healthy no-waste veggie burgers

I had a favourite brand of vegetarian burgers that I’ve been buying since we moved here - Woolworths’ Macro Vegetable and Chickpea burgers. $4 for a pack of four. A delicious bargain.

Since the COVID-19 chaos kicked off, these burgers have been nowhere to be seen in any of Hobart’s Woolworths. They may well still be available on the mainland - perhaps Tasmania simply doesn’t have the vegetarian population to justify shipping them down! And let’s face it, for the last five months, I’ve just been grateful that most of my preferred items have been available. Veggie burgers are easy enough to make from scratch!

In constant pursuit of my no-waste policy, and Tom’s adoration of our “burger and chips night”, an alternative burger was created from leftover cooked brown rice, vegetables and a can of black beans. They are, I am not exaggerating, the *best* burger I have ever made at home. Add all the fixins, a pile of golden oven-cooked chips and you’ll wonder why you’d ever bother going out for dinner at all. Which, let’s face it, many people cannot at the moment. This burger is for all of you.

No-waste veggie burgers

Makes at least 12, depending on size

350g leftover vegetables (I used frozen mixed vegetables defrosted in a little boiling water then drained)
500g leftover cooked rice
1 x 420g can black beans, drained
100g fresh breadcrumbs
3 tablespoons wholemeal plain flour
2 tablespoons garlic powder
Fresh herbs, as much as you like (I used basil, parsley, mint, rosemary and thyme)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

It couldn’t be simpler. Whack everything in a food processor, blitz until the mixture is pureed and the consistency of mince. You shouldn’t need to add any liquid at all, but you can add a splash of water or the bean liquid if it’s too dry and not coming together.

Wet your hands slightly and scoop out handfuls of the mixture and shape into patties. I use my egg rings to get them a fairly uniform shape and size (just spray the insides with cooking spray first).

You can either grill them straight away (if so, I would dust lightly with a little flour, depending on how wet the mixture is) or do what I do and freeze them in a large container with a layer of baking paper between them. I got 14 out of this mixture - two we ate straight away and I froze the remaining 12.

I cook them from frozen in a super hot oven (about 220 C), with the chips. The first side gets 20 minutes, then I take them out of the oven, flip them over and put them back in for 15 minutes. For the last five minutes, I usually put some cheese on top to melt and put them back in the oven for five minutes, together with the brioche buns (which I’ve usually had defrosting most of the day) to warm up.

This method gives the burger a nice crunchy exterior but the inside remains moist. I haven’t tried them on a barbecue yet but summer is just around the corner! I will report back.

“All the fixins?” I usually ask Tom at this point.

“Of course,” he responds.

So our burger fixins are - mayo, whatever relish or chutney I have open (this week it was the fiery apricot chutney I made in February), mustard, sauerkraut, baby spinach or rocket (or any salad leaves), pickled tomatoes, pickled chillies and a bit of basil pesto if there’s any kicking about. All piled on top of the burger in a (storebought) brioche bun. Sounds like a strange mixture but it’s all very delicious!

Enjoy!

no-waste lockdown meal plan, week 2

Glad you enjoyed my lockdown meal planning suggestions! I know it’s a scary time for a lot of us. I say let’s try and find comfort where we can and if that’s in cooking, enjoying your food and learning to make your own sourdough or yoghurt or whatever you fancy, then I say go for it. We’re all coping as best we can.

As promised, here is this week’s plan (subject to change, naturally!) and some encouragement to use this time to nourish yourself and your family, make the most of what you have already, and waste as little as possible.

Have a look at your fridge, freezer and cupboards
We have to minimise trips to the supermarket at the moment, so it makes sense to use what you have at home before venturing out to get more. Scan your fridge, pantry and freezer and see what ingredients you have already. You could even log it all in a spreadsheet and update it as you buy or use things if that’s helpful. That’s what I’m doing, but 1) that’s my project management training and 2) I kind of like taking things to the extreme!

Make a list of meals you can make
Once you know what you have in, make a list of all the meals you can think of using the ingredients you have. This is a lot of fun. You could also write down a list of all your (and partner/family’s, if you’re cooking for others too) favourite meals and see which ones you have the ingredients in for - it might be more than you think, or you could make some substitutes (grate halloumi instead of parmesan, for example).

Make a plan
Once you have your list of dishes, organise them into a week’s worth of lunches and dinners, prioritising using up the perishable items first like fresh vegetables and fruit, already-opened dairy and protein, half-empty jars of pastes/sauces in the fridge, that kind of thing.

Be adaptable and flexible
I anticipate that my meal plan might have a few switches as the week progresses. That’s cool! I think one of the best things we can be right now is flexible and roll with things, day by day.

What about breakfast?
Breakfast is probably the meal that has changed the most for me these past few weeks.

About a month ago, I stopped having a big smoothie for breakfast, which I used to do at least three times a week, if not more. I realised that, while it was a very nutritious breakfast, with the amount of fruit, almond milk, oats, peanut butter, etc I was putting in it, it was far more calorie-dense than I needed. And of course, with everything that has happened, I’m now keen to use oats, fruit, milk and other smoothie ingredients in other ways, to make them stretch further.

So our breakfasts now are pretty simple - porridge (which I make a little extra of, to make porridge bread); toast (mostly aforementioned porridge bread, with butter and Vegemite, butter and jam, ricotta and jam; or pesto and pickled tomatoes for something more substantial); or a small bowl of plain Greek yoghurt, if we want something light. I often swirl in a spoonful of homemade apple butter into the yoghurt, which is sublime.

On with the show!

Here’s this week’s plan for me and Tom. I will update with links to recipes as I make/photograph them!

Sunday 5/4
Lunch: Zucchini and butterbean soup + bread
Dinner: Roast pumpkin pizza

Monday 6/4
Lunch: Zucchini and butterbean soup + avocado toast
Dinner: Shepherd’s pie + broccoli

Tuesday 7/4
Lunch: Pumpkin and feta toasties
Dinner: Chickpea saag + rice

Wednesday 8/4
Lunch: Chickpea saag leftovers made into soup + bread
Dinner: Pumpkin, broccoli and silverbeet risotto

Thursday 9/4
Lunch: Pickled tomato and cheese toasties
Dinner: Pasta with rich chickpea sauce (adapt this recipe)

Friday 10/4
Lunch: Baked potato with beans and spinach
Dinner: Veggie burger, salad + chips

Saturday 11/4
Lunch: Poached eggs on sourdough avocado toast
Dinner: Eggplant, tomato and ricotta bake + green beans

I’m planning a lovely roast for Easter lunch on Sunday - but am not sure which nuts I have in for the traditional nut roast. That should be a fun experiment!

What about you? What’s on your meal plan this week?

lockdown meal planning

Fresh food is still plentiful. Hashtag grateful.

Life has changed a great deal for most of us over the past month.

The act of popping to the supermarket, knowing you would be able to find exactly what you need and purchase it in whatever quantity you desired, and knowing if you ran out of something you could easily replace it, feels like a long time ago.

Let’s be honest, it was a privileged and fortunate time.

We have to adapt to our new circumstances, given that the current way of things is probably how life will be for the foreseeable future.

Yet, every time I have braved the local food shop (or Woolworths or Coles), I have been comforted by the fact that there is still plenty of fresh produce available. You might not be able to get tinned tomatoes, but there are still plenty of fresh ones, as far as I can see. Friends and neighbours have been lavishing their excess produce on me, in exchange for some of what I make with it. And I’m learning to be flexible too. If I can’t get red lentils, I buy yellow split peas instead.

I don’t think we’ve had this varied and interesting a diet for some time. As a result, I’m enjoying cooking, preparing food and eating it more than ever. I can’t remember the last time I planned every meal with such care and thought, determined to make the most of what I had. It has been a welcome distraction and helped me feel focused and purposeful.

It’s also ensuring we use what we already have in, preventing any unnecessary trips to the supermarket. I was as guilty as the next person of picking up bits and pieces at least once a week, even when I had plenty already at home. Now that I plan each meal, I’m minimising waste and ensuring everything is used.

I hope this is a permanent change in my habits, whatever happens.

So, what are you cooking right now?

What other people cook, and their favourite standby pantry dinners, have always intrigued me, and never more so now. It gives me new ideas and encourages me to try different things.

So I thought I’d tell you what we’ve been eating this past week, and tomorrow I’ll post what my plan is for this coming week. Please join in!

As Tom and I are both working from home now, we’re enjoying all our meals together so I’m planning lunches as well.

I made a list of all the meals we have ingredients for and then made a plan based on what needed to be used up first (fresh vegetables, already opened dairy/tofu/pastes, leftovers). We have a small vegetable garden still producing ample silverbeet and zucchini (though I suspect the latter’s reign is coming to an end).

I am also making bread every few days. I’m not sure what we’ll do if we run out of flour! But we have plenty for now.

Phil’s No Waste Lockdown Meal Plan

Sunday 29/3
Lunch: Veggie burger
Dinner: Tomato, coconut and silverbeet dhal + rice

Monday 30/3
Lunch: Leftover dhal turned into soup + bread
Dinner: Tofu noodle stir fry 

Tuesday 31/3
Lunch: Leftovers fried rice (rice from Sunday, tofu from Monday, with greens, soy sauce, chilli)
Dinner: No Waste Buddha Bowl

Wednesday 1/4
Lunch: Silverbeet, lemon and risoni soup + bread
Dinner: Zucchini slice 

Thursday 2/4
Lunch: Leftover soup and zucchini slice
Dinner: Jacket potato, beans, spinach

Friday 3/4
Lunch: Zucchini slice
Dinner: Silverbeet and ricotta cannelloni

Saturday 4/4
Lunch: Haloumi and fried egg rolls
Dinner: Leftover cannelloni + green veg

I don’t know about you, but cooking has been something wonderful to focus on these past few weeks. It’s helped quieten and focus my mind. I waste nothing, I think before I use anything, and value my food in a completely different way than I used to. I hope that seeing what I’ve been up to inspires you to do the same.

no waste buddha bowl

This is more of a suggestion than a recipe but I’m finding Buddha bowls like this, where you assemble a number of savoury things you have on hand or need to use up, are very useful in minimising food waste and also absolutely delicious.

Here’s how I made the one in the picture:

• Grains/carb: use any leftover cooked rice, quinoa, lentils, beans, etc. I made 100g couscous (50g per person) and put in some harissa seasoning and finely chopped silverbeet leaves in with the boiling water. Left for 15 minutes with a lid on, come back and fluff it up with a fork. Yum!

• Protein: Chickpeas, egg, tofu, tempeh, or whatever you’ve got on hand. I had two chickpea burgers that needed to be eaten (they had already been defrosted from a pack of 4) so they were grilled and chopped up.

• Ferment: Kimchi, sauerkraut, or some kind of pickles, for interest and gut health. I used some pickled tomatoes that I made last week, which are sensational. I got the recipe from Elly Curshen’s Green. This is what I plan to do with all cherry tomatoes that enter my house from now on.

• Vegetables: Whatever fresh vegetables you have to use up, throw them in. And get creative! You can leave them raw or find an interesting way to cook them. I had a zucchini (of course! Plus flowers) and two small potatoes. I cut the zucchini into thick slices and the potatoes into thin slices, and roasted them all together with cooking spray and some flavoured salt. OMG. Not all the slices made it into the bowls, let’s put it that way!

• Fresh herbs: if you have any to hand. Basil, thyme, dill, parsley, coriander - any of the soft herbs work well here. Avoid anything like sage and rosemary, unless you’re going to cook them with the vegetables.

• Dip/sauce/dressing: Pesto, hummus, tzatziki, tahini, mashed avocado….whatever you have or like. My friend very kindly shared some kale, walnut and basil pesto she made and dropped it on our doorstep, so I was keen to use that.

• Finally: I squeezed a lemon wedge over each bowl and ground some pepper over the top. There might have been a bit of pickled chilli put on my bowl too.

Mindful, conscious, no-waste eating never tasted so good!

zucchini flatbread

In a bid to waste nothing and make the most of my zucchini bounty, I came up with this dish at the weekend, faced with a lone multigrain wrap and a zucchini I had accidentally mandolined rather than grated in the food processor (I’d put the blade on the wrong way!).

It was so delicious! Tom and I shared this one but I will definitely make us one each next time. The recipe is easily doubled, tripled or quadrupled depending on how many flatbreads you have to use.

Zucchini flatbread

Makes one, for two to (reluctantly) share

1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced or mandolined
1 wrap or large pitta bread
2-3 tablespoons ricotta, pesto, cottage cheese or thick Greek yoghurt (I used ricotta)
1 small red chilli, finely chopped or a pinch of dried chilli flakes
A handful of fresh thyme leaves
A handful of grated cheese of your choice (I used ready-grated Parmesan)

Spread the ricotta across the base of the wrap. Layer the zucchini slices on top in concentric circles. Scatter with thyme, chilli and cheese. If you have a zucchini flower from the garden, put that in the middle too for that cheffy touch. Grind some black pepper over the top, if you like.

Prior to going into the oven! I thought it looked rather beautiful.

Bake for 5-8 minutes in a hot oven (check after 5, depending on the thickness of the wrap or pitta bread) until golden and bubbling. Allow to cool slightly, then cut into wedges as you would a pizza, and devour.