Chick pea burgers

I have a new favorite blog: www.runningonrealfood.com.  So far I'm 2 for 2 on her recipes. These chick pea burgers were easy to make and were delicious. One of the best parts is that stayed together on the grill! Now that's exciting.

I am totally making these again. I hand a hankering for buffalo sauce the other day so I took enough for 2 patties and added 1-1 1/2 T (I can't remember exactly how much) Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wings Sauce to the 'meat'  in lieu of the sriracha sauce.

For the remaining patties I didn't have the sriracha sauce the recipe called for so I used the Sweet Ginger Chili Sauce by the Ginger people.

I was skeptical about putting them on the grill, but Deryn, the recipe creator said it was fine, so we gave it a go. They stayed together perfectly and I got the awesome grill marks that everyone wants on their burgers.

Both variations were very good. I was afraid I wasn't going to like the Asian flavored one, but it was excellent. And the buffalo variation was good, but could use improvement. It had an infused buffalo flavor instead of dripping with sauce like a real buffalo chicken sandwich.

Try them.

Wheat Grass Smoothies

My husband is making fun of me because I bought some wheat grass.  It was only $3.50 for a container of it at Kowalski (our local gourmet grocer).

I googled recipes for Wheat grass. The most obvious ones are smoothies, so I found this one and went to work.

My husband was kind of grossed out I think.

"You are going to eat it?" he exclaimed
"Yes, why do you think I bought it?" I replied
" I thought you bought it so the kids could see the roots grow" he said.


Wheat Grass is supposed to have many virtues. I forget what they are. It's supposed to be pretty rich in nutrients like iron and calcium, but more holistically it's supposed to boost immunity and aid with digestion. I don't know about all that. Evidently there is no solid medical evidence supporting that and I didn't buy it for the holistic benefits.  I just wanted to try it.

I kept it alive for a few weeks in out little table top greenhouse I got from Ikea. To harvest it, just grab a small handful and snip it off close to the base.  And toss in the blender with your other ingredients.

Blend it up and voila! 

It actually tasted good. I couldn't taste the grass at all. My kids liked it too until they realized they were drinking something green, then they refused it.  I think combining it with strong flavored like orange juice and pineapple disguised it. 

It was a Rough Day

 My husband was having a rough day. Nothing was going his way.

I had pulled together a pretty nice dinner. I brought out a nice bottle of wine that we had downstairs. 

I called my experiences in France (from my college days) and pulled out the Lentil Walnut Pate and I made a few days ago, served with some crackers.  Just that with some wine brought me back to the days of lunches by the river, with my baguette, some cheese or duck liver pate, a bottle of wine and my friends.  Those were the days.  

This pate. Please don't judge a book by its cover.  The pictures on the Bojon Gourmet Blog are much better.  This pate has the consistency of hummus.  Despite the long list of ingredients, some of which are unusual I kind of liked this.  I don't know if I'd make it often, but it has a sophisticated flavor that was really special.  For the average bear I would say its probably an acquired taste.  But special nonetheless. 

And it wasn't the cheapest either. Umeboshi Paste was $12!  I almost gave in when I saw the price. Plus I wasn't sure what else I would use umeboshi paste for.  But I found it this recipe months ago and I've been hanging onto it waiting for the right time to try it. 

I love this time of year.  Fresh peaches a plenty.  They remind me of our time living in the south. 

Lucky Black Eye Pea Salad is one of my husband's favorite summertime salads.  I think I wrote about this salad a few years ago, but its worth mentioning again. 

The wine complemented the peaches terrifically. I'm not a riesling person, but the guy at the store recommended it and I was in the mood to try something different. Boy, it was spot on.  A little dry, not too fruity or sweet.  I don't normally drink, but I think this was a nice treat. 

Dinner?  Check. 

Hemp seed bars

A while back my husband and I were having a discussion on vegetarian protein sources.  My daughter refuses to eat meat, which I am okay with as long as she gets her protein from plants.  And for the most part she does eat plant based protein sources.  Sometimes she needs a little coaxing, sometimes we have a stand off over it.

But since she is so picky and eats like a bird, she needs more variety to keep her interested in her food and I need more creative options to provide for her and keep her healthy. 

So I found an awesome entry on The Greatist blog about 12 vegetarian protein sources.  This was an exciting eye-opener for me. 

Some of the usual suspects are included on the list.  I already knew quinoa is a great source of protein and we eat it often in our home.  My daughter doesn't really care for it.  I'm not sure why. I tried telling her its rice but she didn't buy it.  Chia seeds are black, so she won't eat them.   Ezekiel Bread?  She gave it a good try.  We are still working on that one.  Beans are definitely a winner as is peanut butter and hummus. 

There are few new options that I find exciting: Buckwheat?  Hemp Seeds?  Spirulina? And I've never heard of Quorn before. 

I like trying food with unusual ingredients, so I wanted to try hemp seeds right away (insert hemp jokes from my husband here).   If its protein source I can feed my daughter, then I totally want to try it.  And I found a winner.  Its from a great blog called Running on Real Food.  

           

These are called 5 Ingredient Paleo Bars.  I took a recommendation from one of the reviewers to add some cocoa powder (photo on right). And they were good. One caveat though: I would use less coconut oil the next time I try them. I think 1/4 C coconut oil was too much.  It was kinda like biting into some paraffin wax, if you know what I mean. But it was still good, I think it just needs a little less coconut oil. If you try them, use just enough to hold them together and tell me how it goes. 

Vegan Pizza - No Fake Stuff

There's a relatively new place in town called Punch Neapolitan Pizza and we got take out.  Whenever we get pizza, I know I'm not eating vegan that night.  I always look for a vegan or vegetarian option whenever possible. But I was pleasantly surprised when they had a vegan pizza - with no fake cheese!

I hate the fake stuff.  It never tastes like what its supposed to be replacing.  Fake cheese does not taste like cheese.  I'd rather eat the real thing than suffer through something that is not up to snuff.

Enter the Gigi.  A tomato basil pizza.  It was fabulous.

I KNOW I can make this at home.  I'm lucky that I have a terrific bread book.  Artisan Baking by Maggie Glezer.  If you like bread - good bread, the real stuff you'd pay $6 for at the bakery, then this is the book for you.  She has a fabulous recipe for pizza dough.  I use it all the time.  But making this pizza dough isn't for the faint of heart. Its takes a fair amount of planning, and about 6 hours.  But in my opinion its totally worth it.

Most of us aren't going to go through this kind of effort, so I won't waste your time (if you are interested, go buy the book, you won't regret it).

This is what I did:

Use your favorite pizza dough recipe or get a crust from the store.
Cherry tomatoes, sliced in half or crushed
Fresh basil leaves
Fresh garlic, sliced
Olive Oil (If you have garlic infused EVOO - even better!)

Place the tomatoes, basil and sliced garlic on the dough in places where you will to taste all the flavors in one bite. Drizzle the pie with olive oil and bake until the crust is done.

Very good.

Adzuki Brownies

Back in the day I would buy those protein/energy bars. And they were okay. Kinda pricey, but I guess they did the job. But I started to cut out processed foods, then took it a step further went vegan (the first time) after that.  I found I felt better every day just by improving my diet in these two ways. But then I bumped up the intensity of my workouts. Now I was faced with the problem of how to get the protein my body needs to support my exercise regimen-without dairy or meat.

I found a product called Vega Sport. Bought their sample pack of products. Some of the products were ok. The chocolate saviseed bar was good, but the replenish beverages were chalky, thick, bitter and hard to swallow.  And I didn't really feel rejuvenated by the food I was eating. And the protein powder had a funny taste that didn't appeal to me.

I prefer to eat real food instead of processed energy bars.  I feel so much better.  The downside is that I'm cooking ALOT, and when I'm not cooking, I'm thinking about cooking. Ugh. Will I ever be unshackled from the kitchen?

Then I found Adzuki Bars.

This recipe was quickly launched into one of my all-time favorites.  You can find the recipe in Scott Jurek's book, Eat & Run.  They only require the use of the food processor, so clean up is easy. They freeze well and are portable. I grab two of these to chow down on after workouts and I feel better than if I eaten a protein bar. I make up a batch, bag them up and freeze them.  Then grab a bag before heading to the gym or out for a run.

Good thing for me is that only my daughter and I both like them-no one else does. So they last a while.  They are not too sweet. Made with Adzuki Beans (which I had never heard of before I tried this), so it has protein.  Very low sugar, which I like.

They call for rice and barley flour. So went to out local food coop to see if they have it. I met a nice lady there (another customer) who said she doesn't buy the ready made flours, she just makes her own.

Really?  Isn't that a lot of work?

Not really.  All you need is the product you want to turn into flour, in this case rice and barley, and a coffee grinder. And it's soooo much cheaper.

So I thought I'd try it. I'm all for saving money.  I already have a pretty nice coffee grinder that I never use.

I don't need that much for his recipe so I gave it a whirl. And as luck would have it I had rice and pearled barley in the pantry.

After just a minute, maybe less, I had flour.

Get the book and try them. If you don't like them, send them my way. I'll eat them. 

Tea time with Coconut Scones

We have been having difficulty exercising good table manners at home lately. Forget about going to a restaurant - that is completely out of the question.

So we've been coming down pretty hard. Forcing the issue. The kids are old enough to have enough discipline at the table to use polite manners. And I want to have a nice meal.

So my solution? We started having daily tea after school.  At least that is one component of the solution.

This is not a pretend tea party. A real after school snack where we all sit at the table together. I get out the fancy-but-not-too-fancy dinnerware and bake a plate of scones or put together little sandwiches or some fresh fruit.  The kids don't drink tea (we are careful not to let them have caffeine), but they will usually have milk or water.

It seems to be working. They have something to eat that they like. They are hungry. And it's a short duration-maybe 10 minutes. They tell us about their day. It's fun!

One unintended benefit (to my surprise) is that dinner is pushed back to 6:30-7. Much later than we used to eat (used to eat at 5 or 530).  Since they are older and going to bed later now, there is plenty of time for bath and stories after dinner. A later dinner hour also gives me more time to cook dinner and I don't feel so rushed. I love it.

By the time dinner rolls around they are hungry again. Then its much easier to enjoy dinner because it seems they are able to retain some of what we practiced at tea.

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Coconut scones

Baking anything without butter or egg and getting the same result as a dairy baked good is very difficult. No - its impossible.  I guess when you decide to go vegan you have to accept that your baked goods are just not going to be the same.  But I thought these coconut scones were pretty good. Not the same, but still really good. Pretty dense. And the coconut flavor was not too intense. Thats either a plus or minus depending on your affinity for coconut.

With only 2 tablespoons of sugar, they are not to sweet either.  I like that.

Serve them with a little pineapple jelly or whipped coconut cream (for directions on how to make whipped coconut cream, see my blog entry on Strawberry Shortcakes).  I like my tea served with light vanilla soy milk and maybe some honey for added sweetness if I'm in the mood.