Appetizers | ~Vegan Mommy Dee~

I hope everyone is doing well! We’re entering the holiday season already!!! Can you believe it? How are we in November already? For us Canadian’s we’ve already celebrated Thanksgiving and we have Halloween behind us as well now. For my friends in the USA Thanksgiving is approaching for you guys and all the goodies will soon be eaten.

As we head into a season of over consumption that tends to throw our health goals on the back burner. We attend social engagements and host parties for family and friends. This is a time of a whole load of “cheat days”! We can’t say no to all these comfort foods and the loving people who made them. It’s definitely a difficult time and will power is at an all time low.

I don’t like to say no to goodies during the holiday season but I do try to balance my diet on a whole. I will eat super clean and indulge on a few treats or calorie rich foods at parties. I feel like if over all your eating really healthy then it’s not terrible to enjoy the season fully.

One of the things that I’ve already started to do is make as much as possible homemade. Veggie burgers are a wonderfully easy lunch or dinner but boy do they pack in the calories for each little patty! I started thinking I should just avoid eating them during this time because they weren’t as healthy as I originally thought. Then I thought to myself hey wait, I can make my own and then I can control what’s in them! That decision was the best thing I’ve done in a long time. I’ve now created some pretty epic burgers now!

Below is my latest healthy burger recipe. It’s a Chickpea & Veggie burger that’s loaded with nutrition! No mystery ingredients in these healthy burgers. My burgers are made with whole foods and I use gluten free oats in my veggie burgers as well. If you follow a gluten free diet then I got you covered too. Hurray!

If you want to see me make these veggie burgers then check out my latest YouTube video. I’ll add a link below to my channel. If your not already Subscribed to my channel please consider doing so now. Please also share my videos with anyone you know that might find them helpful. I truly appreciate your support. I’ll be posting new healthy recipes this month that will be especially helpful during this holiday season. We all need a little help sometimes and I have your back. Together we can stay on track with our health fitness and wellness goals! We’ve got this! Here’s my recipe below, enjoy!

CHICKPEA & VEGGIE BURGERS

Ingredients:

– 2 cups canned chickpeas

– 2 cups mixed frozen veggies

– 1 cup cooked brown rice

– 1 cup oats flour

– 2 Tbsp. flaxmeal

– splash of coconut aminos

– 1 red bell pepper

– seasonings of choice. I used paprika, garlic, salt & pepper, and chili powder.

Method:

1. Process the chickpeas and pepper and then transfer them to a bowl.

2. Slightly process mixed cooked veggies & flaxmeal.

3. Add the veggies to the Chickpea mixture. Add seasonings & combine well.

4. Slowly add the oats to the mixture a little at a time. Mix well.

5. Place in fridge to set for 2 hour or at least 20 minutes if your in a hurry.

6. Place scoops of the mixture on a non stick cookie sheet or use parchment paper on the pan. Mold them into patties.

7. Bake at 375 for 25-30 minutes. Flip them half way through.

Enjoy!

Have a wonderful day everyone & upcoming week!

Health, Joy & Positive Vibes,

Debbie

~VeganMommyDee~

Ok these are seriously delicious!!! Mushrooms and garlic go together insanely well as we all know so I thought they would be great for this recipe. I’ve wanted to try working with phyllo for a long time but was too intimidated to. I finally tried yesterday for the 1st time and it actually went pretty darn well! I’ll be making these very often now! I’m also going to try cutting down on the amount of butter used next time I make them. Although I didn’t use an excessive amount of butter in my recipe I think I could probably cut it down even further without jeopardizing the taste.

I bet these would be great with other filling options as well. I plan on creating some other options soon. My youngest daughter is super picky with her veggies but does enjoy broccoli. I will be making a broccoli filling along with this wonderful mushroom mixture next time. There are so many possibilities and I plan on creating many different options!

This recipe would be fantastic served as an appetizer during this holiday season for those of you who are entertaining your friends & family. This will definitely be on our Christmas menu at our house. 🙂

Garlicky Mushroom Phyllo Triangles

You will need:

1 package of phyllo dough
About 2 tbsp’s. melted vegan butter
large sharp knife
parchment paper
1 baking pan/cookie sheet
1 package of mushrooms, chopped into small pieces
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
Himalayan pink salt and black pepper, to taste
small frying pan
1 tbsp. olive oil
small plate
Small pastry brush

Method:

Add the 1 tbsp. of olive oil to your pan and toss in the minced garlic into it. Sauté it for a minute on a medium/low heat setting.
Next add in your mushrooms and salt and pepper. Sauté them for about 5 minutes until softened at a medium heat. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 F and line the cookie/baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
Unroll your phyllo dough and using a sharp knife cut 2, approximately 10cm strips. Then you are going to cut each strip in half.
On the small plate your going to add 3-4 pieces of your phyllo squares and lightly brush a little bit of vegan butter on top. You only need a tiny bit of butter! Don’t over do it!
With a spoon scoop a bit of your mushroom mixture onto your phyllo piece. Then shape it into a triangle and seal it shut.
Transfer to your cookie sheet/baking pan. Continue to make more triangles using your phyllo and mushroom mixture.
Once your baking pan is full then lightly brush a tiny bit of the butter on top of each one.
Bake for approximately 18 minutes. Keep an eye on them as ovens vary in temperature.