Sunday was a busy, but fun day. To celebrate my niece and nephew’s birthdays, the family went ice skating. And I was having so much fun that I didn’t get any pictures! Well, we did on my sister’s camera, but they probably won’t be copied off the memory card anytime in the near future with her busy schedule. Sigh. Next we went out to eat and it was the kid’s choice on where to go. So we ended up at Red Robins, a chain burger place that no vegan, or healthy eater, actually chooses to go to I think. It’s not the kind of place you can share a good bottle of wine at in peace, but the kids seemed to like it. I felt better when I saw this message on the menu that they offer two types of vegan burger.
But I still had a hard time selecting a burger since so many of the themed ones had other non-vegan and non-health friendly ingredients. I ended up going with the Keep It Simple burger with the BOCA Vegan patty and lettuce wrap in place of the buns.
And fries for a little splurge, but I was hungry after dodging kids for 2 hours on the ice. Doesn’t that burger look exciting? Just kidding. The Keep It Simple burger comes with no sauces or cheese, just veggies to stuff in and I added some catchup and a seasoning blend from the table. It got the job done and I was thankful to have a somewhat hearty vegan option, but it’s nothing exciting that a vegan or anyone looking to eat healthy should make a special trip for since both vegan options can be purchased cheaper at a grocery store and prepared better with less effort than going out to eat. It’s really only a good option when you’re going for the good company and not the food.
After some splurge eating over the weekend, I decided to experiment with healthier raw recipes this week that aren’t salads and this mock curry carrot rice dish came out very tasty for a simple throw together.
Curry Carrot “Rice”
- 1 cup of shelled hemp seets
- 5 carrots, rough chopped
- 1 tsp. of freshly grated ginger
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. curry powder
- pinch of cayenne (optional)
- 1/2 cup of raisins
- Place hemp seeds, carrots, and ginger into a food processor and pulse to a chopped and well blended texture.
- Pulse in curry powder, salt, and cayenne and process to a rice-like texture.
- Add raisins and pulse until well blended into mixture and lightly chopped.
- Serve and enjoy. Makes 4 servings.
Within minutes, I had a lovely orange mixture ready to serve – food processors are fun!
With the hemp seeds, it’s a hearty mixture with a satisfying texture.
The curry flavor is strong, but not too strong with the slight sweetness from the raisins. The “rice” has a playful sweet and spicy flavor while the curry almost seemed creamy to me.
It’s a great side or main dish to replace rice or quinoa and sneak in more veggies and protein with a zingy curry flare.
I thought I commented on this one but don’t see it! Sorry! LOVE the color of the carrot dish! Gotta LOVE Vegan Options at chains! YAY!
Thanks, it was a fun dish to create and has a nice, kicky flavor.