Asherah's Gourmet Gluten-free Vegan Burger

Even though I advocate eating fresh whole foods, there are times when this busy chef is in a hurry and doesn't feel like cooking an entire meal, so I'm always on the lookout for new convenience foods that are vegan and gluten-free.  I had heard about a frozen burger made by Asherah's Gourmet that was both, and when I saw it at Whole Foods after a soul-sucking day of running errands in the rain, I decided to pick up a package and give it a try.  

This was an expensive endeavor.  At $9.99, that came to $2.50 for each of the four frozen patties, so I was expecting greatness for the investment.  The burgers are made with all organic ingredients, with quinoa, sweet potato and coconut flour being at the top.  This sounded like a perfect savory-sweet combination, with a little bit of richness thrown in to make it feel substantial.  The box promised "A taste good enough to live for," which convinced me to take the pricey plunge.

So I microwaved a patty.  And then I tasted it after it heated for 3 minutes.  In retrospect, I should've taken a photo, because what came out of the microwave was pretty much a circular pile of quinoa mush. It seems the only thing holding it together were the ice crystals.  As for taste, it was pretty much like mushy quinoa.  Not what I wanted for dinner.

Somewhat disappointed and frustrated yet nonetheless undeterred, I set out to augment this lackluster patty into something edible.  I had a big bunch of basil in my fridge which made for a quick pesto.  And I had some mushrooms that I decided to saute.  I made a bed of a slice of gluten-free bread and dressed some fresh garden greens with a simple Dijon vinaigrette on the side.  This managed to come together into something quite elegant, and the final detail of a squeeze of Sriracha sauce actually transformed the meal from mundane to mmmm... good.

For future reference, I'd recommend saving your money and spending 15 minutes or so to cook some quinoa, then dress it with the accoutrements as I have done here.  All in all, it took about 30 minutes to pull this together, which was about 27 minutes longer than I had intended to take preparing dinner.  But as a challenge to spark my creativity, it was worth it.  

Yesterday's lunch

I love it when leftovers taste this good.  Thursday night I scoured the fridge for anything that might come together with a little bit of magic and become dinner.  I found half a red pepper, tempeh, a few red potatoes and lettuce.  Not much to work with, and at first I considered throwing it all together and making some sort of hash.  Instead, I opted for something a little more creative.  And the payoff included a little extra to enjoy the next day.

The red potatoes were perfect for potato salad since I didn't have to peel them and they don't fall apart if you accidentally lose track of time and overcook them.  Which I always do.  Plus, the scallions growing in a pot on my deck added the perfect amount of freshness.  I sauteed diced red pepper with some onion, then mixed it together with crumbled tempeh, gluten-free breadcrumbs, tahini and various seasonings to make a good burger dough.  Then I panfried them to perfections.

Result:  Pan-fried Tempeh Burgers with Salsa, Red Bliss Potato Salad, and Greens.  Delish!