Green Lentil Fritters

A few weeks ago I was trying to find something easy to make for dinner without having to run to the store- it was the end of the week and our fridge was looking pretty bleak. I wanted to make something with lentils and I found an easy recipe for green lentil Ethiopian stew (I will share this recipe another day - I was missing a few herbs so I want to try making it again with all the right ingredients). I had some extra cooked lentils left over and decided to make some quick lentil fritters with them! These are really simple to make, taste great and are really versatile. We ate them with the stew, but they would be great as snack, and even better in a pita with veggies and hummus. They are also vegan and gluten free!

What you need: 
1 cup and 1/4 cup cooked green lentils
1/2 onion
2 cloves or garlic
Spices - whichever ones you like - I used salt and pepper, hot chillies and cumin
Olive or coconut oil

Directions: 
Blend up the 1 cup of green lentils, with the onion and garlic in a blender or food processor, combine blended lentils with 1/4 cup unblended lentils, and spices. Heat oil in pan, form fritters and fry them in oil until golden brown on each side.

Enjoy!
-M

The Ethiopian stew we ate ours with! 

Easy Wrap Pizzas

I was soo hungry today when I got home from school and I looked in the fridge and saw lots of wonderful things- but nothing that I could quickly warm up and eat. So I decided to make one of my favourite quick lunches- tortilla wrap pizzas- they are really easy, as long as you have a few ingredients they will take you less than a half hour!

What you will need:

tortialla wraps- we keep ours in the freezer so we always have them on hand

Mozarella cheese

Veggies- I used red cabbage, onion and green pepper

Italian sausaage - or any meat (leftovers would work well) 

Sauce

Fresh tomato

1 tablespoon olive oil

a clove of garlic

spices - basil, oregano, chillies... whatever you like 

Directions: 

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Blend the tomato, olive, garlic and spices until smooth. Slice all your veggies really thin, cook your meat and grate your cheese. Place two wraps on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, spread a layer of sauce on each wrap, cover with veggies, meat and cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes, slice and enjoy! 

-M 

Black bean banana muffins!

^^ the whole recipe can be made in a blender! ^^ 

^^ black beans ^^ 

^^ I had a little extra batter so I made a mini banana loaf ^^ 

Surprise, these banana muffins have black beans in them!  They taste just like regular banana muffins, although not quite as sweet as the banana breads that you can buy from coffee shops, but I like to eat mine for breakfast or an afternoon snack, and prefer not to get a major sugar high. They are also a little more on the grainy side as they are not made with refined white flour, but this is because they are full of whole grain carbohydrates, that will fuel you for hours and keep you feeling full. The black beans add great nutritional value, fibre and moisture to these banana muffins, and you can't even taste them. Black beans are really high in fibre and protein. One cup contains 15 grams of protein, without any of the saturated fats found in some other sources of protein.  Adding pureed black beans to these muffins not only makes them extra moist, but it ups their nutritional value in a sneaky way!

Here's the recipe: 

2 cups of flour ( I used oat flour, which I make by blending rolled oats in the blender, but you could use any homemade or store bought flours, some options are whole wheat, quinoa, coconut etc) 

1/2 cup of liquid - I used almond milk 

1 cup cooked black bean puree - I boil raw black beans for a few hours in large batches and keep them in the fridge for the week to use in different recipes, but canned beans would work as well, be sure to rinse them though 

2 ripe bananas 

A splash of vanilla 

1 teaspoon of cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

1.5 teaspoons of baking powder 

1/2 cup maple syrup - or any sweetener of your choice, next time I make these I want to try using dates, or homemade date syrup! 

1/4 cup of oil- I used olive oil, but any oil would work fine, coconut would probably taste great 

1 tablespoon of chia seeds 

* this is a great muffin base that tastes great as is, but is also fun to play around with and add things to to suit your cravings **

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Blend you oats into flour and mix with baking powder and soda. Blend your bananas, black beans, maple syrup and almond milk until you get a smooth consistent (this will be dark charcoal grey due to the beans). Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix. Add any seeds, nuts, dried fruit or chocolate that you would like. This is a great base that you can manipulate in any way you like. I added coconut and a handful of chocolate chips to this batch, and topped with a little more coconut. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!
M