Taste test: Black bean burgers

I found this recipe online on and they are SO GOOD!  I ate more than my fair share.  The recipe calls for egg, but you can replace it using a vegan egg replacer or something else.  I also substituted old fashioned oats for bread crumbs.  These also freeze really well.


Try it loaded with fresh avocado, cilantro, green lettuce, and tomatoes and serve with baked potato wedges and your family will be begging for more!  Okay, maybe it was just me begging, but still, its really yummy!


Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers from allrecipes.com


Ingredients: 

• 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1/2 onion, cut into wedges
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs

Instructions:

1. If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.

2. In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.

3. In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.

4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.

5. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.

6. If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Headed to Lexington, KY?

Then you gotta try these places.  While there are no specifically vegetarian or vegan restaurants in Lexington, there are some veg friendly places.  Here are my top three.

1) Stella's Deli

Based on the name, vegetarians may shy away from Stella's, but they'd be missing out on good food and friendly service.  Although Stella's is a deli they also have a selection of veg food and are happy to accommodate vegans.  The folks that work there are good eggs and appear to enjoy their jobs.  All their food is produced by local farmers, and other products (such as their cool t-shirts) are fair trade.  I'm pretty sad I discovered this place towards the end of my stay in this town, but am glad I got to experience it and recommend it to others.  Its my current favorite hang out.

2) Good Foods Co-op and Cafe

One part market, one part cafe, and completely customer owned, Good Foods is a local favorite.  Much of their produce is produced by farmers in the area, and they have a large selection of organic and fair trade items.  Their cafe boasts a hot buffet, salad bar, and sandwich shop, with ingredients listed on the item name tags.  Many of the buffet items are vegan, and sandwiches are made to order.  I enjoy eating here because I know I'm getting something healthy, fresh, locally produced (in season), and am supporting a local business.  It feels as if the people who work and shop there are like minded in their quest to live a healthy and compassionate life.

3) Alfalfa's

This place boasts the most vegetarian fare of the three restaurants I've mentioned, and they've been at it a long time.  The food is interesting, and they often have seasonal offerings.  I enjoy eating here because it tastes really healthy, and I love the live music on weekends (usually its just one guy playing a guitar singing CCR and The Eagles).  They also make fresh juices, like carrot-apple juice.  To me, Alfalfa's feels the most "crunchy granola" (read: hippy health nut), but its nice to know a healthy restaurant is a popular place to go when dining out.

Honorable Mention: This list is incomplete without mentioning Doodles, a brunch place that serves as much locally produced food as possible.  Its not really veg friendly (which is why it didn't make the top three), but if you're still a carnivore or a lacto-ovo veg, this place is not a bad choice.  Plus, the name is just fun!  I ate there on Sunday and ended up ordering a meal of side dishes including fried potatoes, a fruit cup, toast, and veggie sausage.  Don't forget to try the beignets, a New Orleans favorite!

Design help

Can anybody help me out with design?!!!

Still processing Food Inc

It's been a few days, but I can't stop thinking about Food, Inc.  Connecting the hamburger to its unhappy, factory-farm source is easier when seeing it with my own eyes.  Although I didn't walk through these particular farms with my own two feet, directors Robert Kenner and Eric Schlosser have brought the horrific reality of life on the factory straight to my home.  And it was enough to convince me to jump the vegan fence into green fields of blissful vegetarianism. 
 
If you have ever driven north on I-5 from LA to San Francisco, you've probably noticed the stench of several factory farms that hug the freeway.  I've often thought, as I've passed those baying cows wallowing in mud and their own excrement, that these must not be the happy cows portrayed in certain ads selling cheese from a certain state.  I've wondered where indeed the cows in those commercials come from, as the moo-ers I've seen in my home state certainly aren't meandering across green fields.  The cow living in Kentucky seems to be a little more content, although she may have to contend with January ice storms.  At least she has green fields most of the year!

One thing in particular that stands out from the film is the farmer towards the end of the movie who discusses farming practices.  The camera follows him as he walks through his herd of pigs, saying, "Hey pig!  Hey piggles!" (Saturday Night Live flashback anyone?), fully knowing that they'll soon be ready for slaughter.  The farmer appears in another scene in which he discusses something else; in the background one of his employees is slaughtering chickens.  The chickens are squawking away, fully aware of whats about to happen them, while the farmer was oblivious to the chicken's terror.  While watching this scene I compulsively yelled out, "Nooo!  That chicken DOESN'T WANT to go into that slaughtering cone!".  Good thing it was at home and not in public. 

Sheesh, I sound like a full on vegan now!  But seriously, why eat living, breathing creatures when other options are available?  Doesn't this pig look so happy to be alive?

Food Inc.

I finally watched Food Inc. and I have to admit, I’m a little traumatized.  It gave me flashbacks to my early days of living next door to a pig slaughter house.  The pig pen was literally in my back yard, although my family was not affiliated with it in any way.  My grandpa even built me a little clubhouse that my mom painted with happy, mud-wallowing pigs.  I think I liked having those pigs back there; I enjoyed hearing them snort and root around.  Once in a while one would escape and go tearing around our house, ruining my mom’s flower gardens.  However, several times a year the farmers would slaughter my piggy friends. 

I remember one incident as if it was yesterday.  I was innocently playing in my playhouse when all of a sudden I heard the pigs screaming in terror.  I don’t remember if I knew what exactly was happening, but I sure knew those pigs were suffering.  I sprinted from the back yard to my bedroom, crying hysterically.  My mom was obviously concerned with my level of upset, but I wouldn’t calm down.  I was so disturbed about those pigs, and I can still hear their screams.

From that point on I never liked to eat pork.  I did occasionally, but I especially did not care for ham or pork chops; for some reason, they seemed particularly connected to the pig.  I also could not eat veal (knowing it was baby cow), deer (thanks to Bambi) or lamb (because of that old cartoon “Lambert, The Sheepish Lion”).  Aside from that, I’ve always been a picky eater and squeamish.  Looking back on it, its kind of amazing that its taken me this long to become veg.     

Forks Over Knives

I just heard about the new documentary, based on The China Study by T. Colin Campbell (which I talk about quite a bit on my blog), called Forks Over Knives.  Its due out this summer!  Check it out at http://forksoverknives.com/.

Reasons to go vegan

When I began this journey I initially set out to cut down on the amount of meat I ate.  Growing up, my family didn't eat very much red meat because it was so expensive.  Red meat was reserved for eating at my tri-tip consuming relatives houses and cheeseburgers when we ate out.  I initially thought that I would not really be able to completely cut out meat, but I've surprised myself by working towards being vegan. Here's why:

87% of the protein in milk is made up of casein, a chemical found to be a potent carcinogen in humans.  The China Study details how Dr. T. Colin Campbell conducted several research studies in lab rats that showed how damaging animal protein can be.  His team of researchers injected groups of rats with aflatoxin (one of the most dangerous carcinogens, found in a mold on peanuts).  One group of rats was then fed a diet that included 20% animal protein, and another group was fed a diet that included 5% animal protein.  The group fed the 5% diet showed no signs of tumors caused by aflatoxin, while the group that received 20% showed signs of cancerous growth caused by the carcinigen.

Furthermore, one group of rats was injected with a higher dose of aflatoxin then fed a diet that included 5% animal protein, while another group of rats was injected with a low dose of aflatoxin but fed a diet with 20% animal protein.  The group that received the higher dose of the carcinogen but had a diet with lower animal protein did not develop any cancerous tumors, while the group with the lower dose of the carcinogen but diet higher in animal protein developed tumors.

He did numerous other studies regarding this and found that in all studies, by him and others, the animals fed a diet high in animal protein developed cancerous tumors while the animals fed a diet lower in animal protein did not develop cancerous tumors.

Of course, Dr. Campbell explains it so much better.  I was floored by this info; the evidence is compelling!  Even with the introduction of a carcinogen into the animal's body, diet made a huge difference!  Evidently animal protein was not meant for human consumption in such gigantic quantities.  This also shows that we humans can have some control over our health!  Family members who have heart trouble, diabetes, or cancer seem so hopeless.  In my own family the idea is that we have a propensity for colon cancer, so what difference does lifestyle and diet make if we're going to get it no matter what?  But Dr. Campbell's studies show that we CAN change it!  Our health isn't left up to our ancestors and fate, its in our power to life strong, healthy, and long lives!

Now who doesn't want that?!

(Note on animal studies: To be honest, I don’t feel totally comfortable with animal studies, but I’m grateful for the information that has come by them.  I’m not advocating for animal studies, but am using the evidence produced by these studies nonetheless.)

Road Trip = Being Hungry

So the hubs and I spontaneously decided to take a road trip down to Charleston for the long weekend.  Normally we enjoy the freedom that comes from not yet having kids and being able to take off at the drop of the hat.  The trip, however, ended up somewhat of a bust.  One ghetto-chateaus hotel, 6 sad vegetarian meals, and 2 sweaty days later I am happy to be home in my air-conditioned apartment with a refrigerator full of choice food.  From this trip I have learned:

1) Always check out a hotel room before checking in, lest it contain a bed spread with cigarette burns, gunk stuck in the carpet, and splashes of God-knows-what on the bathroom walls.

2) Always pack a cooler full of veg snacks to improve roadside options, of which the best is the unfortunate Veggie Burger at Burger King or the boring Bean Burrito at Taco Bell.  We did manage to stop at a Souper Salad! on our way down there, where I loaded up on, what else, soup and salad!

On our way back to town, somewhere near the Biltmore Estate, I was encouraged to find a Bruegger's Bagel shop that listed several veg sandwiches on the menu.  Pure bliss after a weekend of salads and baked potatoes!  Plus, all their coffee is fair trade!  I did splurge and purchase a rice crispy treat that the hubs and I split.  Definitely not vegan, but, well, better than a Coke.

3) Don't let yourself get hungry.  You will be much more likely to consider carnivorous options and make unhealthy choices.  Being out of my normal routine and unable to control my food situation, I was tempted with kettle corn, french fries, ice cold cokes, and wonderfully smelling hamburgers.  On our drive home I was beginning to feel very deprived and very sorry for my self, a victim of circumstance, as if being a vegetarian was something forced upon me and an unfortunate fate.  I had to remind myself why I'm doing this, of the choice I am making to lead a healthier and more full lifestyle.  Breaking out The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell helped to beef up (pun intended) my veg convictions.

4) It is important to surround myself with others who are choosing to eat veg for support and camaraderie.  As with most things in life, its harder to do things on your own.  The hubs has been convinced by the evidence in The China Study and is on his own journey to veg-ism, but currently is still eating chicken.  It would have been SO easy to snag a piece of bacon off the plate I was passing around the table at the hub's uncle's house on Saturday morning.  It just smelled SO good!  Now, if these peeps were all veg, wouldn't it have been easier, and felt better, to make a great, healthy breakfast together?

Feeling deprived, I completely relapsed today with a coke and a reduced-fat-cinnamon-swirl coffee cake from Starbys.  Not healthy and not vegan...But!  In other news, I have lost 9 pounds!  To be honest, I don't know when this weight loss started.  It could very well be because I stopped hanging around the vending machine to get myself through grad school.  Whatever the reason, I'll take it!