lundi 26 janvier 2015

What Everyone Is Saying About Organic Veggie Burgers

By Janine Hughes


There was a time when vegetarians were regarded as freaks. They were mocked as health nuts who had to have specially prepared meals at restaurants and meals with friends and family. Today, vegetarians are coming out of the closet in droves and specialty vegetarian-only restaurants are popping up all over. Not only are people unafraid to confess to this dietary peculiarity, they can walk into any fast food or other restaurant and order organic veggie burgers.

Organic farming used to be just a matter of avoiding chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Now, it's a national government issue, with countries insisting on farmers using techniques for maintaining biodiversity, conserving natural resources and ensuring ecological balance. It's not just about cow manure any more!

Commercially available burger patties frequently use a soya meat substitute as the basis of their mixture. Now that soybeans have gone mass-produced, food manufacturers find it cheaper to use hexane in the extraction process. Hexane, a six-chain hydrocarbon found in crude oil, is a known carcinogen. For some reason, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration has not yet ruled on how much hexane may be put into food, so nobody knows how much is safe.

In the effort to make food more resistant to pests and increasing crop yields, somehow, both the flavor and nutritional value of commercially grown fruits and vegetables appear to be on the decline. This is partly down to selective breeding, methods of which are becoming more and more technologically advanced. Organic produce retains both nutritive value and taste.

Making your own vegetarian patty mixture is healthy and fun. You can make it up before going to dinner parties or barbecues. There are loads of recipes available, all of which have an infinite number of variations. Not all are based on soy, but if you do decide to include this as an ingredient, make sure it does not contain hexane.

Nut-based mixtures are popular, healthy and tasty. Toss a handful of shelled nuts into the blender or food processor, add a few vegetables and maybe an egg to hold it together if you are not a vegan. Lentils also make an excellent base for a patty mixture. Find a recipe or two to guide you on the basics and have fun experimenting.

Sweet potatoes, or even white potatoes, form a good basis for vegetable patties, as are lentils. Bulk the mix up with breadcrumbs or panko. Experiment with different vegetables and flavorings and you're good to go. Cereal grains like quinoa make good patty mixtures. Scale the recipe up and you have the basis for a tasty vegetarian loaf as a substitute for meat loaf.

Vegetable burger patties are healthy for everyone, not just vegetarians. Making your own patty mix is cheap, healthy and fun. Instead of individual patties, the mixture can be formed into a loaf. With growing interest in healthy diets like Paleo and Daniel, having a versatile vegetable burger recipe is a wise move. You can make them up with whatever you have in your larder on the spur of the moment. Your carniverous friends and family won't know what they are missing.




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