questions: hummus & black bean burgers

[heather]

Hello skinnytown friends,

My name is Heather. I'm 39 years old and live in NC. I just got Roger's autographed book and am on day #2. I'm eager to eat healthy and lose 20 lbs. I've always struggled to lose as I am 4'11", but no more excuses for me!

Question: 1) Hummus - is organic hummus (for example: Cedar's Hummus) approved, if not what kind is? 
2) Bean Burgers - I like them and hope that the Morningstar styles are approved? Also, are other Morningstar Veggie Burgers approved?

Thank you for your answers and I am so glad to be a party of this supportive group!

fondly,
heather

[patsyfay]

Heather,

Welcome to LDL!! Morningstar Veggie Burgers have ingredients in them that are not LDL compliant.  See ingredients list:

Ingredients:
VEGETABLES (MUSHROOMS, WATER CHESTNUTS, ONIONS, CARROTS, GREEN BELL PEPPERS, RED BELL PEPPERS, BLACK OLIVES), TEXTURED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, WHEAT GLUTEN, WATER FOR HYDRATION), EGG WHITES, COOKED BROWN RICE (WATER, BROWN RICE), ROLLED OATS, CORN OIL, CALCIUM CASEINATE, SOY SAUCE (WATER, SOYBEANS, SALT, WHEAT), CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF ONION POWDER, CORNSTARCH, SALT, HYDROLYZED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (CORN, SOY AND WHEAT), AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, NATURAL FLAVORS FROM NON-MEAT SOURCES, SUGAR, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, SPICES, GARLIC POWDER, DEXTROSE, JALAPEÑO PEPPER POWDER, CELERY EXTRACT.

Among other things, we try not to eat brown rice.  We only advocate steel cut oats, so its hard to say what the rolled oats would be and there is sugar and dextrose, as well. Also wheat gluten and wheat.  Each item in itself might not pose too great a problem, but add them all together and you may create some "craving" problems with those ingredients.  There are some recipes for bean cakes on the recipe site that would be SO MUCH healthier for you.

As for the Cedar's Hummus, see ingredients list:

Ingredients: Organic Fresh Steamed Chickpeas, Organic Sesame Tahini, Water, Organic Blend of Oil (Olive, Sesame, Sunflower), Organic Lemon Juice, Sea Salt, Organic Garlic, Organic Ground Cumin.

This product contains sesame tahini, which is paste made from sesame seeds and Roger says seeds are not part of the LDL pantry. There are some wonderful hummus recipes on the recipe boards that taste terrific.  Please try one of those.

I hope I didn't put you off by so much information, but a successful LDLer is an informed LDLer and reading labels is priority #1 for all of us.  Welcome again and keep asking questions.

Pat

 

[isthis4me]

hiya Heather, Im Trish and also 4'11 and need to loose at least 20lbs.
I make my own hummus as follows:
2 cans drained and rinsed chick peas(garbonzo beans)
garlic
red pepper that has been roasted
evoo ( extra virgin olive oil)
salt( I dont use this much)
pepper
cayenne pepper( red pepper)
I blend this all together in my bullet and add the evoo until it has the consistancy I like. I am not much on measuring   and as for the bean burgers I would do a search or we can try and come up with something you can eat together if you post the ingredients of what you normally eat we can disect the non LDL ingredients

[Gwennaford]

Good recipe, Trish.  Nice & simple.

Heather, most commercial hummus I have seen is made with tahini (sesame seed paste) which is not LDL approved.  If you go to the recipe boards and do a search for "hummus" you will get many hits.  

I always start with one of Little Mary's recipes & adapt them to suit my tastes.  She is a VERY talented chef and always creates her recipes using easy to find ingredients and fantastic flavors.

Anyway - back to the hummus.  You can use canned or dried garbanzos that you have cooked & it only takes a few seconds to make in the food processor.

You can make a great vegetarian black bean "burger" by just mashing drained black beans, adding some fresh or dry minced onions, minced red or green peppers, garlic, cumin, chili powder, S&P.  Add some egg substitute or egg white to help them hold together if needed.  Cook in a tiny bit of olive oil in a non-stick skillet.  I like to form them in the pan with a tuna can and cook them over medium heat without disturbing until they are very crusty on the bottom.  Almost burned, but not.  The hold together better that way.

There's a similar recipe for butter bean "potato" cakes, but they can be a little soupy and have to chill for a long time before they will hold together enough that they can be cooked in a skillet.  When I make them I usually end up just scarmbling up with some sauteed onions like I used to do pan-fried taters.