To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
Lentils are cheap, versatile, comforting & good for you. These can be made thick & served over a grain (like Basmati rice) or made a bit thinner & served as a soup. They freeze well, too, so why not make a fuckton – like I did – and freeze a bunch for lazy days in the future?
I used sweet basil from Bangluck Thai market in Hollywood but hot basil or regular basil will do. Were I to make this again – I would double the basil quantity. I used a small amount of coconut milk in this so keep it lighter & less fattening but more coconut milk would make this creamier & yummier. I also used a combination of lentils & dal & mung beans – seen below. You can use all one kind or any combo you have handy.
Easy Vegan Thai Sweet Basil & Coconut Lentils
Makes a large pot full
INGREDIENTS
Coconut oil
5 cups lentils (or dal or mung beans)
1 onion – diced
2 jalapenos – chopped (optional)
1-8 garlic cloves (to taste) – minced
1-2 TBS minced ginger
5 ounces (or more) coconut milk (a 15 oz can would not be too much – I just kept it light)
2 TBS rice vinegar
6 TBS liquid aminos (or soy sauce or tamari)
8 or more cups vegetable stock
1-2 cups fresh basil
GARNISH – cooked rice & more basil
DIRECTIONS
Melt 1 or more TBS of coconut oil (or other cooking oil) in a large stock pot. Add the onions & jalapenos & saute until soft. Stir in the garlic & ginger for a minute & then add everything else – (except the fresh basil) – starting with only about 6 cups of the stock. Bring to a boil & reduced heat to low. Cover & simmer for 30-60 minutes or until your lentils are soft. I used & immersion blender & mashed about 25% of the lentils. Not necessary. Add more stock for a thinner dish or a soup. Heat it down if it is too thin.
Stir in the fresh basil & serve with additional basil as garnish. Serve as it is or over cooked rice.
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
If you follow my blog at all – you know I adore Beyond Meat products – especially their chicken strips. I have posted many recipes using their products – loads of which can be accessed HERE. The chicken strips are especially effective in Asian-inspired dishes – and COLD chicken salad-style dishes. Here are a few pretty pics or recipes using Beyond Meat products
They have long had two styles of burger – a slider & a regular patty – seen above. They are GREAT! They would make any person ready to experience a meatless burger very happy. But – the revolutionary thing about their newest burger is that it can create the same level of satisfaction but in those expecting a REAL BEEF burger! Seriously! They are sold at these Whole Foods stores and at certain Veggie Grills. They were meant to be sold in the cold cases next to real ground beef but I had to ask to find them in Sherman Oaks – because they were in the freezer. But they are truly an exciting development. The color & texture when raw is exactly right. Take a look!
There it is grilling on my stove. Actually – these photos represent my lunch yesterday & today – hence the variations in my assembly. I cooked the one yesterday a tad longer (the one with no tomato). I cut it short today because I set off my smoke detector. The ONLY complaint I might whisper – if pressed – is that they kinda smell too much like real beef when cooking. I have not had a real hamburger since the eighties & the smell of cooking ground beef has never invaded my home. To my desensitized senses – it really seemed like a real burger cooking. But – it wasn’t! Otherwise – I could never have eaten it so red! I have not tried to cook one through (beyond heating it through) in an effort to showcase the real beef visuals. And – the aroma sells the realness in such a next level way. At any rate – these guys are INSANE! You could make meatballs or meatloaf of other ground beef recipes that call for a ground beef that is more pliable than the beefy crumbles. If you are a vegan/vegetarian with a meat-eater at your table – maybe try sneaking them one of these – with the appropriate toppings – and see if they even notice that they are not eating meat. These Beyond Burgers are a complete & total game-changer in the world of meat alternatives. I cannot sing their praises with more enthusiasm. Treat yourself!!!
Serving Size 1 Patty, 4 oz (113g)
Servings Per Container: 2
Amount Per Serving
Calories 290
Calories from fat 190
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 22g
34%
Saturated Fat 5g
25%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
0%
Sodium 450mg
19%
Total Carbohydrate 6g
2%
Dietary Fiber 3g
12%
Sugars 0g
Protein 20g
32%
Vitamin A
0%
•
Vitamin C
90%
Calcium
10%
•
Iron
25%
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs
FAQs
WHAT’S THE BEYOND BURGER™
The Beyond Burger™ is the world’s first plant-based burger that looks, cooks, and tastes like a fresh beef burger, and it’s coming to the refrigerated meat section of a store near you. It has all the juicy, meat deliciousness of a traditional burger, but comes with the upsides of a plant-based meal. The Beyond Burger™ packs 20 g of plant-based protein and has no GMOs, soy or gluten.
I WANT A BEYOND BURGER™! WHERE CAN I GET ONE?
For now, Whole Foods Boulder (Pearl Street Store). The Beyond Burger™ is in soft launch, with distribution planned for select Whole Foods stores. Our goal is expanded availability over the summer. Please sign up for our newsletter for updates on expansion plans.
HOW IS THE BEYOND BURGER DIFFERENT THAN THE BEAST?
The Beyond Burger™ is a ready-to-cook “raw” patty that looks, cooks, and tastes like a fresh beef burger, and it will be sold in the meat section of the store. The Beast is a precooked frozen patty shelved with other frozen items. Our goal in creating The Beyond Burger™ was to provide the full 360° mouth-watering, juicy, and delicious experience of beef but without so many of the health, environmental, and animal welfare downsides of traditional animal-based meat. On the other hand, we developed The Beast with nutrient density in mind, working with Brendan Brazier, a rockstar plant-based triathlete to develop it. The Beast has 23G of protein and a slew of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and omegas to help support performance and recovery for especially active folks.
WHY IS IT IN THE MEAT SECTION?
Great question. Part of our Future of Protein vision is to reimagine the meat section as the Protein Section of the store. In this way, we can help people on their journey to eating more plant-based by allowing them to purchase plant-based foods in the section of the store where they are already purchasing other forms of protein. No pun intended, but we are meeting people where they are in their food journey and offering an easy switch!
WHY A BURGER FROM PLANTS THAT AIMS TO REPLICATE MEAT?
Our belief is that the best way to get people to eat less meat is by giving them what they love–in this case, a juicy delicious burger – without so many of the health, sustainability, and animal welfare downside of a traditional animal – based burger.
WHY DON’T YOU PUT THE BEYOND BURGER IN BOTH THE MEAT AND MEAT ALTERNATIVES SECTION OF THE STORE?
Dual-placement is a possibility but ultimately it’s up to the retailer. Our goal of placing The Beyond Burger™ in, at a minimum, the meat section of the store is our attempt to help attract carnivores to the category and help change that meat case to the protein case.”
WHAT KIND OF PROTEIN DO YOU USE?
The primary source of protein in The Beyond Burger™ comes from peas. It’s soy, gluten and GMO free.
HANG ON…IF THIS ISN’T BEEF, WHY ARE THE BURGERS RED?
Well, we used beets to do that! Amazing, right! We wanted to keep the whole experience of cooking burger as similar as possible for our flexitarian fans, so we’ve worked very hard to create a burger that changes color as you cook it just like animal protein.
WHY DOES THE BEYOND BURGER™ “BLEED”?
While we didn’t design The Beyond Burger™ to “bleed” per se, the beets we use to give the patty a red-meat appearance have led some in the media to remark that the burger “bleeds” beet blood.
HOW DO YOU REBUILD MEAT WITHOUT GENETICALLY MODIFYING ANYTHING?
This question gets back to the company’s basic thesis that meat’s core parts – amino acids, lipids, trace elements, carbs and minerals – don’t have exclusive residence in the animal kingdom. Our task is to eliminate the need for meat from animals and find the same or analogous materials in the plant kingdom. We are not inventing new materials but matching the plant equivalent and assembling it in the architecture of meat. And the way we do that assembly is similar to the simple process used to make pasta – we mix our plant-based ingredients, compress the mixture, and then shape it into final product (in our case, using a patty former).
HOW LONG HAD THE BEYOND BURGER BEEN IN DEVELOPMENT?
It’s really the culmination of 7+ years of work against our goal to understand meat, its composition, and associated sensory experience, better than anyone on the planet, and then rebuild that directly from plants.
To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.
All my posts now have a VERY customizable PRINT & PDF option. Create a PDF & save the recipe to your computer or print it out. It offers a “remove images” option & you can delete any part of the post you do not need before printing. The button is below by the Twitter & Facebook links.
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So – my last post was a month ago. It was my Clean Cooking & a 21-day Arbonne Healthy Eating Detox – Vegan or Vegetarian Style post describing a 21-day detox/cleanse I was launching on. I never posted about it again for a few reasons: the fact that the recipes from the Arbonne site made GINORMOUS quantities & I ate the same thing for days & because I just had no passion for cooking while on it. I ended it two days earlier than my 21 day goal because – Superbowl party. After nearly 3 weeks of deprivation – I lost 4 pounds. 4 miserable pounds. I should not complain because one friend of mine lost nothing & another gained 4 pounds. So – that cleanse is what you make of it but it was a great jump start to shock me out of deeply-entrenched habits. Now – I am obsessed with TEA and pay way more attention to what I eat & where calories are coming from. Which brings me to my day yesterday.
I was at the mall exchanging a birthday gift & realized it was lunch time & that I was hungry. My choices were mainly a sushi spot & the Cheesecake Factory. Since I no longer eat fish, I Googled the Cheesecake Factory’s menu to see if they had any HEALTHY (reading – low in calories) options. The Cheesecake Factory is notorious for shockingly caloric options (see HERE) and I did not want to eat a 2000 calorie lunch – as I am still trying to keep my daily calorie intake to about 1200. I was pleased to see a skinny cocktail menu and a super food menu. So – I went in and I ordered a skinny margarita & the vegan Cobb salad. I got the Cobb because I did not want to eat any of their 490 calorie “skinny” menu items. I thought I would be really good & get a salad with proteins (garbanzos & quinoa) and the healthy fat avocado.
The drink was small but tasty & only clocked in at 150 calories. Very happy with that. The salad was not gargantuan, not over-dressed & was quite good. Looks good, right? Looks healthy. Proud of myself, I considered ordering a second cocktail as I entered the stuff I had just consumed in My Fitness Pal. It was then that my world came shattering down around me. That fucker of a salad had 1210 calories!!!!! 1210!!!! I could go to McDonald’s and get a Big Mac, medium fries & a medium NON-DIET Coke for under 1100. Don’t believe me? Look HERE on McDonald’s own site. How the FUCK is THAT possible??? A salad? Without a creamy dressing or any cheese or meat or bacon or croutons or fried wontons or ANYTHING naughty? Avocado is fatty but it is not cheese & bacon fatty! It is not BIG MAC fatty! And that photo shows the salad with dressing on it. It really was NOT soaked in dressing. I was SO freaked out! I felt SO cheated! For 1200 calories I could have gotten pizza & wine. Or almost anything on the menu. Seriously. What the fuck? So – almonds & sunflower seeds in addition to avocado & boom! An ass like Kim Kardashian. I felt like I had undone 3 weeks of deprivation with one Goddamn SALAD! Ugh. I complained about it all fucking day. And I am complaining now. I will never EVER enter the CottageCheesecake AssFactory again. I swear it.
So – driven to compensate for that outrageous lunch – I made this VERY healthy stew today. I used a bunch of sketchy veggies cresting their use-by dates & it came out delicious. You can add or remove produce to suit your tastes. I only used bit of olive oil to roast the veggies & that was it. You could eliminate even that by NOT roasting them & just throwing them in the pot to boil. Your call.
I served myself a hearty portion of this stew today over a very carefully measured 1/4 cup of mixed ancient grains. Truth be told – this stew does not need a grain to make it satisfying so – serve it naked or over the grain of your choice.
Turmeric is a very healthy spice. Here are some of the benefits of turmeric. Look at that list or THIS one. It will make you want to use vibrant turmeric as often as possible.
Makes a LOT – enough to feed 6-8 (even without a grain)
INGREDIENTS
1 head cauliflower – cut into bite-sized florets
10-15 carrots – chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 large onion – chopped
1 red bell pepper – cut into matchsticks
2 jalapenos – chopped (optional)
2 (15 oz) cans of garbanzo beans (drained)
2 (28 oz) cans of diced tomatoes
10 garlic cloves – chopped
10 oz broccoli (VERY optional – I only used the broccoli rabe I had because it was wilting)
1-2 TBS turmeric (start with one & add more if you like)
1 BS ground cumin
1 TBS ground coriander
2 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ground cardamom (LOVELY but can be omitted if you cannot find it)
4 cups vegetable stock (or water)
Olive oil
S&P
Chopped parsley or cilantro as garnish
DIRECTIONS
If roasting the vegetables:
Heat the oven to 475.
Toss the cauliflower, carrots, bell pepper, onion & jalapenos in a light coating of olive oil & some S&P. Roast for 20-30 minutes or until just beginning to brown. Add them to a large stock pot with the remaining ingredients & cook until the veggies are all tender & the stew thickens a bit.
If not roasting them – just throw them in with the remaining ingredients & cook until the veggies are all tender & the stew thickens a bit. Add water to thin it if it gets too thick. Cook it down if it is too watery. Season with S&P & garnish with parsley or cilantro.
Delightful-Delicious-Delovely 