The term “veggie burgers” have become an oxymoron these days; veggie burgers have just about everything but vegetables in them. Soy protein, artificial flavors, and wheat gluten—yes. But veggies? Nope. They hardly live up to the health halo surrounding them.

The best thing you can do is make your own. It’s cheaper, healthier, and the possibilities for ingredients are endless. The first time I made these was a complete accident of stir-fry gone wrong. I ended up liking them so much that I made them again. The brown rice makes these filling while the vegetables add a fresh crunch—way better than anything you’ll find in the freezer aisle. 

You can get fresh stir-fry vegetables in a package in the produce department, but I like getting the frozen vegetable packs which are usually cheaper and stay fresh until you use them.

Asian Stir-Fry Rice And Veggie Burgers

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 50 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 10 burgers):

• 2 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 cup stir-fry vegetables, steamed
• 2-3 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 X-large or 3 medium eggs

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients until the eggs are well beaten and incorporated.
3. Line or grease a baking tray. With a large utensil, make dense patties on the tray with about 1/3 cup of rice mixture roughly an inch apart from one another.
4. Bake for 25 minutes on one side, flip, and bake for another 25 minutes. The patties should be cooked enough after 25 minutes that they hold together when you flip them to cook the other side.
5. Remove from the oven and let the patties cool. When ready to eat, heat them up in a microwave, pan, or on a grill. You can freeze extra patties to thaw later.

Since these have an untraditional flavor to begin with, I’d recommend getting untraditional with the condiments, too. Pineapple relish and kimchi, anyone?

It’s really hard to get good gluten-free vegetarian food at most Asian restaurants. Whenever I do find it, it’s usually in the form of fried tofu. Don’t get me wrong—I do love getting golden and greasy tofu now and again, especially when someone else is making it. But it’s a heavy thing to eat again and again.

This tofu has a texture closure to fried tofu than any baked tofu I’ve ever had thanks to the corn starch while still not being overly salty or heavy. You can cook a big pot of brown rice and stir fry some vegetables and have your own take-out meal at home without the take-out.

To make this gluten-free, make sure to use a gluten-free tamari in place of the soy sauce. You can also substitute tapioca starch in place of the corn starch and agave for the honey.

Baked Sesame Tofu

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 2 servings):

• 1 block extra firm tofu
• 3 Tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 Tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 1 Tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1/2 Tablespoon rice vinegar
• 1/2 Tablespoon corn starch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Slice the tofu into even segments
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a small bowl.
4. One at a time, dip the pieces of tofu in the sauce and lay them out on a non-stick baking surface. Pour any remaining sauce on top of the tofu.
5. Bake for 40 minutes until the outside is golden and the edges brown. Turn once halfway through baking.
6. Serve hot with rice and vegetables and extra soy sauce.

Thanks for sticking with me the past couple of weeks. I’ve moved home and (almost) unpacked and finally can get back to cooking and food blogging. And did I mention how nice it is to have a full kitchen again? It’s very nice.

One of the last things I ate before I moved was a frozen Amy’s rice macaroni and cheese. Blog-worthy? No. But incredibly delicious. I’d forgotten how good macaroni and cheese could be. Naturally I had it on the brain as soon as I got home and decided to make it almost immediately.

Trader Joe’s corn pasta is one of the few gluten-free pastas I like; you can’t even tell from the taste or texture that it’s gluten-free. It’s that good. Nutritionally, it’s not the best. But if you’re trying to win over a picky eater—gluten-free or not—it’s a safe bet.

This cheese sauce is made with cashews so it’s not only dairy-free but also soy-free. The nuts also add fiber and protein to the dish. You could substitute 3 Tablespoons of cashew butter in a pinch if that’s what you have on hand.

Gluten-Free Vegan Mac N’ Cheese

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 2 servings):

• 3/4 cup gluten-free macaroni
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons raw cashews
• 7 Tablespoons(or a scant 1/2 cup) water
• 2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric(for color only)
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• Pepper and basil for garnish

Method:

1. Prepare the macaroni by submerging it in salt water and boiling for 8-10 minutes. Undercook the macaroni slightly.
2. While the macaroni cooks, make the cheese sauce by blending the cashews in 2-3 Tablespoons of water in a food processor.
3. Once the cashews are pureed smoothly, add the rest of the water and all of the spices and seasonings. Continue blending until well-mixed.
4. Drain the macaroni from the water and divide it between two small ramekins. Pour the cheese sauce on top evenly.
5. Broil at 400 degrees for 5 minutes until the top starts to brown.
6. Garnish with cracked pepper and chiffonade basil. Serve hot.

The basil and pepper help to lighten up the flavor, since no one wants a heavy mac n’ cheese dish in the Summer. The healthy fats in the sauce fill you up for hours and yet taste wholly satisfying. It’s not quite as easy as a frozen meal but well worth the effort.

It always really surprises me when I find out people I know in real life read my blog; I’m not sure why since I have it connected to all my social media accounts, but still it does, and the support is always amazing.

One thing I almost always get asked by friends is where do the recipes come from? There are a whole slew of answers. Sometimes they just pop into my head; other times I’ll pass over one online that I can’t ignore. Over the weekend Whole Foods tweeted their quinoa, mushrooms and peas with miso from the Whole Foods recipe blog and for once I had all the ingredients on hand and knew I had to make it.

Miso is a paste made out of fermented soybeans. It’s available in most grocery stores. A container will last you months and months and it can be used in sauces and soups.

Mushroom Miso Quinoa(adapted from this recipe)

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry quinoa or 2 cups cooked
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 3/4 cup frozen peas
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 Tablespoons white miso
• Juice and zest from 1/2 an orange
• 1/2 Tablespoon fresh ginger
• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil

Method:

1. Cook the quinoa according to box directions.
2. While the quinoa cooks, combine the rest of the ingredients in a large pan and mix over the heat.
3. Toss over medium heat until the vegetables have cooked through and the liquid mostly evaporates.
4. Pour the vegetables into the cooked quinoa and mix thoroughly. Serve hot or cold as leftovers.

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you probably know that I love quinoa, have for a long time, and certainly don’t need to be “converted” to it. But when I saw Adam’s Quinoa Converter recipe(and hilarious cartoon), I knew I wanted to give that recipe a try because it just looked so darn good.

I’ve made quinoa for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don’t understand how you couldn’t love it. Sure, it’s plain; that just makes it easier to add other flavors to spice it up. And yes, it is something of a “health food” food; Adam, if you’re reading this then you can have a laugh over the fact that I made this after coming home from yoga.

I only made a few changes to the recipe. I used 2 Tablespoons each of apple cider vinegar and olive oil for the vinegar and oil listed in the recipe to cut down on the fat. And instead of the fresh parsley I used about 2 Tablespoons of dried Herbes de Provence.

This reminded me a lot of tuna salad, which I used to love. I find vegetarian/vegan “tuna” salads are usually hit or miss, and this was definitely a hit. Swapping in mayo for the oil next time wouldn’t be a bad improvisation.

This was pretty damn delicious. Every time we have relatives over I usually make my vegan quinoa stuffing; now I have a new recipe to work into the rotation. If you still need convincing to try quinoa, try this recipe.