veg mac

Sing with me:

Two no beef patties

special sauce

lettuce

non-dairy cheese

pickles

onions

on a sesame seed bun.

When I was growing up, we were so poor that we only went to McDonald's on very special occasions. In fact, I can only remember going there a mere four times during my childhood. My favorite thing there was the Big Mac. Unusual, I know.

The good news is, I think my kids have patronized McDonald's about the same amount of times in their lives, and most of those were for a bottle of water because the restrooms aren't free.

It is not unusual to make a Big Mac at home, so if you ever have a hankering for it, make it!

It is pretty simple, really, but up the generic ingredients to romaine lettuce, whole wheat bun (sesame seeds or not), use a veggie patty and veganaise or nayonaise for the base of the 'special sauce', which is really 1,000 Island dressing with a tad more vinegar. Use dill pickle slices, not the bread and butter ones, because it makes your sandwich way too sweet. And to have the whole Big Mac experience at home, wrap your burger in a wax or parchment paper and nuke for 10 seconds to give it that hot-out-of-the-box taste.

The patty is your biggest challenge. Just grab a veg-burger patty, frozen, pan fry or nuke until almost thawed, and slice it in half horizontally. That is the tricky part. Make sure to put your palm on the top and cut with a serrated knife gently. Rotate the patty once you have cut a part way through and keep cutting until you have rotated all the way around and the patty is in two halves. Now add some Daiya and nuke or cover with a lid (one that is concave so the lid doesn't touch the cheeze) in your pan, add a little water (which will instantly turn to steam) and cover the patty. This will melt your cheeze fast and you have a cheeze-patty to put on your Veg Mac.

Order:

top bun

cheeze

burger

pickles -3

lettuce, minced

onion, minced

special sauce

middle bun

 (either another bottom bun or a top bun with the top cut off)

cheeze

burger

pickles- 3

lettuce, minced

onion, minced

special sauce

bottom bun

Cost Breakdown

buns: $4

burgers: $4

lettuce, onion, pickle: $.75

veganaise, ketchup, relish, onion, vinegar: $1.50

Daiya: $1

Total to make 4 Veg Macs:

$10.25

halloween stuffed biscuits

Happy October!

This is my favorite time of the year, the weather is cool, the wind is blowing and the holidays are approaching.

Autumn and Spring as to die for!

It was a hike day today and I wanted to introduce the kids to October in fashion. I made this Jack-O-Lantern biscuit to honor the upcoming fest and stuffed it with a simple Boca crumble mixture. I just sauteed the crumbles with onions and garlic and added a little mustard and ketchup to give it some binding. It was truly simple, but that is probably why the kids loved it.

The biscuit is a very easy recipe and they were puffed and flaky and crispy. I rolled it out, cut 2 circles (about 4-inches in diameter) for each Jack-O-Lantern, put about 1/4 cup filling on the bottom one, cut the eyes and nose (don't forget the nose like I did!) and a mouth, placed it on the filling and sealed the edges. Cut some stems from scraps and bake the scraps too, for a snack.

To make the filling, saute a package of soy grounds with 1/2 cup of onion and 2 minced garlic. When the grounds are browned, add 1 tablespoon ketchup, 1 tablespoon yellow mustard and salt and pepper to taste.

Make the biscuit dough recipe below and cut the dough into 12 (4-inch diameter) circles. Make eyes, nose and mouth on 6 of them. Put about 1/2 cup of the filing on the other six circles, top with the cut-out circles, seal the edges and spray with a little oil or brush with a little milk.
Bake.

So successful!

Cost Breakdown:

flours: $1.50

Earth Balance, baking powder: $.50

almond milk: $1

Boca crumbles: $4

mustard, ketchup, onion, garlic: $1

Total to make 6 Stuffed Biscuits:

$8.00