Veggin Around: On the menu this week?

I got a bee in my bonnet yesterday and decided to plan out the week's dinner and actually cook them in advance. First up - Jeff Novick's Bean Burgers. What I love about his recipe are the different variations. You can use different types of beans, choose between potatoes or rice, use tomato sauce, BBQ sauce or salsa and then pick your spice. Here is the basic recipe:

2 cans of beans drained (I used one can of pinto, one can of garbanzo)
1 cup of oats (I use GF)
1 cup of cooked brown rice or potatoes (I used sweet potatoes)
4 TB of tomato sauce, salsa, BBQ sauce, etc (I used Muir Glen's Portobello Mushroom sauce - it happened to be open in the frig)
Spices - you pick! I used a dash of curry and cumin. I wish I had used a lot more, but I wanted the girls to eat these.

You can hand mash all of this together, I put my in the food processor, just be careful to not over process. Then form them into patties, on a baking sheet. Let set in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, then grill them, bake them, saute them in a skillet, however you prefer. I baked mine at 350 for about 10 minutes, then froze them. I will put them on a skillet with a little spray olive oil (Jeff would not do this) and cook them when we are ready for burger night! Which I think will be tonight.

Second - This is a recipe shared by a friend from an amazing website. If you have not heard of 101 Cookbooks, you must check out the site.

The recipe I was inspired by is Red Lentil Soup with Lemon .
I was feeling adventurous, so I did not follow directions very well, added a few more ingredients, and of course left out the butter. Here is what I did:

2 boxes of Trader Joe's Steamed Lentils
1 can Trader Joe diced tomatoes
3 cups of water
1 diced onion
1 tablespoon turmeric
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons yellow mustard seeds
Handful of shredded carrots
1 cup chopped cilantro
Juice of three lemons, or to taste
1 large bunch of kale leaves, chopped

I sauteed the lentils, tomatoes, water and carrots for awhile. Then I added all the spices in at once. Stirred, then in two batches, put the soup in the Vitamix and blended well. There were too many lentils to put it all in at once. I had a side bowl I used for half until all blended. (Yes, one of those hand blenders you put in the pot would have saved me a few steps) While the soup was in the Vitamix, I put the chopped kale (I used a ton, it cooks down to nothing) in the pan with a little water and steamed it. You will watch it disappear! Then, I put all soup back into the pot with the kale, added the cilantro, lemon and more water. Keep adding water to your liking. My soup was a little thick. When I re-heat for dinner I will add more water. The lemon juice gives this soup an amazing tangyness. And, what incredible NUTRIENTS - lentils, kale, onion, tomatoes, lemon, tumeric. Great, healthy dish for dinner and leftovers for lunch.

Third

Sunday night dinner - Yes, I was tired of cooking at this point. I made asparagus, sweet potato fries, and baked tofu. Asparagus - blanched in boiling water until they turned bright green, drained and lightly poured GF Tamari sauce on top.

Sweet potatoes - I boiled them for about ten minutes, a fork could get through them but they were not mushy. Peeled them and sliced them very thinly onto a baking sheet (my new baking sheet). Lightly sprayed olive oil over them and sprinkled cinnamon. On half (my half), I added cayenne pepper. I put them in the oven at 375 for 10-15 minutes. Keep watching them!

Tofu- sliced, pressed, coated with a little Tahini and GF Tamari. Baked at 400 for 15 minutes, flipped them over and baked again for about 10 minutes. When I flipped them I sprinkled a crushed nut and cornmeal mixture I had left over.