Apple Veggie Burgers on Ezekiel Bread, and a Juice!

Happy Tuesday! Today I have some bad news and some good news.

Bad news: I have been sick for a month and have been sleeping/hibernating through most of my winter.

Good news: Winter is going by fast, AND I finally have time to get on my computer and share some more recipes with you!

I’d like to start by talking about juicing. I got into juicing after one of my family members said it helped with her husband’s ulcerative colitis. I was intrigued by this since I struggle with raw fruits and veggies because the fiber tears apart my stomach. The beauty of juicing is that it extracts the juice, nutrients, and antioxidants from the fruits/veggies while keeping the fiber out of it. Many people will look at this leftover fiber/pulp as waste, but to me it’s a miracle to be able to reap the benefits of fruits and veggies without having the fiber aggravate my stomach.

I usually start out my dinner by making a juice. This has a few benefits:

1. It gets me hydrated. All too often we are “hungry” when we are actually dehydrated.

2. It satisfies my body’s cravings for nutrients. My gut does not do a good job of absorbing nutrients, and many patients with ulcerative colitis have vitamin deficiencies because of this. Although I could take a multivitamin, I believe our bodies absorb nutrients better in their natural form, which is why I stay away from pills/supplements whenever I can. By using a juicer, I can concentrate a massive amount of nutrients into one glass.

3. Having a juice keeps my stomach distracted while I am cooking dinner. Instead of snacking while cooking, I sip on my juice. By the time it’s actually dinner time, I’m not as hungry as I initially was, and then I don’t overeat (as much).

4. Having a juice before anything else makes it taste better. When you are hungry, juices almost always taste good. When you spoil your taste buds with something rich and sweet first, it makes the juice taste awful! The same holds true for the food you eat. Start off your meal with a bland salad, then move your way up to the richer foods.

One thing to be aware of when juicing is that fruits have a lot of natural sugar in them. Try to focus mainly on veggies, and then use the fruits to make it more palatable if needed. I find carrots and beets to be veggies on the sweeter side.

Warning: Consuming lots of beets will make your urine and stool turn red. I had a week where I drank a lot of beet juice, and I thought I was getting another flare. That “blood” in my stool turned out to be beets :).

This is one of my favorite juices. The ingredients are:

3 carrots
1 beet with greens
2 apples
1/2 bell pepper
1-2 inches of fresh ginger

My juicer is the Breville Compact Juicer, and it works great!

I put my leftover pulp in my compost pile, but others will use it for cooking (ex – adding it to soups, breads, pasta, etc.).

In terms of nutrients, this juice alone has over 5000% your daily value of vitamin A and 600% your daily value of vitamin C!

Next up is dinner. This is a recipe I love for Apple Veggie Burgers:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup chopped onion

• 1 granny smith apple

• 1/2 red bell pepper

• 1.5 tsp chopped fresh ginger

• 1 cup cooked brown rice

• 1/2 cup oats (chopped finely in food processor)

• 1 egg

Instructions:

1. Chop the onion, apple, bell pepper, and ginger in a food processor.

2. Squeeze the excess juice out of this (I use cheese cloth or a produce bag)

3. Add rice, oats, and egg, and mix to a uniform consistency.

4. Form into patties and cook the burgers on your stove top or griddle!

5. Place on a bun of your choosing, and enjoy!

I don’t eat any white flour, so I use a sprouted grains English muffin as my “bun.” I actually found some sprouted grain buns the other day at the Natural Living Center, so that would work as well! I toast the English muffin before putting my burger on it.

The finished product. Yum!

I was impressed by the amount of protein in just one Ezekiel bun! I might be a vegetarian, but I don’t have a problem getting enough protein :).

Many of you may look at my diet and think it’s pretty restrictive. I mean, how can you eat anything without white flour, white sugar, or dairy? Although it is intimidating at first, I have learned to pick a meal I want, and then find a way to make it so I can eat it. For example, if I want pancakes I’ll make buckwheat pancakes. If I want French Toast, I’ll use Ezekiel Bread to replace regular bread and coconut milk to replace cow’s milk. If I want a “sugar free” pumpkin pie, I’ll sweeten it with honey or maple syrup and use a shredded coconut crust instead of a white flour crust. You get the point. The internet is an amazing resource and can be a great help in finding tasty recipes. Enjoy :).