The host of our October 2011 (yes, the blog is in need of updating) was our youngest Veggie Dinner attendee, Makenna!
She is 16 years old and planned the menu and of course, we all assisted in the preparation. So, what was on the menu?
- Baked sweet potato fries
- Coleslaw
- Salad
- Black bean burgers
- Dump cake
This is a great go-to menu for all of those transitioning from a meat-heavy diet because it takes something familiar and turns it into delicious veggie goodness!
Salad
- 1 bag of mixed greens (no iceberg lettuce!)
- 1 English cucumber
- 1 purple onion (finely sliced)
- 1 avocado, cubed
-
2 roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup pitted kalamatta olives
Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl and toss. Serve with your favorite dressing.
Coleslaw
- 1/2 head of green cabbage, thinly sliced
- 1/2 head of purple cabbage, thinly sliced
- 2 large carrots, shredded
- 3/4 cups veganaise (add more or less depending on how creamy you want your coleslaw)
- 2 tbsp brown sugar (or to your taste)
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 2 tsp celery salt
- Freshly ground salt and pepper
Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl, mix until all veggies are coated.
Sweet Potato Fries
- 3 large sweet potatoes, cut into large wedges
- Coarse Salt
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- Ground Pepper
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Toss the sweet potato
wedges in a large mixing bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper until well coated. Place on a cooking sheet in the oven. Cook for ~30 minutes, or until done.
Veggie Burgers
This is the most labor-intensive part of the meal. You will want to cook your beans ahead of time, preferably in a crockpot overnight if you have one! Our veggie burger recipe came from the book Veggie Burgers Every Which Way. Our bean of choice was the ever so versatile black bean.
Black Beans
- 1 bag black beans (rinse and sort)
- 1 white onion, coarsely chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
-
seasoning salt
- cumin
- cayenne pepper
- salt
- pepper
In a crockpot combine beans with twice as much water. Add seasonings, garlic, and onions. Stir and put crockpot on low for 8 hours (while you sleep!)
Veggie Burgers (we doubled this entire recipe since we were feeding 8)
- 1 1/2 cup cooked beans
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley
- 2 eggs, beaten (we used Ener-G egg replacer)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan (for vegan burgers, you can remove this)
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- A squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- 3/4 cup toasted bread crumbs (more if needed)
- 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped *
- 1/2 yellow bell pepper, chopped *
- 1/2 purple onion, chopped *
- 2 tsp olive oil *
*custom addition not in the recipe book
Combine olive oil, chopped peppers, and onion in a saucepan; saute on medium heat for ~5 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375. In a mixing bowl, mash the beans using a potato masher. Fold in the eggs, parsley, Parmesan, mustard, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Fold in the bread crumbs, adding more if the mixture becomes too loose. Add sauteed vegetables and stir. Let sit for ~5-10 minutes to allow the bread crumbs to absorb moisture.
Shape the mixture into patties. In an oven-safe skillet or nonstick pan, heat the oil over medium heat. When hot, add the patties to cook on each side until brown. Transfer to a cooking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, until the burgers are firm and cooked through. These can be frozen for later!
Garnish
To top your veggie burgers, you can add your favorites. We added:
- Sliced avocados
- Tomato slices
- Sliced kosher dill pickles
- Spinach
- Mustard
Combine your toppings with your veggie burger on a whole wheat bun.
We won’t tell you how to make dump cake, it’s not good for you 🙂 but no one says you can’t Google it! Until next time…happy eating!
