I’ve made a number of burgers in my time, but I’ve never made a black bean burger. I always thought of them as very dry and crumbly, and tasting primarily of beans, which didn’t appeal to me. But then recently I’ve had some black bean burgers out at restaurants that were quite good. And since I’ve been trying to eat less meat I decided to give it a go. But since I have no experience making these burgers, I turned to the internet and relied on the RATIOS in a recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I usually use her site for sweets, but she promised these would work out so… To make it my own, I went with Moroccan flavors.
Category: vegetarian
Vegetable Lasagna aka Carb Loading
I recently completed a sprint triathlon, even though I hate running (and exercise in general). One of the only things that gets me through the training is the ability to eat whatever I want because I know I’ll burn the calories off later. This lasagna, which I made for carb loading the night before the race, is the cherry on top.
Asparagus, Ricotta, and Arugula Pizza
Ahhhh pizza. This is not my first pizza recipe on this site and it won’t be my last. It’s just so versatile and easy, I find myself relying on it when I can’t think of what to make, especially when I have a bunch of odds and ends left over in the fridge. Today, I go for a pesto sauce – one of my favorites, and try the whole salad on top of pizza thing that has been popular for a while.
No-Bake Chocolate Tahini Bars
For my 30th (!) birthday, I had a tea party/picnic with a bunch of friends. I made tons of sweet treats (recipes to follow), and this is one of my favorites. Chocolate peanut butter bar recipes are ubiquitous all over the internet (such as this one) and for good reason – they are easy, they BALANCE salty, sweet, smooth, and crunchy, and taste just like peanut butter cups. To make the recipe my own and satisfy a peanut-allergic best friend, I ADAPTED my favorite recipe, replacing the peanut butter with tahini. The result still satisfies all of the same cravings, with additional smoky complexity from the tahini that will wow your guests.
Miso-Wasabi Coleslaw
This was one of those cleaning out the fridge recipes, which is a great start to recipe creation. You will probably recognize many of these ingredients from recent recipes I’ve posted on here. The available ingredients led me to asian, so that is what I went for with the overall dinner. Below is the slaw recipe, which ADAPTS one of my favorite mayo-based dressings, but recipes for the rest of the plate will follow on Wednesday!
Vegan Lemon Macarons
As I’ve mentioned, my sister is vegan. Back before she became vegan, when she was just a vegetarian, we would make macarons together when we were both home at our parents’ house. If you’ve never made macarons, you should know that they’re more of a project than your usual dessert recipe. I typically set aside ~4 hours to make a batch, and that doesn’t include the overnight steps. While that is undeniably a lot of time to spend on some cookies, it saves a lot of money because macarons do not have expensive ingredients but are extraordinarily expensive to buy in the store. Even better, I get to use that time to catch up with my sister, and we both feel the accomplishment of making a beautiful dessert that can seem very intimidating. Since going vegan, my sister and I had not made macarons. But I learned about using aquafaba (more on that after the break) in place of the eggs in macarons on the Great British Baking Show, so over Easter we decided to give it a try. All I can say is, boy was my sister pleased with the results!
Vegetable Taco Soup
As I’ve said before, I really really really love tacos. For this recipe, I wanted to try and ADAPT my favorite vegetable taco recipe to a different medium – namely a soup. I thought it might work because I could use the same toppings and just repurpose the taco filling as a spiced soup.
Gorgonzola Macaroni and Cheese with Butternut Squash and Pickled Pears
I’m just going to come out and say it – this is the best recipe I’ve invented so far (and one of the better ones I’ve ever cooked). I’m so pleased with myself! I usually make macaroni and cheese to cover a lot of bases; it cleans out my fridge of leftover cheese bits and vegetables, which reduces food waste and is good for my wallet. It’s also comfort food and can serve a crowd. For all these reasons I’ve made a lot of mac and cheese over the years, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be special! Here the combination of the salty-funky blue cheese, the sour pears, and the crunchy corn flakes really blew my mind. If you don’t believe me, you’d better try it yourself!
Chai Ice Cream Cake
This is my first collaboration, ha! My friend at work is a scientist by day and owns a local chai company, Boston Chai Party, by night (they ship!). He and his business partner are Indian, so you can be sure his product is authentic. While he has the chai tea recipe on lock, we were talking one day about other ways that the chai spice could be used and the first one we thought of was chai ice cream. Naturally, I had to turn it into an ice cream cake. I have to say, this might be the most beautiful dish I’ve ever made!
Beet and Eggplant Tacos
I really really really love tacos. If I opened a restaurant, it would probably be a taco restaurant. They are relatively easy to make, they are a punch of flavor, they please vegans, vegetarians, and meat-eaters, and they offer endless possibilities. So many taco recipes out there are meat tacos, but I hope to ADAPT my favorite taco toppings while exploring the vegetable universe for great fillings. (NOTE: Interested in that bean salad in the picture? Here it is!)
Results Not Guaranteed 