Vegan Carrot Lentil Burgers

I saw these burgers recently on Clean Eating Chelsea. She adapted the recipe a little from Oh She Glows - with great results. These burgers were super quick and so, so, so good. I could have eaten the mix without being baked.

I stacked these on buns with steamed spinach, tomato, vegenaise, steamed spinach and tahini (who doesn't love tahini on random things?) and grilled red onion slices.

If you haven't tried grilling some think onion slices, I suggest dropping everything and doing it. You can do it on your George Foreman, or your actual grill. Just cut an onion into thick slices, rub with olive oil and grill. They turn from gross bad breath raw onions to sweet delicious candy onions. They take maybe 10 minutes and make burgers into magic. Go crazy and run some balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper on to. Then calm down and eat.

I made these exactly as Chelsea did - so check out her recipe by following the link above. I highly recommend them - seriously. Such a great way to welcome summer. It's 80 degrees here in NC. NICE!!!!!!

No Deer in the Kitchen

On Christmas, my husband's uncle gave him a deer shoulder. I don't know what he was going to do with all of that venison, but my husband accepted it anyway. It was super gross, just a stripped deer leg, hoof and all, hanging out in the freezer for a month. I refused to go in the freezer and kept telling him to get rid of it. Well, today was another *SNOW* day (read: 1 inch of snow, all schools closed.... my entire building empty) so I woke up a little late because I didn't see the urgency of rushing into work.

Well, I happened into the kitchen and it looked like GROSS ANATOMY class in there. Husband Dave had been thawing the leg all night in the sink, and was literally slicing the meat off the bone in my kitchen. There was even a pile of fascia on a plate nearest me. I almost barfed. And WTF was I supposed to do about COFFEE???? There was a half a deer sitting right next to my pot!!!!
Needless to say - I had to wait until I got to work to have a stupid cup of black tea.

After he finished his dissection, I NICELY ordered him to sanitize EVERYTHING. I was completely grossed out and am grossed out again now thinking of it. So now he and his buddy are off feasting upon the abomination that is no longer in my freezer (one positive?) while I am at home alone...

Such a monstrosity in the kitchen deserved a completely vegetarian dinner.. so I whipped up some Polenta Stuffed Peppers from the Moosewood Simple Suppers Cookbook. I've made them before, but neglected to post the recipe! You can find the recipe on my sister-in-law's blog by clicking HERE.



Additionally I made my favorite BBQ tofu with the BBQ sauce I had left over from THIS RECIPE.



Of course I had some wine, a lovely Malbec. But wait, what is that hiding behind my goblet? Well, it's not vegan, but it was lovely. A beet and mandarin orange salad- 2 beets, 1/4 cup orange slices, 1 Tbsp goat cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. Oh yeah. No blood, no deer, no meat.



Let's hope Bambi stays out of the kitchen next time.

Some Vegan Southern Cooking

The week after vacation is always a struggle. It takes me awhile to get accustomed to being productive for 8-ish hours a day. My sickness finally subsided today (Sunday) - meaning that I really wasn't in the mood to cook or eat all of this week. Early in the week I managed to move off of the couch long enough to make this emergency-type dinner:

BBQ Seitan:
1 package seitan
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup good-tasting BBQ sauce


Saute veggies, add seitan, add BBQ.... DONE. Dave wanted some rice with it, but I just stuck to a serving of protein and veggies.

Let's ignore the fact that the photo is upside down and I can't figure out how to turn it right-side up on my P.O.S. Thinkpad.




BBQ Black-Eyed Peas Collard Rolls
After taking a full day off of work on Tuesday- I was ready to take on some serious cooking on Wednesday. My friend from work had made these for a Louisiana-themed dinner party before and I really enjoyed them. I spotted a huge pile of collards at the grocery store and decided the time had come to make them. However, I used almost EVERY pot in my kitchen, and made a gigantic mess. I would definitely not make this on a weeknight again. The BBQ sauce is pretty good - but doesn't come close to my favorite Sweet and Stick BBQ sauce devised by Vegan Dad.

The original recipe comes from Veganomicon, and can be found on this site. There's very little ingredients other than the BBQ sauce. Collards, cremini mushrooms, and black eyed peas.. all rolled up with some chopped collards in some steamed collard leaves. Try it out if you want to get dirty Southern faster than saying "why come ya'll ain't eat no meat?"

I served this with some whipped mashed potatoes. Red skinned potatoes, smart balance, better than cream cheese, parsley and salt and pepper. Yum.

BBQ Tofu

Once upon a time I saw THIS post on This is Vegan. The memphis BBQ tofu was a recipe belonging to Vegan Dad. A lot of links in a short time, I know! Well, I've made this dish COUNTLESS times, and the BBQ sauce is just the best. Of course, I had to make it without the Jack, as I drank it all long ago. Jack really shouldn't be used for cooking, use something else that is whiskey-related. Jack is for drinking. Only.

Regardless, I make the BBQ sauce ahead of time, press the tofu (sliced into slabs) under my cast-iron skillet, then apply a rub to the tofu when it is nice and dry. For a rub I usually throw whatever I have in my spice cabinet on the tofu. Today it was - herbs de provence, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, paprika and salt and pepper... heavy on the cayenne. I saute the tofu one side in light olive oil until all nice and fragrant, then flip it, and apply some BBQ sauce. Tonight it turned out AMAZING.

On the side, like Mary at this is vegan, I made Nava Atlas' warm potato salad and black bean salad from Vegan Express. The recipe is basically: red skinned potatoes (microwaved until done), scallions, red pepper, lemon juice, artichoke hearts and black beans. I left out the artichokes - and added a spoonful of Veganaise.

Adding to my little BBQ was some left-over baked beans I had in the freezer*, and a chopped salad (greens, red pepper, scallions, avocado, and homemade raspberry vinaigrette).

The dish below is Dave's portion, I dug into mine too quickly to remember to snap a picture. It was great! I realize the picture looks a little gooey - which reminded me of THIS.


As we all know, tonight is Jersey Shore night, so I am going to read my book until it is time for the Situation. As a side note- I did a REAL handstand in yoga today! I win!

* These beans were actually made special for me by a friend of my husband's family. She made a batch without meat, and one with meat. It was so nice I almost cried. See, my husband and I have been together for three years and no one has EVER made anything special for me. I usually just sit there and watch everyone eat steak. I bring tempeh, and they just sit there calling it "air" and laughing, while simultaneously popping Lipitor with their free hands. When my husband asks ahead if there is any food I can have, they always make sure to say "we have a cheese ball!" As we all know, there is no better Chrsitmas dinner than a nice cheese ball. This Christmas they did roll the cheese ball in chipped beef, but that's a whole different story.