Fo Reals Life

June 05, 2012 June 05, 2012/ Morgan Eccleston

These burgers are so easy, so cheap and so tasty it will blow your mind. It blew mine. Can’t you tell from my disjointed post? They cost me about 20 cents each to make and we loved them. You most certainly can eat it on a whole wheat bun like I should have but they were leftover from the barbeque last week … After the photo I tossed the top half to someone else and ate it open faced. They are also good in a tortilla or on a lettuce wrap! (Oh how I love lettuce wraps – I get all the burger goodness and don’t really care about the loss of bread.) Next time we’ll add a ton of vegetables to it!

Veggie Burgers!

Ingredients:

1 & 1/2 cups cooked beans (pinto, red, black, white, etc)

3 cups cooked brown rice

1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs (or you can use rolled oats)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

2 Tablespoons ground flaxseed

1/4 medium sized onion, chopped fine

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 Tablespoon ground cumin

several dashes of your favorite hot sauce, optional (I guess!)

Throw your beans into a bowl and mash up with a fork. Mix everything else in a work together until the consistancy is moist but not totally sticky. You may have to add more bread crumbs (depending on the beans you use.)

Place a nonstick pan over medium high heat.

Shape into bun sized patties and cook (2-3 at a time depending on your pan size) for about 4 minutes on each side. You want them to be nice and toasty brown. Flip over and toast the other side.

Now take your burgers and put them on a cookie sheet to let them cool. They will firm up while they cool (like magic.) When you reheat them they will retain their firmness. I could even put mine out on the grill for a bit of charred goodness flavor. Put them on a bun with your favorite condiments and don’t forget the veggies! We put tomato, avocado, pickles and arugula on them.

Oh and I even crumbled one up and had it in a wrap with some hummus and arugula. Divine!

You can store them in a plastic bag in the fridge for several days or if you want to freeze them keep them on the cookie sheet and pop them into the freezer. When they are completely frozen take them off the cookie sheet, bag em, tag em and eat them in a couple of months, okay?

June 05, 2012/ Morgan Eccleston/ April 27, 2012 April 27, 2012/ Morgan Eccleston

Yeah, I said it. PAR-TAY! And TEM-PAY! (Ahem, tempeh..) It goes together in my mind, alright?

I feel like anytime you grill something its a party. In our little apartment complex the neighbors all come out and join in when we start up the grill. We start a fire in the fire-pit and turn up the tunes. I live in a really amazing little place, actually!

So if you don’t know tempeh, haven’t tried tempeh or think you hate it I triple dog dare you to try this recipe out. I shoved it on my friends the other night and they enjoyed it. You can find it at natural grocery stores or even by the other soy products (tofu) in regular grocery stores. I live in a really big hippie-fied town so I don’t really know how lucky I am to have it at every single dang grocery store until I go out of town.

Party in Yo Mouth BBQ Tempeh

Ingredients:

1/2 cup soy sauce (lower salt preferred here, or braggs ammino works too!)

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 Tablespoons honey

1-3 teaspoons hot sauce (to taste!)

3 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 Tablespoon grated ginger

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

12 oz tempeh (

Surata

makes awesome tempeh here in my town. Who makes yours?! BTW, it’s presteamed so if yours isn’t, follow the directions on the package to steam it.)

Directions:

Cut your tempeh up into cubes. 1 inch or so works. Throw them into a plastic bag with all of the other stuff. Marinate for at least an hour but up to 24. Stick it on a skewer and grill over a medium-high fire until nice and charred. I added some red onion, zucchini and mushrooms to my skewers. (If you don’t think you like veggies THINK AGAIN! Grilled veggies are amazing.) You can also broil them. And even skip cutting it into cubes and just do thick slices! This recipe is simple-sauce so don’t sweat it, baby.

Eat, love and repeat.

The hot sauce I used. It is OUT OF CONTROL HOT. I am scared of this stuff.

Marinating in the bag.

Go forth, my friends, and conquer the tempeh!

April 27, 2012/ Morgan Eccleston/