This photo includes baked french fries, pickle, ketchup and a lettuce-tomato-cucumber-radish salad.

BBQ Tempeh Burgers

Seeds or nuts can be dry toasted on a stovetop to give a nuttier flavor to a dish.  Place the seeds in a sauté pan over low heat, wait a few minutes and stir constantly.  When the seeds or nuts begin to brown and give off a toasty aroma they are done. Be careful because nuts and seeds can go from perfect to burned in seconds.  Take them off of the heat just a little before you think they are done.

Ingredients:
1 Quinoa recipe
2 packages (12 ounces) ‘smokey Tempeh strips’ crumbled  (Lightlife brand product)
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
2 cups onion, (2 medium) diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon Nama Shoyu soy sauce
1/3 cup sunflower seeds, dry toasted
2 teaspoons mesquite seasoning blend
2/3 cup barbeque sauce
olive oil spray

Directions:
1. Toast seeds in medium pan on top of stove and place them in a large bowl.
2. Prepare Quinoa recipe and put it in the  mixing bowl with the seeds.
3. In a food processor add the Tempeh and pulse until a crumbled paste.  Then add Tempeh to the mixing bowl of Quinoa and sunflower seeds.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.
5. In a saute pan place the onions and garlic in olive oil, cook, mixing and stirring until a transparent golden color.
6. Add the onion mixture to the bowl and mix in soy sauce, barbeque sauce and  spices, mixing until fully incorporated.
7. Spray a 10’ x 14’ pan or cookie sheet with olive oil.
8. Divide the mixture into 6 equal sized balls and then shape each ball into a tight patty. Place the patties on the cookie sheet or pan and then bake them for about 45 minutes on one side, gently turning them, and then 30 minutes on the other side, until browned.

Note:  
Allow the Quinoa to cool before working it into patties or it will burn your hands.  These burgers are easy to freeze and have on hand when short on time. This is where the expression “hand to mouth” comes from (just kidding).
   
Yield: 6 patties

For lunch: Mixed Greens Salad with Pimento Dressing, Black Bean Soup and Avocado-Tofu Sandwich.

The Avocado-Tofu Sandwich and the Pimento Dressing recipes are in my book, Vegan Bite By Bite, but I created this Black Bean soup recipe on the fly so I didn't have time to document the amounts of each ingredient. Basically, it's:

1. Soak the black beans overnight, then rinse and drain the beans. 
2. Cook them in enough water or vegetable stock until they are tender (add enough water to leave room for added vegetables).
3. After the beans are tender, add minced garlic, chopped onions, sliced carrots, celery chunks, bite-sized red potatoes, ground cumin and coriander with a couple of bay leaves. Cook until the vegetables are tender.
4. Remove the bay leaves. Blend the soup mixture adding white Miso and raw cashew nuts. *NOTE: Miso contains friendly bacteria for the intestinal tract and it is a very delicate property. It's best to heat Miso at low temperatures, but never boil as it will destroy the friendly bacteria value. Cashew nuts, when heated, will thicken.

Here are two lunch recipes excerpted from my book, Vegan Bite By Bite, for Pimento Dressing and Avocado-Tofu Cream Cheese filling for the sandwich:

Pimento Dressing                                                                                  

This colorful dressing is a hit whenever it is served.  This recipe contains no added oils, other than the natural oils in the cashew nuts.  The best presentation for this dressing is to serve it on top of the salad rather than mixed throughout.

Ingredients:
2 cups red pepper (1 large red pepper) rough chop
1 tablespoon garlic
1 cup cashews
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1-3/4 teaspoons sea salt

Directions:
1. Blend all ingredients in a high powered blender until smooth and creamy.     
2. Drizzle 2 tablespoons on top of the salad or refrigerate in a glass container.

Yield: 2 cups

Note:
The deep colorful red pepper will make the dressing a more brilliant color.  This dressing has a good refrigerated shelf life.