Basic Veggie Burger

You can go to the market and pick up veggie burgers for about $2 per burger--complete with soy additives and MSG. I am not interested in eating much soy at all because of the suspected interference with thyroid function and over all hormone balance. If I, as an adult, do not want to eat it I won't feed it to my family either.

So, I got to thinking last week--perhaps I can make a basic veggie burger that I will like and people will also like--novel concept I know. So, I cooked up some brown rice, got out a can of black beans and stared at them--could it really be as simple as I was thinking it could be? Yeah, it was--I do not know why I over think things so much.

Basic Black Bean Veggie Burger

makes 12

16 ounce can black beans rinsed and drained well

1 cup cooked brown rice

5 egg whites

1/4 cup shredded carrots-squeezed to remove excess liquid

1/4 cup frozen corn thawed

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cumin

pinch of salt

Add all the ingredients aside from the rice to a bowl and blend with a hand blender--or add all ingredients to a food processor. Once the mixture is blended completely stir in rice. Allow to sit for about 30 minutes, I did this in hopes the rice would grab some of the liquid of the mix and firm it up some.

Heat a non stick skillet on medium high heat. Add about 1/2 cup of the burger to the pan and cook on each side for about 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and top with salsa and avocado.

Other Good Ideas:

--Use red beans instead of black

--add any vegetable you want--be sure to remove as much liquid as possible

--cook ahead and store in the fridge for weekly lunches

Coconut Chicken Soup with Crusty Gluten free Bread

You cannot reinvent the wheel--the basic principles will always be the same for it. However, you can invent millions of different variations of the wheel to try and direct it to more specific needs and tastes. Chicken soup is really the same thing--constantly reinvented to be more appeasing to the chef or the diners. I love chicken soup, all of the versions I have made and tried I find to be pleasing. last night I wanted to try something with coconut milk and thought--SOUP! Coconut milk has lost the bad rap it had help previously because of the fat content it has--much like avocado this fruit hold a lot of health benefits in it's flesh. Bone building, immune boosting, weight loss producing benefits all wrapped into the flesh of the coconut make this a revival ingredient for a lot of health food lovers.

I loved the taste of the broth, it was not heavy with tropical sunscreen taste at all, in fact the exact coconut flavor has no distinct act in this play. More that it adds a soft feeling in the mouth and a rich creamy blend to the broth--leaves you fuller longer, too! We like that!

I paired the soup with a delightful gluten free crusty bread that actually stays soft even when left out over night--I know, shocking!

Coconut Chicken Soup
serves 6
6 complete chicken legs
8 ounces coconut milk
2 cups gluten free chicken broth
1 onion
1 medium winter squash
2 cloves garlic diced
2 tsp cumin
2 bay leaves

Heat a large saute pan on medium high heat. Skin the chicken legs and remove all visible fat then using a sharp knife separate the thigh from the drum stick. Place the chicken legs in the hot pan while you prepare the rest of the ingredients, make sure to not over lap the chicken pieces. Peel and slice your onion and add to the cooking chicken. Slowly pour in the 2 cups or broth, once the broth has been added you can slowly pour the coconut milk in. Stir the soup to blend the milk with the broth and coat all the the chicken pieces. Next add the diced garlic, cumin and bay leaves.


Peel your squash, remove the seeds and chunk it up, add this to the cooking chicken. Cover and and lower heat to just below medium and simmer for 40 minutes.

Serve hot with a nice crusty bread.
Calories Per Serving: 260
Carbohydrates- 1 gram
Protein-26 grams
Fat-16 grams

Other Good Ideas:
--add in all the vegetables you want
-- add some chili powder to make this hotter on the inside

Now bread has the same approach as the soup--bread was invented and now can be modified a million times and still be interesting and really a comfort food to many. With my daughter having an allergy to gluten we have been trying different brands of gluten free bread as well as making our own. It is like finding the holy grail for us! Well, I was looking over the book, The Gluten Connection that was lent to me by a friend and decided to modify the Basic White Bread recipe the author has. The result was surprising and pleasing! You can see, if you click the image of the bread how airy and light it looks--it was not dry at all and had a great feel in the mouth as well as a traditional "yeast bread" flavor to it. The crust reminded me of the stone baked breads you can get in real bakeries. Winner winner--yeah exactly--chicken dinner!

Gluten Free Crusty Bread
serves the masses
3 large eggs
1/4 coconut oil
1 1/3 cup water
2 tbls Agave nectar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup Brown Rice Flour
1 cup Tapioca Flour
1 cup Arrowroot Flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
2/3 powdered milk
2 packets yeast

In a stand mixer place the liquid ingredients and set on the low. In a separate bowl blend the dry ingredients and mix well to ensure the xanthan gum is well blended.

Add the flour mixture a 1/2 cup at a time to the liquid mix--be sure to stop and scrape down the sides so that all the flour mixture is incorporated.

Mix the batter for about 7 minutes on low speed to really convince this dough it wants to get along really well and will become the bread you know it can become--think positive right now, this is gluten free bread in the making!
Once it is fully blended it will look like cake batter, not the traditional bread dough you are use to creating. It will be gooey and sticky and that is OK--better than OK it is what we want!






Place this mess into a slightly greased bowl and set in a warm place for an hour to allow it to double in size. I always put mine in the oven on the lowest temp which is 170 degrees. I am not a professional baker--but this has always allowed the yeast to survive and thrive.
Then beat the dough back down and tell it who the real boss of the kitchen is--place back in the warm place and allow to rise again. Look at all the air and activity it had from the second rise! (seriously click the image of the side view and be amazed!)

Now, I left mine in this bowl to bake as well--thank you Pyrex for your miracle glass! I baked it on 375 degrees for 35 minutes.

I wanted to snap a picture of the finished bread but my family was too hungry to wait for me to get my camera. So they sliced it while I was camera hunting.
However, you can just see how great this bread came out--it did not even remotely hint at being a gluten free product at all!


This post is part of Real Food Wednesday! Check out More REAL FOOD ideas and stories!

Everybody likes cookies

It is officially fall--leaves are changing, weather is cooling down and the days are shorter. So, to celebrate, lets bake some cookies! Apple spice cookies with oatmeal just screams fall to me, really I can hear it, can't you? Oh, and of course these are gluten free!!

Apple Spice Cookies
1 dozen
1/4 cup fresh butter
2 cups fresh apple sauce
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup raw sugar

1 cup GF flour mix*
1 cup old fashioned oats
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbls orange zest

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a cookie sheet. In a bowl add all the wet ingredients and blend using an electric mixer until the mixture is fully blended. In a separate bowl add all the dry ingredients together and mix well. Slowly add the dry mix to the wet mix blending on medium speed until it is all the dry is added and well mixed.
Place large spoon fulls on cookie sheet and bake for 25 minutes or until the edges are browned.


* you can use whole wheat flour if you do not need gluten free cookies

Other Good Ideas:
--add in nuts
--add in dried fruit
--make extra because these are really good

Calories per Cookie- 164
Fat- 5 grams
Carbohydrate- 26 grams
Fiber- 3 grams
Protein- 4 grams

Check out More Real food!

Zucchini Banana Bites- Gluten Free

OK, harvest is here as well as school starting. So let's keep those lunch box snack ideas rolling in! Here is a modified version of our Zucchini Apple Muffins we have in Squeaky Gourmet. These were so wonderful and delicious--we shared them with athletes at the NAS Nationals and received rave reviews on the flavor, texture and the fact they did not weigh you down!

Zucchini Banana Bites
makes 12 small muffins
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1 large egg
5 large egg whites
1 medium banana-mashed
3/4 cup shredded zucchini
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon zest
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray your Muffin pan with non-stick spray. Add all the ingredients to the mixer and blend thoroughly. Fill each muffin tin about 2/3 full and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Other Good Ideas-
--use pumpkin instead of banana
--add in raisins or other dried fruits
--add in walnuts

These are so good and so easy to prepare you can make them ahead of time and freeze for the winter snacks. Also makes an excellent zucchini loaf!

Calories Per Muffin- 60
Carbohydrates- 9 grams
Fat- 1 gram
Protein- 4 grams

Dark Chocolate Nut Butter Rice Crispy Treats--

I was actually an adult before I had a rice crispy treat. My mother was a lentil bean feeding hippie throw back when I was little. We did not have a lot of the junk food treats like Twinkies, ho hos or rice crispy treats. Different world out there today, less people prepare their kids snacks and more people purchase fast food. When I pack my kids lunches I always wonder if they will be looking over at what the other kids are eating and wish they could have it, too. I know I did, no one when they are little likes to be left out. Though--a lot of school peers loved to trade some of their food for my mothers Zucchini muffins--bonus for me!

Anyway, school is about to begin here in NH and with the foods schools are offering I try to make sure I have a variety of healthier choices at home to be packed into the lunch pail. This week we tried out some gluten free organic rice cakes. Now, I will admit just because it is organic does not make it healthy for the body. What it does do though is provide a better advantage to the body in processing the foods and allocating the nutrients to where they belong. our body is not looking at the artificially created food product and wondering just what the heck it should do with it. So--this is a good reason to even make treats organic. In this recipe we include the fats of peanut butter to fill the child up longer and of course help they remain focused at school. Slow down that food fuse to allow for a nice burn rather than an energy surge and a crash of fatigue 60 minutes after snack. I also used brown puffed rice cereal since it is gluten free and has more fiber.

Puffed Rice Bars
serves 16
3 cups Organic Puffed Rice Cereal
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
8 marshmallows OR 1/4 cup Marshmallow Fluff
1/2 cup raisins
1 ounce dark chocolate

Combined peanut butter and marshmallows and heat in a microwave for 2 minutes. Stir the mixture until smooth--you want to make sure the marshmallow has melted and melded with the peanut butter. Then add in the puffed rice and raisins--blending so the cereal is coated. When I did this it did not look at all like it would form bars, it looked like the cereal was barely coated at all but when you press this into your pan it will stick wonderfully--trust me!
So--press firmly into a pie plate or a 9x9 baking dish. Melt the chocolate in the microwave and spread evenly on top of the newly created treat and cut into even pieces before the chocolate cools. I made palm sized pieces, or 1.5"x1.5" which ended up being about 100 calories each.
My kids devoured these....DEVOURED--so I plan on making them on Sundays and quickly putting them into containers for the lunch bags so they won't be gone by Monday.

Per Serving
Calories- 98
Fat- 4 grams
Carbohydrates- 13 grams
Protein- 3 grams