Best Bean Burgers

• 1 can of black eyed peas
  Drain a little of the water, but not aggressively, just the excess on the very top.  You know aquafaba?  That's bean juice, and we use that for egg replacement often, right?  Right.  So you should keep some of it to avoid needing egg.
• 1.5 cups of farro or other 'poppy' grain (the ones that snap a little when you bite them, like barley)
• ½ cup flour
• 6 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
• 2-3 tbsp of oil, melted coconut is really good; don't use extra virgin olive oil.
• ½ tsp black salt (namak somethingorother)
• 1 tsp ginger, paprika, garlic, onion
• ½ tsp cinnamon, cayenne
• A shake of cardamom and coriander
• MSG to taste

Note to self: In the future, try garam masala instead of all the various spices.

Smash up the peas. They can be a little coarse, but if you wanna go full paste mode, knock yourself out.  Add everything else and stir until it's kind of an even paste. If it's not a thick paste- you should just barely be able to spread it into a patty shape without it spreading out- add more flour.

Take level half-cup scoops and spread on parchment paper.  Bake at 350F for 15 to 20 minutes.
Makes 6 burgers.

Calories 191
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 7 g	10 %
Saturated Fat 4 g	19 %
Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 15 mg	5 %
Sodium 57 mg	2 %
Potassium 289 mg	8 %
Total Carbohydrate 24 g	8 %
Dietary Fiber 6 g	24 %
Sugars 2 g
Protein 10 g	21 %
Vitamin A	4 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	3 %
Iron                                               10%

Gotta write this recipe out later:
Pasta with Pesto, Delicata Squash, and Chickpeas <3

Creamy Spicy Broccoli Grape Salad

Dressing:
2 tbsp vegan cream cheese (trader joe's)
2-3 tbsp apple cider vinegar or lemon
0.5 tbsp habenero hot sauce or to taste

Salad:
2 cups raw broccoli, chopped small
1 cup red grapes, cut in half
about 3 oz extra firm tofu, cut into very small cubes
2 tbsp fake bacon bits

Whisk together the ingredients for the dressing, add to the other ingredients and stir.

Sweet Potato and Tofu

This needs refinement, but it was a great simple meal.  Just equal parts sweet potato and tofu cubes, baked with some cayenne and fake bacon bits.  Heat, sweet, spicy.  I like the taste of tofu on its own, but a marinade may improve the recipe a lot!

Arugula and Green Pea Salad with Sunbutter

I'm not sure I'm that crazy about this salad yet, but for posterity, it's pretty good and could be worked out, I think.

Dressing:
1 tbsp roasted sunbutter
1/2 tsp garam masala
Spritz of lemon juice
Splash of habenero hot sauce  (optional, just for heat)
Enough water to create a "dressing" consistency (mine took about 2 tbsp)
Whisk together, I just used a fork.

Salad:
About 2c arugula
About 3/4 cup green peas
Toss with dressing.

This is a little bit more unusual than I hope most of my recipes will be, but you can find all but the garam masala at any walmart.  Sun butter and arugula both have gained quite a bit of popularity and I feel are staples at most grocery stores.

Italian Sausage Tofu Salad

About 2 servings of the italian tofu
1/4 of a bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup california blend veggies, thawed (a blend of carrots, broccoli, cauliflower)
     -most veggies would probably work, really
1/4 cup corn kernels
     -add a nice sweetness without refined sugar, but extra carrot would work well too
1/2 tbsp vegan mayo, or more to taste

Combine.  Will update this later with more refinement.

A Thought on Spices

I wanted to make a list of things I feel have greatly improved my life as a vegetarian.  Most of them are spices, which you don't necessarily see on everyone's shelves, but really should be.  Even when I was still eating an omnivore diet, many of these greatly enhanced food.  And I feel they are well worth the investment.  So a little list!

• Smoked Salts.  Hickory and applewood are always around at my house.  I'm hunting for mesquite, but it seems harder to find.  These are great for adding a BBQ flavor, when you don't want to whip out a grill and wood chips.
• Smoked Paprika.  Smoky, earthy taste, and the quality of smoked paprika is often well beyond that of regular paprika.
• Different pepper sauces.  I enjoy many varying degrees of heat, and each different type of pepper has a subtly different flavor.
• Fennel seeds, which don't appear in many recipes, but have a nice flavor.  Some people even chew them to freshen their breath.
• Thai basil, while you must obtain it fresh, and will probably have to hunt down at an Asian grocer, is a really nice herb that makes things a little different.
• Thyme.  Aside from some holiday dishes, thyme seems to be under-utilized in modern cooking.  It's a shame, because it adds a deep, herbal note to just about anything.
• Gumbo Filé.  (Pronounced fee-lay.)  These are ground sassafras leaves.  It's difficult to explain the flavor without simply trying it yourself.  Great in most savory soups, particularly gumbo, where it is traditionally used.
• White Pepper.  Similar to black pepper, but has a sharper bite.
• Bay Leaves/ Laurel leaves.  A common but under-used herb once again.
• Nutritional yeast.  Everyone should know about this by now, but if you don't, it's got an almost cheesy taste.
• Molasses.  I try not to eat a lot of refined sugar, but in trying to replicate some dishes with stevia or fruit, I find they miss the 'brown sugar' flavor at times.  A little molasses can go a very long way, and provides that taste without having to rely on a much larger quantity of brown sugar.
• Homemade ketchup.  It's so easy to make from tomato sauce and paste, and a few seasonings, and it's so much better than that corn syrup gunk from the grocery store.
• Kala Namak, aka Black salt.  It's important to make the distinction between kala namak and other black salts, so I feel it's best for people looking for this to search for it as kala namak.  There are a lot of different "black salt" products that aren't this.  This salt has a little bit of sulfur in its mineral content, and can make a tofu scramble or a vegan mayonnaise taste "right".   In high concentration, sure, sulfur smells like a fart.  In low quantities in our food, it provides an egg flavor.  It might seem insignificant to some people, the difference between a jar of vegan mayonnaise that you've tossed a big pinch of kala namak into, but to those with sensitive palettes, or those who find that it just has something missing, you'll be surprised at the improvement.
• Garam Masala.  It goes in so many Indian dishes, that, even if you aren't sporting a full arsenal of indian spices, it's good to have this on hand.
• Tumeric.  Same reason as garam masala.  If you have both Garam Masala and tumeric, as well as other common spices you probably already have (cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, etc) this opens up a lot of potential for making Indian dishes on a whim.  Maybe not restaurant quality, but still better than the stuff you'll find in the freezer section.

This list will continue to expand.