A great tip to save time preparing food is to make your favorite grains or beans in bulk on a Sunday and to find unique ways to enjoy them throughout the week. There are surprisingly many ways to lift a simple grain or bean from its simple side-dish status to show-stopping glory. From burgers to breakfast, try your hand at diversifying your palette and learning how to be more creative in the kitchen with leftovers.

1. Bite into a Veggie Burger

One of the most important components of a vegan burger is an ingredient that offsets the wet ingredients and helps to bind the patties together. Beans work really well in this department, because they are grainy and sticky at the same time, taking care of a lot of the issues one usually has when trying to get the patties to hold together. Rice and quinoa also work well in veggie burgers.

Make the vegan Sweet Potato and White Bean Burger, Kale and Quinoa Hazelnut Cakes, or the Chickpea Burger first and then experiment with other grains and beans.

2. Dive into a Buddha Bowl

This is one of the easiest and most satisfying go-to lunches or dinners that also use up vegetables rounding their last leg. The ingredient list is straightforward and something that changes according to what you have on hand – cooked grains, green leaves, avocado, and spices. The proportions are up to you to decide.

My favorite mix includes:

• ½ cup brown rice, cooked and cooled down
• Handful of chopped kale
• 1 carrot, grated
• ½ beet, grated
• ½ or 1 whole avocado, chopped
• ½ tablespoon nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon mustard
• Salt and pepper to taste

3. Serve Pancakes

 It may seem odd at first, but a pancake made of grains is actually genius! They turn out much fluffier add extra fiber, the 9 essential amino acids, and protein to Sunday breakfast. You’ll be fuller for longer and in a wholesome, guilt-free way. These Buckwheat Quinoa Pancakes are vegan and virtuous!

Buckwheat Quinoa Pancakes

• 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
• 3/4 cup quinoa, cooked plain
• 1-1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2-3 dates, pitted, soaked (1-2 hours)
• 1 banana, crushed

Simply mix all the ingredients together until evenly combined and cook on a heated, lightly oiled pan. Serve with maple syrup.

4. Bond with Brownies and Blondies

Recently, beans have been popping up in the most unexpected places – in desserts. Before you reject that concept, it’s worth a try. Beans have a subtle taste that is balanced well with sweet flavors. They also pack the density and rich texture that brownies and blondies require. Beans make it possible to have a vegan brownie that is more like fudge than cake.

Prepare these Black Bean Brownies or Strawberry White Bean Blondies for an introduction to the world of beans served sweet.

5. Redefine Breakfast

So you know that pancakes are an option with grains, but many of us don’t have the time for pancakes each and every morning. Instead, we’re on the go, looking for a quick bite before jumping out the door or something fuss-free to enjoy at the office.

This is where amaranth and quinoa come into play. Look at them as a replacement for your morning oats. Feel the power of over 10 grams of fiber in with this guiltless Chocolate and Banana Breakfast Quinoa. Amaranth packs 30-percent more protein than oats. This protein-packed Amaranth Fruit Cereal is a delicious introduction to amaranth and it can be altered according to your tastes.

Photo Credit: Nerissa, GlowKitchen 

The post 5 Practical and Unique Ways to Use Leftover Grains and Beans appeared first on EcoSalon.

Put that leftover turkey to use.

In my family, the day after Thanksgiving means one thing, and it isn’t Black Friday. No, I’m talking about something far more fulfilling and far less damaging to your bank account: leftover turkey sandwiches.

Back home, we keep it simple. Turkey, dressing, and a few slices of organic whole wheat bread. But other post-turkey day eaters go nuts, throwing in avocado, gouda, and even the occasional waffle. Here, seven great turkey sandwiches from Foodspotting to inspire a little culinary creativity this day-after-Thanksgiving.

Turkey Sandwich @ Torrisi Italian Specialties

Turkey Avocado & Pesto Waffle Sandwich @ Dash Cafe

Turkey & Provolone Sandwich @ Jestine’s Kitchen

Smoked Turkey Sandwich @ Panera Bread 

Roasted Turkey And Gouda Sandwich @ Museum of Science

Turkey Pesto Sandwich @ Fresh Cafe 

Thanksgivin’ Dinner Burger @ PYT

In Foodspotting Friday we highlight one of Foodspotting’s – or our own – top picks from our Foodspotting guides. Be sure to check them out and tip us off to your own favorites in our Readers’ Picks guide. Want to start spotting food on your own? Join Foodspotting and take part in the food spotting revolution. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.

Images: Pei Ketron, ScottySauce, Lizz Spano, Eliahoo, Daynah, Moriza, Jedi Pearce, Ed Morita

The post Foodspotting Friday: Give Thanks for Turkey Sandwiches appeared first on EcoSalon.

In Britain, the amount of yearly food waste can fill London’s Wembley Stadium.

Here’s something humiliating.

I’m a Brit. (That’s not the humiliating bit. Bear with me). We’re so careless with our groceries that we throw away around a third of them each year – at a total cost of $20 billion. Appalling, dreadful and…unreal. Yes, that’s the word. Look at that figure: $20 billion. Try to imagine it for a second, there in the room with you. Bet you can’t. I’ll bet even the Donald would struggle with it. It’s an abstraction that means nothing except to economists and…well, that’s about it.

What’s so may-the-ground-swallow-me-up humilating is this: the people of WRAP’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign just made that number real. In a number of events across the north of England over the last six months, they’ve  taken the amount of food the average British household tosses away in one year, cooked it up, and fed it to 1,000 hungry students. Of course, even students would draw the line at eating that banana I threw away in January, so this food was donated by regional food distribution charities like Food Aware and Real Aid, and the chosen menu focused on big, hearty dishes like vegetable curry and rhubarb crumble. Think Jamie’s School Dinners and you’d also bag the educational side of it – each event featured demonstrations on ways to turn limp leftovers into full-flavored feasts.

Back to $20 billion. How much food is that? Well, you can’t fit it into one room. In fact, you’ll need to fill London’s Wembley Stadium.

…8 times.

That’s a lot of food.

Images: Cushdy, mhaller1979.

The post What Does $20 Billion In Wasted Food Look Like? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Whenever I’m cooking pasta, I always put the proper amount of dry pasta for the number of servings I want into the boiling water and then I do something crazy every time – I add at least a handful more!

It just never looks like enough, even though I know it is. I bet you do the same thing. If so, you might find yourself with some leftover naked pasta lying around. What do you do with it?

I make spaghetti frittata with whatever other odds and ends I have hanging out in my refrigerator. It’s great because you can use small amounts of leftover cooked vegetables, little knobs of leftover cheese, herbs, or what have you. Remember, wasted food is not green and can contribute to global warming if it goes to landfill so use it all up!

Here’s a flexible recipe that serves 2 or 3 people.

2-3 tablespoons butter or olive oil

1/2 of an onion, diced

1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 to 1 1/2 cups of assorted vegetables (you might grate a small zucchini, throw in a handful of spinach, toss in some leftover roasted potatoes or squash, or slice some mushrooms).

The post Frugal Cooking: Spaghetti Frittata appeared first on EcoSalon.