water
1 egg white
1/8 tsp nusalt (or salt)
1 tbsp margarine, melted

Mix together the wet ingredients and then add in the dry, this should make a syrupy consistency batter, not watery or sticky.
Lightly oil pancake molds with garlic oil 
Pour 1/8 cup batter into each mini pancake mold
Flip with a butter knife when the sides darken/dry
Cook for a minute on the other side

Then you are going to scramble 2 egg whites and pour them into the 4 molds
Flip when there is not much liquid left on top of the egg
Cook for a minute on the other side

Before, during or after all of this you can steam some spinach, either by microwaving it with some water or even in the pancake molds if you don't want to dirty dishes.

Now you pile some spinach on one crepe, then the egg, lay down the cheese (gouda worked great too), then a strip of soy/seitan roast, then pour some gravy on top.
Put this in the toaster oven or microwave so that all of the ingredients are hot and it melts together.
Top with another crepe and voila, deliciousness.

Serve with coffee and a coffee companion (muffin, cookie, bread).
The versatility of the crepe can also be taken advantage of because they go great with some banana nut preserves or sweet and spicy chutney, this makes a nice side item.
We had roasted red potatoes left over from the night before so we threw those on the plate too. 

Here's some picture's of last night's dinner:

Roast Beest - Christmas Eve Soy and Seitan Roast

Christmas Eve Dinner

  

Thanksgiving Soy and Seitan Roast

I scoured the internet for the perfect roast on Thanksgiving and ended up making 2 roasts.  Both are hybrids of Brianna's soy and seitan roast, one from Mac & Cheese and one from Felicity.  Both were amazing in their own ways.  I followed each recipe pretty closely so that I would easily be able to re-create them, here is what I changed.
Anywhere broth is used I made one from Better Than Bouillon - Vegetable Base, although only because they were sold out of the No-Chicken Base which is much more amazing.
For fresh herbs I used a prepackaged version called "holiday spices", although I did also use the bay leaf.
Anytime salt is added, I do not add it.
I use garlic flakes rather than granules and I did not use any fresh garlic, due to availability.
Instead of Soy sauce I used Liquid Aminos.
I used ground cashews.
Rather than arrowroot or cornflour, I used kuzu root.
I made my own yuba from store bought soymilk which tasted sweet and was pretty difficult to handle.
I used a lentil pilaf blend rather than wild rice.
I put wheat sourdough in the food processor to make bread crumbs.
I wrapped my roast in a sturdy, natural, cheesecloth.
I used unsweetened soymilk instead of soy creamer.
I kept the measurements the same for any changes.
The Mac & Cheese soy and seitan roast came out the best, it was AMAZING.  It was very moist and had the perfect texture.  The other roast was pretty good although it just couldn't compare to the other roast because it was not as moist, the stuffing in the center seemed to take away from it, and the yuba was sweet.  The stuffing itself was really good and the gravy was amazing, better than the meat eaters at our table that was for sure.

All the ingredients

I started with the stuffing for felicity's roast

Processing the tofu mixture

The loaf rolled out

Finished roulade

I did not have the proper equipment for steaming so I flipped a vegetable steamer upside down

Here is the start of the Mac & Cheese loaf

The dough has to rest a while

I made yuba while waiting on the dough, here you can see the film forming

Here is the yuba product

Before going into the oven

The delicious gravy

Thanksgiving dinner

The Mac & Cheese loaf is on the left, the roulade is on the right.. looks like hamburger.  We called them white and dark "meat".