EASY CHEEZY INSTANT POWDER

great for macncheez, popcorn, instant queso, fries, broccoli sauce, cheezy rice, etc

EQUIPMENT:

Sauce or saute pan 

wooden spoon

storage container with lid

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of chic pea flour

1/2 cup of nutritional yeast

1 tsp. of paprika

1/2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp of vegan lactic acid (or more to taste)

(if you do not have lactic acid (sold on Amazon), add a little vinegar to a queso or macncheez sauce while rehydrating)

METHOD:

*  on high heat, salute chic pea flour, while constantly turning over for around 5-7 minutes, watch that you do not burn the flour.  Take the flour off of the stove and, after cooling, taste to make sure the "RAW, BITTER" taste is cooked out.

*  in storage container combine all ingredients and place in frig until use

Tips....

Place on popcorn or fries while they are still hot, after oil or vegan butter for the popcorn.

To rehydrate you should use fat (cheez is fatty).   I like to use vegan mayo or melted vegan butter and a tiny bit of water to make an instant cheez sauce, queso or to pour over vegan burgers or veggies.

soy &gluten free veggie burgers

This recipe should be prepared a day or so ahead, because part of the “mouthfeel” and firmness comes from the cooling and then the re-heating.   The flavor also develops into a rich, dark yumminess.  This method is very similar to making pancakes and requires a bit of spatula work and judgement on “when to flip” etc. 

Our family, luckily, does not have gluten or soy issues; however, this is our absolute favorite veggie burger to this day!!  Enjoy..... this burger is a lot of labor, but well well worth it, healthy and delicious.  Use with different spices to make sausages and crumbled for taco and burrito filling, sloppy joes, dirty rice and the list goes on and on.

soy gluten f veggie burger with best oven fries ever and potato cheez, avocados, lettuce, tomato and onion

Equipment:
Big stainless steel bowl for mixing
Food Processor for veggies

Silicone spatula for removing veggies from processor

Big Saute Pan

Good, heavy duty spatula

Saucepan for cooking rice or quinoa

Big tablespoon and fork for “mashing”

smoker box if you want to “smoke” them. These are delicious non-smoked as well as lightly smoked, heavy smoke would mask the flavor.

Ingredients:
1 cup of cooked white or brown rice or very well cooked quinoa (not watery)
1 cup of very well drained cooked black beans
1 cup of course ground raw veggies of choice, almost puree but with less water (add nuts if you wish)  I have used everything from celery, onion, bell peppers spinach, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli and brussel sprouts
1/3 cup of dark roasted tahini (if you do not have, I have used vegan mayonnaise)
3 TBL of olive oil or oil of choice
1 giant tablespoon of molasses (this is crucial to a dark, iron taste for the burgers)
1 TBL of balsamic vinegar (this is also crucial to a “roasted” taste)
1 tsp of garlic powder or fresh minced garlic

2 TBL of onion powder
1 TBL of course black pepper
to taste, salt
to taste, spices and herbs of choice. I use 1 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of oregano, 1 tsp of thyme, 1 tsp of Kirkland sweet mesquite
Approx 1 1/4 cups of gluten free all purpose flour (I use Bob's Red Mill).  Please use your judgement on the feel of the mixture because the water content will vary with different vegetables 
Oil of choice for frying
Wood of choice if you are smoking (I like a mix of mesquite and applewood) 

Method...
* Mix quinoa or rice and beans together with the back of a spoon until mashed, but leaving some whole beans just for fun

• *  Add your fat of choice or oil to the quinoa bean mixture
  
• *  Drain veggies if they contain too much water (mushrooms or tomatoes), although they can be a bit wet and you will just add more flour. Add to quinoa and rice mixture 

Add molasses, vinegar, spices, salt and pepper...IMPORTANT —taste for salt and flavor before adding the gluten free flour because that flour will mask the taste and is bitter and horrible uncooked

Now you should combine and mix the mixture and it should be looking like a really thick and lumpy cake batter

Time to start adding the gluten free flour, I’d say 1/4 cup at a time while mixing until it looks like a lumpy clay that is scoopable 

 Heat up sauté pan with around 2 TBL of oil of choice until very hot (if you place these on the pan cold or just warm, they will stick just like pancakes)
With a spoon, scoop out a slap of dough and place on oil, don’t worry about the thickness, you will flatten and correct with the spatula when you flip. Now turn the heat down a bit, a little over medium

When you feel that they are ready to flip (40-60 seconds?), turn heat to high again and carefully flip. After a few seconds turn heat down to medium high. Flatten with spatula until you reach the size you prefer.

After around 40-60 seconds, you are ready to continue flipping, turn heat down to low, cover with foil or pan lid and let cook away, I usually let sit on low, covered for a good 5 minutes each side (gluten free flour must be cooked very thoroughly or you get a nasty bitter taste). When you turn off the heat let the burgers sit until cooled. Place burgers on plate and cover with plastic and refrigerate until completely cool.

Before smoking (if you are smoking), rub a little oil over the top and salt the top of the burgers. I place my smoker outside on a little burner, no smoke in your dwelling. When the smoke starts I let them sit on medium heat smoking for around 4 minutes, turn off, let smoke escape and remove them. (A side note, mesquite will taste extremely bitter if anything sits too long in it).
Remove and cover with plastic on plate and carefully grill or refrigerate. (use care in flipping these on a grill due to the non-stickiness of gluten free flour)


Re-heating:
I reheat these in an oven, covered in foil or in a casserole dish, 350 degrees for around 1/2 hour and use immediately or, after the oven, put them on gas or charcoal grill. They also re-heat very well in microwave.

vegan streetgrill burger

Equipment:

• Big bowl for mixing
• spatula to flip
• sauté pan for flour toasting
• flat or bamboo steamer for steaming seitan or slow cooker
• large flat braising pan for water under the bamboo steamer
• foil or corn husks or leaves to line bamboo steamer
• covered bowl or plate for storing burgers 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup TVP (texturized vegetable protein, found in most health food stores)

1/3 cup water

2 TBL soy sauce or tamari

1/3 cup white or whole wheat flour 

3 TBL onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 cup gluten flour

2 1/2 TBL vegan margarine (melted) or refined coconut oil (melted)

no sugar added, 100% pomegranate

1/2 cup 100% pomegranate juice  (yes, I used pomegranate juice and they turned out fantastic.   If you do not have this you can substitute water, although I believe the rich sour / non-sweet taste of the juice had something to do with the authentic taste of the burger)

1/2 cup water

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp course black pepper

1 tsp brewers yeast (if you do not have this, it would not be the end of the world)

Method…, or link to slow cooker method

Rehydrate TVP in water and soy sauce by bringing to boil, then turn down to simmer for around 1 minute. set aside

toasted flour

FOCUS...Combine white flour (not the gluten flour) and onion powder in sauté pan, on high heat and constantly flip and mix, on the heat and off of the heat, until nice and brown.  (Very important, this will BURN to ash in a second if you are not paying attention)  You will smell the smoke and brown/burnt flavor of the flour and onion, this is the flavor of the burger.  set aside

Get your steamer ready to go.

Wash Hands

Place the rehydrated TVP, browned flour / onion and the rest of the ingredients in mixing bowl and mix with your hands very well.  This mixture seems dry, but works.  If you add too much additional water the burgers get string like (i'm not sure why, but they do)

Form small flat burgers with your hands and place onto the steamer, cover and let steam around 25-30 minutes, each side.  Flip with spatula and let the other side steam around 25-30 minutes, watching the water level in the bottom pan.  Seitan should always be overcooked, never undercooked.  

When removed from steamer, place burgers on a plate and let cool to room temp, drizzle olive oil on top and bottom, cover airtight, place in frig.  Prepare directly on outdoor grill, grill pan fry or panini press.  Probably best to use medium heat for grilling or frying the burgers, they can burn fast due to the toasted flour.  Note that the patties are very dense and need to cook quite a long time to be hot all the way through.

Makes around 6 medium size burger patties.  Enjoy on a bun with all the fixings.

tempeh mushroom burger

Equipment:

Mixing bowl

Sauce Pan

Sauté Pan or outdoor grill

Heavy Duty Spatula

low fat, gluten free, healthy vegan grilling burgers

Ingredients...
16 oz. package of tempeh (I use 5-grain)
2 cups of washed, cut small slice, sautéed mushrooms with the water pressed out and pat dry (I use crimini mushrooms)
1/3 cup soy sauce (I use tamari)
1/3 cup water
1 TBL molasses
2 TBL onion powder
2 TBL brewers yeast
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp black pepper
2 TBL potato starch
to taste, salt (I use herbamare)
to taste, liquid sweetener
2 vegan burger buns (I used bread)
condiments for burgers, lettuce, tomato, onion, ketchup or salsa

Method, (wash hands)

• mix water, molasses and soy sauce, then place crumbled up tempeh and bring to a light simmer
• press down on crumbled tempeh until the tempeh absorbs the water mixture
• place tempeh mixture in mixing bowl and add mushrooms, onion powder, yeast, thyme, pepper and combine with hands and taste for salt and sweet
• add some liquid sweetener if needed, then add potato starch (if mixture needs a little more starch to become thick, add it) and mix thoroughly with hands until the mixture forms dense, thick patties
• sauté on high heat with oil spray for low fat or 1 tsp or 2 of oil, until nice and brown

santa fe citrus cashew burgers

Equipment:

Food Processor

Big Mixing Bowl

Oven and baking tray

Ingredients...

Gluten free and soy free 

*  1 cup...toasted cashews (or non-toasted if you prefer)
*  3/4 cup cooked anasazi beans (or pinto beans if you do not have anasazi)
*  2 TBL no-salt lemon pepper (I used Mrs. Dash)
*  2 TBL no-salt lime fiesta by Mrs. Dash (if you do not have this substitute 1 TBL ground cumin, and 1 TBL ground red chili pepper, 2 TBL of lime juice)
*  1 TBL gluten free corn bread mix (make sure its vegan, I used Bob's Red Mill, if you do not have corn bread mix, use corn flour or corn mesa)
*  1 garlic clove
*  1/4 of a small red onion
*  1 TBL molasses
*  to taste, agave nectar
*  to taste, salt

This mixture is easy to work with and form patties

*  2 TBL olive oil
*  1/4 cup washed fresh cilantro
*  as needed, water to moisturize


Method...Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• Save a few beans and cashews if you want a rough bite, crunchy burger
• Combine cashews, beans, spices, molasses, olive oil, garlic and corn mix until thoroughly pulsed and combined (you may have to lift up the bottom of the mixture to have an even combination)...add water, a little at a time, if the mix is too dry.  This should stick together nicely, and form patties.
• Taste to make sure the sweetness and salt is okay.
• Add the onion and cilantro and any beans and cashews you might have left over and pulse until you like the consistency.
• Form patties and place on oiled baking tray, bake around 15 minutes or so, flip and bake another 15-20 minutes.  You can broil the patties for the last 5 or 10 minutes to get a nice grilled brown and crunch.
• Place in buns, or tortillas and top with lettuce, pico de gallo (or salsa), vegan cheese.  You can also crumble up and use as taco or enchillada filling.

easy black bean basmati burgers

Equipment:  Food Processor, Mixing Bowl, Frying Pan (the pan in the picture is a non-stick, non-teflon pan), Spatula

Ingredients:
as needed           cooked, cooled basmati rice (or any kind of rice you have on hand, sticky might be too sticky)
as needed           cooked, cooled or canned black beans
to taste                spices, salt, pepper
to taste                veggies...broccoli, carrots, Anything you have left over
1/2                      onion
as needed           either oil of your choice or vegan butter (I use a lot to get them brown)

"I write as needed because this throw together recipe is an art and not a science.  How many burgers do you want to make?  I find that this works with around 1/2 rice, 1/2 beans, and you should keep tasting the spice level, the fat level should be high if you want to really BROWN up the burgers, sorry."

Method...
Put most of the rice, fat source, veggies, onion and around 1/4 of the beans you want to use in the food processor and pulse until coming together, but not completely mashed.

Transfer to mixing bowl and add the whole beans and bit of left over rice, keep tasting your spice level and heat level.

Fry in a little oil, or on a non-stick surface over high heat, flip until browned up....enjoy!