Mixed Diets & Bean Burgers

So I don't know about you but for me with small kids, trying to keep my house clean and being self employed it can be a huge challenge to eat healthy. It's a constant struggle between wanting to eat healthy and feeling like I have no time. 

I can tell you last week I ate an entire bag of carrots and a bag of radishes with hummus because I kept snacking instead of making a meal. Yes this isn't so bad, and not bad for me, but it left me with cravings because it wasn't a well rounded meal. Then I make the horrible choice to have corn chips or heaven forbid chocolate instead if real food. Tastes great but leaves me feeling sluggish and a little yucky if you know what I mean. I don't even really like chocolate but when I am not getting proper nutrients from my food I crave sugar and junk just like anyone.

So a couple weeks ago I decided no more! Time to get serious. But it's not going to be easy. My husband and my step daughter are standard meat and potatoes kind of people. They will eat salad if I prepare it sure but most of their plate is starch and meat. Me I am the opposite. Almost all veggies, as many raw as I can and beans. I love beans! 

I do like fish and eggs and even some wild game from time to time but I really only like meat once or twice a week and sometimes not at all. I was raised mostly a vegetarian accept when visiting family or friends. So sometimes I feel like I am making two or three different meals for supper. But I am learning. My kids love veggies too, I am grateful for this trust me, but they also love plain noodles and a little of daddy's meat or my beans. Whatever suites their fancy that day. My son is becoming a little more like his father and prefers potatoes now over noodles. 

I do believe more raw veggies are better than meat and dairy but I also refuse to tell my kids they can't have what daddy's having just because I said so. I don't want to encourage them to think less or loose respect for him just because I think a lot of what he eats is unhealthy. So I make a conscious effort to only make little comments like, no that has too much sugar before bed, or, you can have daddy's juice after your done your water. The last one is great because by the time they drink their water there usually isn't much room for daddy's juice ;) I never want to sound like I am putting their father down. To me that is unacceptable. 

When they are older and can understand more I will educate them to the best of my ability. For now I just keep things balanced and during the day feed them as much good food as I can. Teaching by example if you will.

But I digress. The point I was making is I am learning. I keep cooked noodles in the fridge to easily warm up and now I have started combining my meals with my husbands. I offer my main dish as a side dish to his if he's interested. As example I just created a been burger I love that he could eat in lieu of potatoes. But little does he know what's in them ;). I have baked potatoes in the fridge ready for him as back up though. One must be prepared. That way I only have to make a salad tonight and cook his meat. Makes things simple and easier for me.

If you haven't guessed by now I am not for forcing people to eat healthy or food they don't like. I know I will probably at some point have to bribe or talk my kids in to trying foods they don't like but hopefully I can find more creative solutions then forcing them. We will see ;) But as for adults I don't agree in forcing my health beliefs on them any more than forcing my spiritual beliefs on them. I am happy to share my information and knowledge but only if your interested. Otherwise it just creates bad feelings and resentment. I prefer to be an example over being a preacher. 

So in an effort to keep healthy meals handy and easy for me to warm up, for both me and my kids, I was inspired to take a couple different veggie burger recipes and make my own. And yes I compromised and let my daughter have some ketchup with hers ;) You can make your own or buy an organic healthy version of ketchup. But for me I buy what everyone likes as a small compromise. My daughter is a sauce girl and I have come to accept that.

Here is my recipe: 

• 2 1/2 cans of beans (black or kidney recommended) - 540ml/19oz
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 1/2 onion
• 2-3 celery stalks
• Large handful or 2 cups of loosely packed kale or spinach. (I used baby kale in mine)
• Handful of fresh cilantro
• 1 TBS of minced garlic
• 1 cup of cooked quinoa
• 1/2 cup spiced bread crumbs or plain
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups of dry rolled oats (uncooked)
• Braggs soy sauce substitute and spices
• 1 cup of water or some bean water if you cooked yours.

You can always cook your own beans but I didn't have any cooked so I just used the cans. First I used my arm powered food processor to mince up the veggies.

Once everything was the way I liked I put it in a pot with a bit of oil. Use oil of your choice. I just put a little in the pot to stop sticking. You may not even need any. Your choice. Then I put the beans in... I had to do two separate batches myself. They get quite sticky and can take some muscle to whip up. Once I got the this stage I added a tiny bit of water to help me mix it up a little more. 

Once I found the consistency that I felt was right, I put that in the pot too. I added some Bragg's Liquid Soy for taste, and some other spices that I liked. But I have to be honest, between the onion, garlic, cilantro and fresh veggies it smelled amazing so I didn't add much. Just a little Thyme and Turmeric. (Huge fan of Turmeric) 

Then I turned up the heat and added my water. My house smelled awesome by the way. 

Once things got sizzling I added in my Quinoa and Bread Crumbs. I like to make spiced bread crumbs for cooking so they already have basil, oregano, pepper and some other spices in them but plain would be good too. Whatever is your liking really. You can also by a can of Italian Spiced bread crumbs. I use that when I make meatballs for my husband. But if you are trying to avoid gluten maybe just go with some cooked rice or more Quinoa. Haven't tried that yet but it should work. ;) 

I actually have a hard time with wheat and usually try to avoid it because it literally hurts me but I find it in small quantities like this split between 8 burgers it doesn't really hurt me. 

I cooked it for about 20 minutes on medium, stirring constantly. Having small children and not much time, I wanted to cook it fairly quickly, so I turned up my burner as much as I dared with out burning it and just kept stirring. Once it got as thick as I figured it would get, (instead of bubbling it would give me one giant air burst lifting half the goop), I took it off the burner and put it on a cutting board. 

I then added my oats and kept stirring until it was all mixed in well. At this point it may seem still a little goopy for making burgers but I promise as it start to cool you will see it thicken up perfectly. Once again I was a little impatient so I improvised a little to get it onto the cookie sheet to bake. 

I laid out some wax paper and spread the burger batter over it to let it cool. I took a knife and gently separated the batter and then took a spatula (its a little sticky at this point and I didn't feel like being covered in it) and flipped it on to the oiled cookie sheet. Now if you are patient and have time to let it completely cool it is quite easy to form patties by hand, as I found out with the few I was not able to fit on the sheet the first time around. 

I then used my fingers to form them into rounder patties just because ;) This worked great for me. Only issue was the bean batter was a little warm for the wax paper and it would tear a little if I wasn't careful. So don't eat any wax paper by accident. 

I baked them at 400f for about 20-30 minutes. Leave them in a little longer for crunchier outside. Choice is yours. As I said before wheat hurts me so I chose to make a raw, tomato, cucumber, radish, zucchini chutney for my topping. Added a little Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar and a dash of olive oil, yes and some salt ;) to taste.

All in all I would say this was a success for me. 

I recommend that you experiment. I have tried several different veggie burger recipes and this is the first time I have every been really pleased. 

I let go of my fear of it being a total disaster... lets face it, it could have been lol, and just let my imagination and personal experience guide me.

And my kids actually really loved it! YEAH! 

Cheers and I wish you all the best in creating happy healthy meals for yourself and/or your family. Embrace the challenge and run with it. ;)