The Voracious Vegan

Mediterranean Black Bean Quinoa Burgers with Red Onion Basil Aioli

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Weekly Wednesday Wrap-Up to bring you the best vegan burger in the world.

So sorry to skip WWW, folks, but a combination of too much work and this delicious burger, has convinced me to give it a miss this week. But you will not be dissapointed with this burger as a replacement. It really is pure win.

To me, texture in a veggie burger is just as important as taste. And it always seems that the only veggie burgers that please me with their texture contain TVP or vital wheat gluten. Unfortunately neither of those things sit well with my hubby’s tummy, so I’m always looking for healthier alternatives…and I’ve finally found it!

This burger combines a savory background of black beans and liquid smoke with the bright tang of sun dried tomatoes to create a mind blowing, taste bud thrilling Mediterranean extravaganza! The texture is nice and chewy all thanks to a healthy dose of quinoa, chickpea flour and flax seed. When you plop this patty onto a toasted bun and top with the rich herby goodness of the aioli and serve with a side of lemon rosemary fries you’ve got a dinner you won’t soon forget.

Black Bean Burger
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed and roughly smashed
2/3 cup cooked quinoa
1/4 cup chickpea flour (with additional 2Tbsp if needed)
1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes, the soft kind marinated in oil
1 Tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 3 tbsp water, microwaved for 20 seconds
2 tsp liquid smoke
salt and pepper to taste

- Combine all of the ingredients and form into 4 large patties

- Allow the patties to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, then fry in a drizzle of olive oil until brown and crispy on both sides

Red Onion Basil Aioli

No specific recipe here, just mix a chopped red onion, a few diced garlic cloves and chopped fresh basil with lots of vegan mayo and there you go! Easy and delicious.

Lemon Rosemary Potatoes

Again, no recipe needed. Just chop 4 potatoes into fries, toss well with olive oil and bake on 400F till they are all nice and crispy. Pull them out of the oven and, right onto the pan, squeeze out the juice of one lemon and toss with a handful of fresh chopped rosemary. Beautiful!

International Women's Day: Why Feminism?

Happy International Women’s Day!

I hope you all take some time today to reflect on the struggles and victories made by generations of proud feminists and women’s rights activists before us. Without their sacrifices and determination none of us would be where we are today.

I owe my education to them. I owe my freedom to them. I owe my independence to them. I owe my ability to enjoy my life on my terms to them. I owe my ability to own property to them. I owe my ability to vote to them. I owe my ability to have any job I want to them. Without feminism I could never have this amazing life that I cherish so much.

But the job is nowhere near over. We still have so much work to do and so far to go. To celebrate International Women’s Day and to answer the question Why Feminism? I’ve made this short film. I wanted to explain in a quick and clear way why women’s rights and feminism are still relevant and necessary in this day and age. I hope you like it. (My husband Cody did the music. Isn’t he a genius!?!)

I also wrote a guest post on Choosing Raw about the connections between feminism and veganism. You should definitely check it out and let me know what you think.

If you want to know more about the amazing and inspiring history of International Women’s Day check out this timeline.

Why Feminism?

-featuring music by EGOIST-

Cooking the Books: Greek-Style Tomato-Zucchini Fritters with Fresh Herbs and Mediterranean Cashew-Cucumber Dip

Looks tasty, huh? You’ve got all my favorite things – fried, crispy, greasy treats and a creamy cool dip for dunking. This recipe is from Veganomicon and it was….pretty good.

Yes, only pretty good. I know, I know, it was the first time I’ve ever been anything less than blown away by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. Now, don’t get me wrong, this whole meal was yummy and tasty, but just not as spectacularly awesome as I’ve come to expect from her dishes.

The fritters are filled with zucchini, tomatoes and tofu, with a hint of fresh mint and dill. They are coated in bread crumbs and fried and the result is a tasty but VERY delicate fritter. Maybe I didn’t squeeze all the moisture out of the veggies first because mine were super fragile. And very greasy. Almost too greasy. And for me to say that is incredibly unusual. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever said that in my life. I LOVE grease, I consider it one of the main food groups.

The dip was yummy, a lighter than usual take on nut based dips. But to be honest, it wasn’t awe inspiring, or even unique or delicious enough to make again. I would be more than happy with hummus or moutabel in its place.

Also, for some reason it felt like making the fritters and the dip took a really long time, it was a very involved process, and my kitchen was trashed at the end of the process. I’m not scared of spending time in the kitchen, but this just seemed excessive given the lackluster results.

So. Sorry about that, I feel almost guilty for giving a less than glowing review for a cookbook of which I usually sing the praises. But, if this is the worst Veganomicon has to offer then it really is the best cookbook ever, because even this was….pretty good.

Question and Answer Time!

Do you have a burning question you’ve always wanted to ask me? Is there something you want to know about feminism or veganism but have been to shy to ask? Do you want to ask me for advice? Are you just plain nosy and want me to answer your questions?

Well, today is your lucky day because you can now ask me all those silly, random, personal, nosy, in depth questions you’ve always wanted to know the answer to, and you can do it anonymously! Just click here to do it!

I’ll be answering all the questions sometime next week, but there’s a twist. The questions are going to get sent to Cody, so I won’t be able to read them in advance. He’s going to choose some of the best and then ask me the questions on camera, and then we’ll post the video on here so you can all see my completely unrehearsed and spontaneous answers. So get to it!