Vegan Eggplant Burgers

My cousin and my new weekly ritual is to try a new vegan recipe and blog about it.

This weeks edition was comprised of delicious eggplant burgers and delicious Trader Joes sweet potato fries.


INGREDIENTS
1 large eggplant
3/4 cup whole grain hot cereal with flaxseed
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons arrowroot
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 small onion, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic cloves, minced
1 cup cooked canned lentils
1/2 teaspoon agave nectar



Preheat oven to 425 F and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Wash and cut off the top of the eggplant, cut in half lengthwise and place cut-sides down on the baking sheet. Bake for about 30 minutes, you should be able to see the eggplant beginning to sink into itself and should be tender to the touch.  (NOTE: Leave the oven on at 425 as you will be needing it again)





While the eggplant is baking, measure out the dry ingredients (hot cereal, curry, cumin, coriander, paprika, arrowroot and salt) and mix into a large mixing bowl.




 You can also mince and chop the garlic and onion but do not add to the dry mix!



Once the eggplant is tender, remove from the over while still on the parchment paper and place in a dish to cool. We stuck it in the freezer for about 10 minutes to expedite the cooling. Once cooled, the skin should easily peel away from the eggplant. Discard the peels and place the eggplant in a food processor until pureed together.




Mix in the purred eggplant with the dry ingredients and then add the lentils, garlic, onions and agave nectar. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, drizzle a little grapeseed oil and spread around (hot pan, cold oil).











Wet your hands, as the mixture will be sticky, and form the mix into patties about the size of regular hamburgers.





Place a few at a time in the pan to lightly brown on both side (about 3-4 minutes on each side).






Once browned, place on the lined baking sheet. After all patties are on the sheet, bake for 20 minutes to cook the burgers through.

We served ours in a whole grain pita with fresh tomatoes from my mom's garden but you can serve yours to suit your taste.

San Fran

Although it was about 30 degrees colder than it was in LA, San Francisco was an amazing city. My 2 favorite aspects were the scenery and the food! Went to an incredible vegan restaurant called Herbivore http://www.herbivorerestaurant.com/ and if anyone knows of a restaurant like this in LA please let me know!

Also went down Lombard Street (twice), went to the top of Coit Tower, Pier 39, rode the trolley, walked through Chinatown, even checked out the Giants stadium! I definitely want to go back soon, but next time I take a trip up north I also want to check out an amazing organization called Farm Sanctuary http://www.farmsanctuary.org/ . They are working to protect farm animals from cruelty and they have farm up near Orland. It's about another 3 hours from San Francisco but the drive would be worth it!

Date Rape Drug Back on the Market?

As said in Hangover
- "I always wondered why they were called roofies. Cause you're more likely to end up on the floor than the roof. They should call em groundies."
- "Or rapies."

Back in 2000, Gamma-Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB) was taken off the market because creepers were using it as a date-rape drug. Well a pharmaceutical company is re-branding the drug Rekinla and hoping to get the FDA approval for it to be prescribed to patients suffering from fybromyalgia. Although they have stated there will be strict guidelines and regulations as to who can prescribe and who can be prescribed to, it is still a risky drug to release back into the market.


http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/08/18/129282083/drug-made-infamous-by-date-rapes-gets-second-look-for-fibromyalgia

Blessing in Disguise

Due to the president's visit the other day, I took an alternate route to work to avoid the traffic caused by his motorcade on the 405. Amidst admiring the scenery on my drive over Topanga Canyon to PCH I came across a couple signs I had to check out:

The first is the 2010 Topanga Film Festival. It starts tomorrow and runs through Sunday the 22nd. They have a screening room online that gives you a taste of what you could see at the festival. Their website is: http://topangafilmfestival.com/
They offer complete festival passes or individual tickets.

The second is The Will Geer Theatricum Botamicum. They are currently putting on performances of two Shakespeare favorites, A Midsummer's Night Dream and Hamlet, The Three Musketeers (a classic), as well as two others. Their website is:
http://www.theatricum.com/

I definitely am going to try to get down to both of these this month!