Quick Chickpea Burgers

I have been playing around with the idea of a chickpea burger (the first attempt turned into hummus due to too much liquid and too much blending!!), and think I've come up with a good basic recipe that could be seasoned and spiced many different ways. (Off the top of my head, I REALLY want to make Curry Chickpea Burgers next time!).
I began by taking the chicpeas and mashing them with a potato masher until they were mashed, but not pulverized, with some good texture left. I then added some of the canned liquid to the mixture for some moisture. I added the spices, mixed, then folded in the red pepper and egg substitute (this really gave the good consistency and binding to form into patties with my hands). I put the patties into a frying pan with about 1 tsp of olive oil and cooked on low/medium heat until golden brown and warm throughout. I ate with a side of bar-b-que sauce and it was great! (The next day I used in a spinach salad; FANTASTIC!!) Here they are just finished cooking:

Basic Chickpea Burgers
2 14oz can low sodium chickpeas
~1/4 c. drained liquid
1 medium bell pepper
2 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp Ener-G egg replacer
salt and pepper to taste
(any other seasonings you desire!)

"Cheesy" Roasted Tomato Sauce for pasta and Fudge Babies

I have been wanting to try almond cheese for a while now, and couldn't think of what recipe to try it out in first; upon reading a magazine that had macaroni and cheese recipes in it I suddenly had a craving for a play on mac n cheese. Together with the almond cheese and some fresh vegetables from the farmer's market, I came up with something quite flavorful!!
I bean by chopping up the tomatoes and putting them in a small oven safe dish with 1/2 of the olive oil, garlic salt, and Italian seasoning blend, and covering with tin foil.

I placed this in a 400 F oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, I chopped up the onion and caramelized them with the remaining olive oil and a dash of garlic salt. While that was cooking, in a small sauce pan I heated up the almond milk and put the almond cheese in it, using a whisk to even the texture as it melted. I let that sit on low heat, stirring occasionally.
Once the onions were caramelized, I added  the mushrooms and sauteed for an additional ~7 minutes. Meanwhile, I added the cornstarch to the cheese sauce to thicken it up. I removed the tomatoes from the oven and added to the cheese sauce, then added that to the sauteed mushrooms and onions. The smell that filled my kitchen at this point was heavenly =)

I made sure it was all combined, and ended up mixing in some fresh spinach pasta from the farmer's market. I sprinkled a dash of soy Parmesan cheese on top, and I have to admit I was quite happy with the results! Will definitely be making this again.

"Cheesy" Roasted Tomato Sauce
2 large tomatoes
1 large sweet onion
1 large package exotic mushrooms
1/2 c almond milk
1/2 block shredded almond cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
seasoning to taste
3/4 lb fresh spinach pasta

yield: ~6 full dinner size servings (depending on how hungry you are!)


Fudge Babies
On a mission of loosing a few extra pounds this month, I wanted to create a sweet treat for those late night cravings that didn't have any added sugar. I tried two different recipes, and the second definitely wins in flavor and sweetness. It's extremely simple: Place walnuts, dates, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract in the Vitamix, blend using the tamper until all is combined into a dough consistency. I took it out of the blender and hand kneaded the mixture to make it a little more even consistency (it's a very thick dough and some of the cocoa powder stuck the side of the blender). Next, I rolled into golf ball size treats, and put in the freezer to congeal. They taste of some rich dark chocolate that just couldn't be good for you, however the proof is in the ingredients- nothing but whole foods and good nutrition.

Fudge Babies
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/3 c dates
4 tbsp cocoa powder (Next time I might try using 3)
1 tsp vanilla extract