The other day we made Baked Black Bean Burgers to share with you guys, but you should know-we didn't eat those burgers alone; they each came with a hefty side portion of these awesome, crispy onion rings. 
We filled the onion ring batter with an orange wheat beer that truly compliments the thick, crunchy rings and makes for an onion ring so good, its more suited to being an onion-ring-donut!
We don't normally make or eat many fried foods, but sometimes, you just have a craving that needs to be caved to. And frankly, these were worth every extra bit of oil and calories involved. I know we shouldn't make a treat like this weekly, but damn its tempting.

Ingredients:
1 large onion
1 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tblsp onion powder
2 tsp garlic powder
1 bottle (vegan!) orange wheat beer
1 cup peanut oil, for frying

Directions:
First, chop your onion into large rings by slicing the onion width-wise about every 1/4-1/2 inch. Set aside. 
Grab a mixing bowl and whisk together flour, cornstarch, nutritional yeast, salt & pepper, baking powder, onion powder, and garlic powder. 
Add the orange wheat beer and whisk again to combine all ingredients. 
Once mixture is prepared, pour the one cup of peanut oil into a deep, heavy skillet and let heat to between 350-375 degrees. Test using a thermometer. 
Place individual slices of onion into the batter, coating thoroughly. Once coated, drop into the heated oil using tongs. Let fry on each side for about 3-5 minutes, flipping midway. 
Be sure when you're adding rings to the oil to not overcrowd the rings. Usually about 3-5 rings can fit to fry at a time. 
Rings are finished when they reach a uniform golden-brown color and crunch.
Remove the rings from the oil using tongs, and immediately place onto paper-towel lined plates. This allows the rings to cool while the paper towels soak up any extra oil.
Wait until cooled, then enjoy with ketchup, mustard, bbq sauce, or just by themselves!
(We ate ours pretty quickly, and I wouldn't recommend saving any extras. Fried foods get kind of yucky when left over night in the fridge! However, the batter would be fine by itself in the fridge for several days.)

Memorial Day weekend is here! Its one of those holidays that everyone celebrates, but rarely for its true meaning. Memorial Day was a holiday designed to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War, but through the years has become a day for recognizing all fallen American soldiers. Lets take a moment and do that, shall we? Even if its just in your head, thank everyone who does nice things for you. 
Anyway, as far as most of us are concerned, Memorial Day is just an excuse to stay home from work and have the first barbecue of the summer! 
Instead of barbecuing, we decided to bake our very first successful batch of Black Bean Burgers. And they were goooood...and gluten-free!

Plus, they're deceptively easy to make. We took our inspiration from a circular at Mother's Market for the month of May and made burgers with a black bean base...but there are so, so many more delicious ingredients involved than just beans! We wanted to increase the goodness of these burgers as much as possible, so we added some sprouted pumpkin seeds, sweet potato, quinoa, and carrots. You can just never have too much nutritional value!
The addition of BBQ sauce and chili powder adds just the perfect little kick to this smoky black bean burger.

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked black beans
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup roughly chopped (we use these) sprouted pumpkin seeds
1 cup freshly grated carrot
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup ground flax seed
1/4 cup chili powder
3 tablespoons vegan barbecue sauce
1 Tablespoon (2 cloves) minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/4-1/2 cup water
1/4 cup GF oats

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, please!
In a food processor, combine ALL ingredients except oil, water, and oats.  Combine until ingredients are all mixed, but not mushy. There will still be some chunks in this burger!
Pour contents of food processor into a large mixing bowl. Add water and oil, and stir well. Add oats to mixture, allowing to absorb any excess moisture.
Form into hockey-puck-ish sized patties, and place onto a non-stick baking sheet. 
Bake for about 15 minutes on each side, or until burgers are uniformly browned and cooked all the way through. Serve with tomatoes, avocado, grilled onions, sprouts and your favorite mustard on a delicious whole wheat or gluten-free bun. 
Makes 12+ burgers.
Wrap 'em up and they last for a week in the fridge.