2013 - Page 43 of 44 - My Whole Food Life

Mushroom and Lentil Veggie Burger

January 13, 2013July 1, 2014 Melissa King 31 Comments

I just love veggie burgers! The store bought varieties are loaded with yucky stuff as you can read about in my Boca Burgers Exposed post. I am always looking for new ideas for veggie burgers and this recipe was inspired by a photo I saw on Pinterest. I told my husband about it and he came up with his own version so here it is.

It’s great having a man that can cook. He doesn’t do it much anymore, but when he does, it is always good. He actually came up with my Black Bean Veggie Burger recipe as well. These burgers are delicious! They would go really well with my White Bean Pesto spread on top. Yum!

Mushroom and Lentil Veggie Burger

Mushroom and Lentil Veggie Burger

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Prep Time 30 min Cook Time 20 min Serves 8 burgers adjust servings

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup green lentils
4 cups of water
2 T walnut oil
1 cup food processed mushrooms (about i pkg mushrooms)
1 cup bread crumbs (we used homemade bread crumbs made from Ezekiel bread)
1/2 red onion, chopped fine
1 flax egg
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sage
salt to taste

Instructions

In a pot, boil the lentils in water until soft.
Drain any left over water or let it boil off once soft.
In a pan add the lentils, oil and onion and let cook for about five minutes covered on medium heat.
Add mushrooms, garlic powder, sage, and salt.
Mix the ingredients and cover for about another 5 minutes.
Remove from heat and put in a bowl and let it cool off.
Once cool, add bread crumbs and flax egg and stir.
Once mixed, use a quarter cup measuring cup to spoon little burgers onto an oiled baking pan.
Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

by Melissa King

Recipe Notes

You can serve these immediately or refrigerate or even freeze for later. We got about 8 burgers. I was super stoked to discover that Food for Life makes sprouted wheat hamburger buns. That is what I used in the picture.

Jenny O Exposed

January 12, 2013March 19, 2013 Melissa King 19 Comments

This product caught my eye today in Target. I has always been hailed as a healthier choice. I had to see for myself.

Let’s see what’s in these.

Hydrolyzed corn protein is a hidden source of MSG. You can see that here. BHT and BHA are food additives that have been linked to cancer and abdominal problems. Natural flavoring is something I always avoid. Read this post to find out why. Lastly, Jenny O is owned by Hormel who payed a lot of money to insure that GMO labeling did not pass. I would stay away from this product. Applegate organic is a better option. If you want to see more harmful additives in processed foods, click here.

Coconut Strawberry Muffins

January 12, 2013July 22, 2014 Melissa King 14 Comments

My daughter has been requesting coconut trawberry muffins for a while now. Strawberries have been very expensive lately so it’s been quite some time since we had some. Well I was going through my freezer today and discovered a bag of frozen organic strawberries so I decided to try to make her some coconut strawberry muffins.

This recipe is very interesting. Since I have been doing my Budget Grocery Challenge, I have been unable to run to the store on a whim so I have had to make do with what I find in the pantry. This has forced me to be pretty creative. I am really glad this has happened, because it is opening my eyes to all kinds of different flours. If you are expecting a fluffy muffin these are not for you. They are pretty dense, but not in a bad way, I promise. They are almost the texture of brownies. In fact, next time, I will probably make them into brownies. After all, they are kid approved! 🙂

Coconut Strawberry Muffins

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Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 14 min

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/4 cup ground coconut or coconut flour
1/4 ww pastry flour
1 egg (I used a flax egg)
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1 T coconut oil
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sliced strawberries (I used frozen)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl.
In another bowl mix all the wet.
Add dry to wet.
Fold in the strawberries.
Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake in the oven for about 12-14 minutes.
Wait until they are completely cooled before removing from the pan.

by Melissa King

Lunchables Exposed

January 11, 2013July 1, 2013 Melissa King 41 Comments

These things are just gross. My daughter’s school has told us not to bring them to school. Not that I would anyway. Sadly, I know there are still people that buy these for their kids. I hope this post changes someone’s mind.

Let’s look at the very long list of ingredients. If you read the writing in blue at the top, it says “Made with Kraft American Cheese” and in small writing underneath that, it says “pasteurized prepared cheese product.” It’s not even cheese, but cheese product!

Just the one little cookie has 22 ingredients. Some nasty ones are: high fructose corn syrup, artificial flavor, processed sugar, canola and/or soybean oil, and soy lecithin.

The turkey, which should just be turkey, has some nasty ingredients in it as well. First I see carrageenan, which may be linked to cancer. I also see sodium nitrate which can raise your risk for heart disease. Further I see flavor (wth?), smoke flavor and natural and artificial flavor. Moving on to the cheese, which is not actually cheese, but cheese product. 14 ingredients just for the cheese!

Lastly, the crackers contain trans fats in the form of partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, soybean oil, sugar and more natural flavor!

One more thing, lunchables are made by Kraft who spent a lot of money to make sure GMO labeling did not pass. Probably because they really don’t want you to know the junk they put in their food! You can read a bit more about that here. You can get a Ziploc compartment container and make your own lunchables at home with better ingredients than these have.

Gluten Free Coconut Cookies

January 11, 2013December 14, 2014 Melissa King 37 Comments

For these Gluten Free Coconut Cookies, I was forced to do something a little different for me. I wanted to make a batch of cookies, but I ran out of spelt flour. So I had to make do with my hodge-podge of pantry ingredients. I am glad I did because these cookies came out delicious! Gluten free too!

Gluten Free Coconut Cookies

Gluten Free Coconut Cookies

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Prep Time 10 min Cook Time 14 min Serves 16 cookies adjust servings

Ingredients

1 cup gluten free rolled oats
1 cup almonds
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup Wholesome Sweeteners coconut sugar
1 flax egg
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground vanilla bean
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 T almond milk
Optional: 1/3 cup chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life
chips)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Blend the oats and almonds together until they are the consistency of flour. Works great in a Vitamix. Pour the mixture in a bowl.
Blend 1 cup shaved coconut into a fine consistency. What remains should equal about 1/2 cup.
Add the coconut, the coconut sugar and the brown rice flour to the almond/oat mixture.
In a small bowl, combine all the wet ingredients.
Add the wet to dry.
With wet hands, form dough into balls and place on lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart. The dough will be sticky.
Once all the dough is rolled into balls, you can add the chocolate chips to the tops of each ball.
Bake in the oven for about 12-14 minutes.
I got about 16 cookies. Not too many are left though. May be doing a second batch tomorrow!

by Melissa King

Recipe Notes

So now that I have caught the gluten free bug, what other gluten free cookies would you like to see? I am feeling inspired by this success!

18 Quick and Healthy Salad Ideas

January 10, 2013December 28, 2014 Melissa King 36 Comments

Since this is the new year and a lot of folks are trying to eat a bit healthier, I thought I would share all my healthy salad options in one big post. Since my husband just finished In Defense of Food, he decided to eat more salad. That gave me the idea to put together a post that included all the healthy salads from the blog. Hope you enjoy.

White Bean Salad