Pumpkin & Pomegranate

As I mentioned in a previous post, I took a day off from work yesterday because my dear friend Elizabeth was in town. I haven’t seen her in nearly 2 years (or maybe almost 3!) so it was SO nice to have her visit. I am just glad her sweet husband had some work in town!

We started off at Healeo. I had a “Superfood Slam” smoothie, and I doctored it up as usual…sub dates for agave, and add a banana please! We stayed there so long I got a $44 parking ticket, but Justin also gave us a sample of a berry smoothie that isn’t on the menu right now and somehow that made up for it :-) Actually, I have been lucky MANY times when my time has expired so I felt like $44 is a deal compared to how many times I could have gotten a parking ticket before. Thinking positively I guess. I also had a raw brownie that was fabulous, and some French press coffee with freshly made nut milk. Perfect start to the day!

We headed off to do some shopping and also I had my first appointment with my naturopath. I love her, she was wonderful! I am going in on Saturday (yes she works Saturdays!) to get some blood work done. I am hoping that my “issues” are just due to some deficiencies and can be handled with supplements or dietary changes. I am keeping my fingers crossed here and trying not over-worried about it. I do eat a very healthy diet, but each body is different and not everyone can get get all their nutrients from certain foods. I am a firm believer that you have to do what works for your own body. I am not totally convinced that we need to take a daily multi-vitamin, but I am also not convinced that our food always has the proper amount of nutrition in it. We aren’t all growing our own food, nor do we really know if the soil has as many nutrients as it should. This doesn’t mean we need to be creating expensive urine either, but I do think that being in tune with how we feel makes a big difference. I have been feeling “off” and have had some symptoms I needed to get checked out, and again, I am really really hoping it is something I can easily fix with my diet.

Heather has a recipe for “Sunburgers” that looked too tempting. I have been looking for a good vegan burger recipe, and thus far most have been too crumbly. I knew that hers would work so I used the recipe as a base…I admit I did screw around with it for my own tastes though, so check her recipe out, and then this is what I ended up with for mine.

Mine!

Matt's!

Marissa’s Version of Heather’s Sunburger

Ingredients:

• 2 C. Carrots, grated (I used the food processor)
• 2 C. Raw Sunflower Seeds
• 3 Roma Tomatoes
• 1.5 tsp. Sea Salt
• 1/8 tsp. Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp. Hot Curry Powder
• 1/2 Large Onion, chopped
• Virgin Coconut Oil
• 1/4 C.  Chopped Sun Dried Tomatoes

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Process the sunflower seeds in  the food processor until finely ground.
3. Add the tomatoes, salt, garlic powder, and curry powder to the sunflower seeds and process until fully combined.
4. In a bowl, combine the sunflower seed mixture with the grated carrots, set aside.
5. Sautée the chopped onion in some virgin coconut oil until translucent. Add to the burger mixture along with the chopped sun dried tomatoes.
6. Form into patties using a 1/3 C. of the burger mixture. Bake on greased cookie sheet for 35 minutes, flip, then bake for another 15 minutes.

a wee bit overdone? No! Perfect!

I admit, I forgot to press “start” on the timer. I think I was a bit out of it last night due to stress and low blood sugar. So yeah, I have no idea how long I cooked them before flipping them ;-) they might have been a wee bit over cooked, but they were still DELICIOUS! I put some Trader Joe’s eggplant hummus on mine and a couple slices of tomato. I also sliced up a Bubbie’s Pickle and my god….SO GOOD!

Matt enjoyed his as well, but commented on them being “very carroty”. Next time I might cut the carrot with some yellow squash to see how he feels about that. I’d do zucchini but he hates the zuchs. I also made him a big pot of mashed potatoes and vegan gravy, but neither fit in with my eating style. As you can see he had a bun too.

Apologies for the photos, I was too hungry, tired, and lazy last night and just used my phone.

Oh and I just had leftover patties for lunch! I sliced them, wrapped them in collard greens and topped them with eggplant hummus, tomato, and Bubbie’s Pickle slices! Belly is sooo happy!

Best Lunch of the week!