Conservation Burgers

Written by Gena on January 31, 2010 - 57 Comments
Categories: Uncategorized

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Hi guys!

Thanks for showing veganism some love in the comments to my last post.

It’s Sunday. And what does that mean? It means food prep for the week to come. At some point I mean to detail for you exactly how I plan for the week ahead. But for now, I’ll give you an overview. No matter how busy I am, I always use weekends to:

  • Wash, spin, prep, and bag my greens
  • Prepare 2-3 salad dressings/sauces
  • Prepare one large soup and freeze half
  • Prepare almond milk
  • Make juice — both for morning drinking, and also to incorporate into various soups (ie, carrot-avocado bisque)

The rest of my food prep, for the most part, happens during the week.

There are some weeks, though, where I know I’ll be out or coming home late every night. This is one of those weeks. Anticipating a paucity of kitchen time, I’ll take as much advantage as possible of my Sunday afternoon to prepare food that’s fridge-stable for a few days. I happened to be editing like a madwoman today, which meant many hours in my apartment — all the better for patiently overseeing some food prep! On my agenda this afternoon:

Phew! What a tasty roundup.

My highlight of the day? The burgers. There are multitudes of raw burger recipes out there. Just do a simple search, and you’ll find infinite varieties, using all sorts of nut/seed bases. I’ve got my own little group of favorites, and I like to continually invent new combinations. But I always like to include carrot and celery in the base, and I like to add some parsley to the mix, too.

This particular batch of burgers captured up the spirit of my weekend aptly, since they were devised specifically to use up the dregs of my food prep. Two things I’m always sure to have on hand at the end of the weekend are almond meal (from almond milk) and juice pulp. I’ve blogged before about things I like to make with juice pulp; suffice is to say, I never like letting it go to waste. I have been known, though, to toss out my almond meal, which isn’t cool. The whole point of eating a mostly raw, plant based diet is to use up what nature gives us, and I like to think that a spirit of conservation animates my kitchen.

With that in mind, I came up with conservation burgers. Using almond and juice pulp as my base, I came up with little patties that aren’t so very different from my carrot falafel (without the Middle Eastern spices, of course). They’re super tasty and easy to prepare. I also like that they’re nut-based, but not nut-heavy; the finely ground almond meal takes second stage to the veggie pulp and fresh parsley, so the resulting burger is light and bright.

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Choosing Raw Conservation Burgers (makes 6 patties)

Ingredients

1 cup almond meal (leftover from almond milk prep)
1 1/2 tightly packed vegetable juice pulp (I used carrot/romaine/celery)
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Spike salt free seasoning (or substitute herbs you like)
1/4 – 1/2 tsp sea salt (use personal taste)

Procedure

Blend all ingredients but parsley in a food processor till well mixed. Add water as needed; mix should be moist, but firm. Add parsley at the end and pulse to incorporate.

Dehydrate patties at 115 degrees for 2-3 hours on each side, and enjoy!

Along with these, I took my very first stab at raw ketchup. Boy oh boy — this is a new winner!

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Raw Ketchup (yields one cup)

1 cup cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 heaping tbsp agave nectar
2 tbsp Bragg’s liquid aminos
1 heaping tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp water

Put all ingredients in a high speed blender and blend, starting on low and switching to high, until well blended.

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Yummy, no?

These burgers will (I suspect) keep for at least four days in the fridge, so I can’t wait to enjoy them at my desk for work lunches this week!

Waste not, want not. Hope this shows you how easy it is to do fun things with food prep odds and ends.

OK guys — enjoying the last bit of the Grammys before another busy week begins. Have a great night!

xo

57 Comments

Testimonials

–Lyn D., Maryland
Before I started working with Gena, I wasn’t sure whether it would be worth it, since I knew what I “should” be doing. Her counseling, however, turned out to be a key factor in my success.

Not only does she have great advice when I am struggling, but her realistic approach helped me make major changes despite having no time and limited funds. Her recipes and ideas are for real people with lives beyond their diets, and they are great. Gena is down to earth and non-judgmental. She strikes a great balance between encouraging me to go a little father but to keep things in perspective and have fun with the process.

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FAQ

So where do you get your protein?
Ah, the million dollar question. I know that my fellow raw foodists are uttering a collective sigh of frustration with me. But it’s inevitable, so here goes:

I get my protein from a wide array of vegetables, sea vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes. The notion that we need to supplement our diet with large amounts of protein, especially in the form of animal products, is mistaken: our bodies are capable of assembling amino acids from all of the foods we eat and building the “complete proteins” that we’ve all been told we need to get in a single sitting.

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Recommendations

Juicer (average $50.00 - $500.00)
If you’re like me, and juicing is a crucial part of your lifestyle, then the cost of a juicer will absolutely be worth it! It will buy itself back again and again and again. The juicer I recommend is the Breville Two-Speed Juice Fountain Plus. It’s the only juicer I’ve ever owned, and it has never let me down. I recommend you invest in a juicer that has at least this level of performance in order to juice leafy greens.

Some of you have asked me whether it’s wiser to buy a juicer or a Vitamix.

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