An Easy 2 for 1

Hi girls! I know it's been a while since I've posted anything on the blog lately. I found another win last night with my husband and thought I would share. This recipe comes from melomeals.blogspot.com. It's a really cool blog from a woman who lives as a vegan for $3.33 a day, (this budget is for herself only). You can also follow her on facebook at Vegan for $3.33 a Day. I've found some really great recipes on her site so far. This recipe is a quick and easy veggie burger base, (and admittedly I haven't tried it as such) that can be made into meat(less)balls. Click here to see her original post and directions.

Veggie burger base:

3 c hot beans

2 c old fashioned oats

1 envelope onion soup mix

Hot bean liquid if needed to bring the mixture together

Combine, (I gave it a few pulses in the food processor) form into patties and cook in a frying pan.

This is where I need to admit that before I read the recipe a few times I thought that hot meant spicy. I thought she meant to use like chili beans or something. No, she means like a fresh batch of hot (temperature wise) beans right out of the pot. I'm sure you're all smarter than me, but just in case. ;)

For the meat(less)balls:

1/2 recipe of the burger base

1/2 t oregano

1 t garlic powder

pinch ground fennel

1/4 t sage

1 t balsamic vinegar

pepper

Combine. Form into balls and microwave for 10 minutes. They should be hard; they are intended to reconstitute in your sauce. Simmer in your sauce and enjoy! (These will soak up your sauce quite a bit. You may want to make it more saucy than usual?)

I didn't have any fennel, used the whole batch of burger base and doubled everything but the garlic powder. For me a little of that goes a long way.

The whole reason I tried these: first, my husband used to love when I cooked a roast with onion soup mix. I wanted to give him a familiar flavor while trying something new. This really helps him when trying meat alternatives like this. (If you don't want to use a prepackaged and processed mix there are ideas in the original post and comments for substitutes.) Second, I don't have a working oven right now so a veggie burger base that can be cooked in a pan and meatballs that can be cooked in the microwave were a big win for me. In fact she says that these won't taste as good baked. They'll be too dry.

This was the easiest veggie burger recipe I've tried and it was SO good. The flavor was spot on, they were a good chewy texture for my husband and they really added a heartiness to our dinner. She does have several other veggie burger recipes, so if this one doesn't look to be to your fancy, browse around her site. I'm sure you'll find something you like.

Another fun site I found recently is chefchloe.com. Chef Chloe won the Food Network's Cupcake Wars with vegan cupcakes. Pretty cool, huh?! Her site has a blog, recipes, etc. Anyway, I tried her Panang Curry last week and it was also a hit with the husband. (I left out the tofu and added more veggies; peas, carrots and the like.) It was a really good compromise for us because I actually hate curry, but the flavor in this one was a little more subdued and balanced out by everything else. He got curry and I didn't have to choke it down. ;)

Anyway I hope you're all doing well! Happy Holidays!! Can you believe it's November already?!

Bean Recipes

Hello Darlings.

I wanted to give you a recommendation for a good site for bean recipes. I have been perusing it this morning and found several things I want to try.

http://www.bushbeans.com/en_US/recipes/index.jsp

I'll post it on the side bar too.

Soaking Grains

I don't know how many of you already do this, or at least know about it, but soaking grains was brand new to me up until about a month ago.  Since then, I have done a lot of research and started to incorporate it into our existing routines.  I have found this page to be the most informative and it has a lot of great resources for recipes, etc. as well.  I love that she breaks down how to soak different kinds of grains so that you can take an existing recipe and figure out how to turn it into a soaked version.  Especially if any of you have digestive issues, this might be helpful!  We have made soaked tortillas, soaked whole wheat bread, soaked cereal, etc.  Plus, it's another great way to use Kefir.  A word of advice on the cereal, though... you can taste the acid medium, so it's best to use plain kefir or something more bland than lemon juice or apple cider vinegar if that's going to bother you.  I even made my own whey...seriously easy.  I'll post more later if any of you all are interested.

Here's a good soaked tortilla recipe

Here's another

Here's a good resource for recipes, many of which are soaked, from my newest favorite blog.

And another good resource for recipes, many soaked, from my other newest favorite blog.

Here's a soaked whole grain bread

And here's the same soaked whole grain bread (minus the millet) adapted for bread machine.

Soaked homemade granola

Soaked granola bars

Happy soaking!

Great Site

Hi again...

A friend of mine told me about this site and I have spent a lot of time looking around and reading his blog.  He is well-informed and writes well.  I love the content because it matches my philosophy almost exactly.  It also has some good recipes and other nice posts about preventative dental care through nutrition to nutrition book reviews.  He also does a weekly goal to help people live healthier one baby step at a time.

Click here to go see Word of Wisdom Living

Produce for Kids

Another great resource I came across this morning:

Produce for Kids

They have a bunch of recipes to help you try and get more produce in your kids

Another good resource

A friend sent me this link with lots of recipes at No Meat Athlete

Some great recipe sources

Thanks again for letting me be a part of what you all have going here.  I really appreciate having a place to go for recipes and answers, and to put recipes and ideas that I've found so I can find them easily again!

Here are some of the best sources I've found for recipes so far, and I thought you might be interested.

The May Files   This is my cousin's friend's blog.  If you click on the recipe links on the side she's got a ton of information and fabulous recipes.  I'm going to try her sweet cornbread and quinoa artichoke skillet this week.

Veg Family    This site has a ton of great recipes, and it also has some great information if you click on the topics on the side bar.  There is a "pudding" they have listed to help vegetarian toddlers get enough fat in their diet that I'm going to try this week.  My little one is small enough without having her lose weight because of this lifestyle change.

Happy recipe hunting!