Quick Dinner - Vegan Burger

When I'm on the go and don't have time to cook, or when it's too hot outside to even consider turning on the stove, I throw together a burger. It's so quick and easy to make, I quite literally, throw it all together and eat in about 5 minutes.

Take two patties of your favourite veggie burger. You could also use meat patties if you wish. Heat patties as per package directions. Top one patty with whatever condiments suit your fancy. I used ketchup, mustard, red onion, tomato, spinach and spicy dill pickles. Top it off with the other patty.

There you have it. An easy, quick and tasty meal. Amy's Gluten Free Sonoma Veggie Burger's are gluten, soy and dairy free and work great for this. If you are okay with eating soy and gluten you can also try Yves Veggie Burgers. They are good also.

The only complaint about this concoction is the mess! This one requires a knife and fork. :)

Tropical BBQ Chicken & Mango Salsa

Excuse the crappy cell phone picture.

Trying to eat more protein and veggies can be very boring, especially when one is too busy to get creative and there isn't much time to prepare a meal. This recipe is a modified version of the "Caribbean Chicken" recipe from The Eat Clean Diet: Recharged. It's very tasty, easy to make and can be served in many ways. I cook a few chicken breasts at a time and save them for lunches and even snacks throughout the week.

Ingredients:

- 1 orange

- 1 lime

- 1 tbsp agave nectar

- 1 tbsp sucanat

- 1 tbsp minced ginger

- 4 gloves garlic, minced

- pinch ground cinnamon

- pinch ground nutmeg

- 1 tsp hot sauce of your choice

- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

- 1 tbsp ketchup

Directions:

1. Remove the zest from the lime and orange, setting aside for later use, then juice each fruit.

2. Add juice, agave, sucanat, ginger, garlic, cinnamon and nutmeg to a jar and shake well.

3. Place chicken in a shallow dish. Pour marinade over top. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

4. When ready to cook, remove from marinade and place chicken in grill pan or over BBQ until cooked through.

5. While chicken is cooking, pour marinade into a small sauce pan with citrus zest and heat over medium-high heat. Boil until sauce has reduced slightly. Lower heat and add ketchup. Bring to a boil again and boil for 5 minutes.

6. Pour sauce through a fine mesh strainer, using the back of a spatula to squeeze out the liquid. Discard the solids.

7. Once chicken is cooked, remove from grill and baste with the strained sauce.

Eat hot off the grill topped with mango salsa and grilled veggies, or slice and serve warm or cold over spinach salad. Top your salad with the left over Tropical BBQ sauce.

For an easy Mango Salsa, chop 1 fresh mango, 1/2 a small red onion and 1 handful of fresh cilantro. Toss together in a bowl with lime juice, salt, pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes or hot sauce.

Thai Chicken Burgers with Marinated Cucumber Salad

Another of my absolute faves. Every once in a while I will make a big batch of these burgers, wrap them individually and freeze them for "quick meals". The burgers are also good broken up and spread over top of salad then topped with peanut sauce.

Thai Chicken Burgers:

1 1/2 lb ground chicken
1 tbsp peanut oil
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
1 large shallot (or 2 small), minced
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 Thai chili, diced or 1 tsp hot chili sauce (or more to suit your spice tastes)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sucanat
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs (optional)
Enough Whole Wheat buns to serve your group
Bunch fresh cilantro leaves
sliced red cabbage or pre-packaged coleslaw mix
peanut sauce

1. Mix all patty ingredients (chicken through to bread crumbs) together in a bowl. Use hands to mix well so all seasonings are spread throughout.

2. Form mixture into burger size patties. Mixture will make 6-10 patties, depending on size.

3. Grill burgers over medium-high heat for approximately 5 minutes per side or until cooked through. According to 10 cent's Internal Temperature Chart, the internal temperature of your ground chicken patties should read 160-165 degrees when ready.

4. To assemble, place a patty on each bun. Spread peanut sauce over patty. Top with cabbage (or coleslaw) and fresh cilantro leaves.

Marinated Cucumber Salad:

1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp agave syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 English cucumber, sliced very thin
1/2 red onion, sliced very thin
1/4 Thai red chili pepper (optional)

1. Combine vinegar, water, salt and agave syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat.

2. Cook until boiling then set aside to cool.

3. Place sliced cucumber, onion and chili pepper in a bowl. Pour vinegar over top of vegetables.

4. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

5. Using a slotted spoon, scoop vegetables onto plate. Top with course fresh ground pepper.

Note: Also pictured is a little dish of Thai Peanuty Coleslaw. No recipe here. I had some pre-packaged broccoli slaw on hand and mixed it together with some peanut sauce, chopped peanuts and diced Thai chilies. Very easy. very delicious.

Variation: Skip the burger and make Thai Chicken Meatballs instead!

Spicy Asian Chicken Drum Sticks

I've been craving chicken wings. I hate chicken wings. Actually, I don't hate chicken wings. I hate eating meat off the bone, especially in public. But since wings are most often eaten in pubs, I pretend to hate chicken wings. I never order them. I never eat them. So why the heck am I craving chicken wings?

I decided to give in to my craving and re-invent my Dad's famous Asian style chicken wings. My Dad is an excellent cook and specializes in Chinese cooking. He's famous among dozens for his cooking skills.

For this recipe I used chicken drum sticks rather than wings - full size ones, not those drummettes, but you could use drummettes too. I also removed the skin. I test baked a batch, some with skin and some without and I found the "without skin" variety turned out better. Plus you save on the fat scale by removing the skin.

This recipe makes enough marinade for 6 large drum sticks (serves 2-3), or 1-2 lbs of drummettes. Double your marinade for more.



Marinade:

1 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp cooking sake or rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp honey
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced (about 2 inch piece of ginger)
2 tsp Thai garlic chili sauce
1 Thai red chili, seeded and diced fine (optional)

1. Combine marinade ingredients in a small bowl and mix well.

2. Remove the skin from your chicken drum sticks.

3. Add the drum sticks to a large zip lock bag.

4. Pour the marinade over top of the drum sticks.

5. Place the zip lock bag in the fridge for at least 1 hour. The longer the better. I marinaded mine for about 3 hours. Every once in a while shake the bag & massage the marinade into the chicken drum sticks to ensure they are well coated (I did this twice).

6. When ready to cook the chicken, pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees.

7. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Place chicken drum sticks on the foil. Discard the bag of marinade.

8. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes then turn the drum sticks. Bake for another 15-20 minutes or until a safe internal temperature is reached. I cooked my large drums for 35 mins.

9. Remove the drums from the oven. Baste with more reserved sauce and place on a serving dish. Finish by sprinkling with chopped green onion.

They're good cold too so pack up your drum sticks and go on a picnic!


A Note About Wine:

I paired my chicken with a crisp and fruity Gewurztraminer. I picked it up from Summerhill Pyramid Winery while I was in Kelowna a couple months ago. It was the perfect wine for this spicy and flavourful chicken, although a Riesling would have been nice too.