Organic Chickpea Garden Burgers

These garden burgers are so amazing and taste much better than any store-bought brand you're going to find. They are also soy-free, nitrate free, and free of fillers and preservatives.

Ingredients:

2 cups dry, organic, split (or whole) chick peas (soaked overnight in a large bowl of water with 2 tbsp. cider vinegar) Drain and rinse. ~Boil for 18-20 min (split) or 20-30 min (whole) or until tender. If using canned, go with 2 full cans, drained and rinsed.

2 organic eggs (or egg replacer)

1/4 cup fresh organic parsley

1/4 cup fresh organic dill

8 tbsp. organic whole wheat flour

4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup lemon juice

8 large cloves of garlic

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cayenne

4 tsp. cumin

1 1/4 cup vegan breadcrumbs 

1 cup organic peas, steamed 

1 cup organic corn, steamed

Method:
Combine ingredients (except bread crumbs, peas and corn) in a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl and fold in breadcrumbs, peas and corn. Cut squares of wax paper, press mixture into patties and freeze in a large Ziploc bag. Should make about 12 patties. BBQ (best from frozen), bake or pan fry and serve with desired toppings on a whole wheat or multigrain bun. For vegan patties, substitute the eggs for egg replacer.

Pita Bread

Use the dough from the Artesian Bread "master recipe." It also works well using 4 1/2 cups white and 2 cups whole grain, whole wheat flour.

Twenty five minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 500F with a baking stone. You won’t be using a broiler tray and shelf placement of the stone is not crucial. For one pita you will need: a plum sized piece of dough and flour for dusting.

Flour and cut off a small piece of dough from your bucket. Dust the piece with more flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go. Place the dough on a flour dusted pizza peel or wooden cutting board.

Using your hands and a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a round with a uniform thickness of ¼ inch throughout. This is crucial because if its too thick it may not puff. You will need to sprinkle the peel lightly with flour as you work, occasionally flipping the bread to prevent sticking to the rolling pin or board. Use a dough scraper to remove the round of dough from the peel if it sticks. Do not slash the pita or it will not puff. No rest/rise time is needed. 

If you have a ventilation fan, turn it on now, some of the stray flour may smoke. Slide the loaf directly onto the hot stone (it may take a number of back and forth shakes to dislodge the pita). Bake for about 5-7 minutes until lightly browned and puffed. Repeat process 4-6 times or as many times as you like.

For the most authentic, soft crusted result, wrap in a clean cotton dish towel and set on a cooling rack when baking is complete. The pitas will deflate slightly as they cool, the space between the crusts will still be there but may need to be nudged apart with a fork.

Store in plastic air-tight bags to keep soft and moist.

Vanilla Rainbow Cake

This cake is awesome and perfect for a kids party, first birthday or even a psychedelic 70's party. You could also customize the colours for any holiday, Hallowe'en, Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, Easter etc. I wanted to make it as a trial for Jayden's first birthday cake and it worked great as a 'half' birthday cake too, showing off all the pretty colours. I also imagine that it would make pretty amazing cupcakes too. Most of the rainbow cake recipes I have seen used boxed cake mixes, pop and store bought frosting. I decided to make a vanilla cake from scratch and then tint it accordingly. I used organic ingredients but you don't have to. Here's what you'll need:

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp.

4 eggs

4 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups flour, sifted

1 ½ cups milk

½ tsp. salt 

3 ½ tsp. baking powder

Neon or regular food colouring (I used both)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp.

4 oz pkg. cream cheese

2 1/4 cups icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease and flour two 9x9 inch pans. I used spring-form pans so the cakes were really easy to remove.

2. In a medium bowl, cream sugar and butter by hand. Beat in the eggs, one at a time with a hand mixer, then stir in the vanilla. Blend ingredients well, until fluffy (5-7 min). After this step, mix as little as possible otherwise you will have a flat cake.

3. Combine sifted flour, baking powder and salt and add to the creamed mixture in stages. Combine by hand, with a wooden spoon, don’t over-mix. Finally stir in the milk until the batter is smooth. 

4. Divide batter into 6 small bowls and colour with 10-12 drops each of neon food colouring, don’t over-mix. Spoon batter into greased pans, one colour on top of the other, 3 colours per pan. I actually accidentally did all 6 colours per pan but it still turned out great so feel free to experiment! 

5. Bake for 30-35 minutes in a preheated oven or until toothpicks come out clean. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

6. Make frosting while your cake bakes or is cooling. Cream butter and cream cheese, add icing sugar and vanilla, blend until well combined.

7. Let layers cool completely on a wire rack.

8. Ice bottom layer with a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. Place top layer on top and ice top and sides. Place on cake stand and cover. 

I was also thinking that it would be fun to tint the icing and might try it with cupcakes. To make a rainbow of colours, divide the icing into 4 or 6 small bowls, (however many colours you want to make), tint and ice as desired. Fun!

Here's a picture of a rainbow cupcake that my friend Sarah made, amazing!