Something I hear a lot from people is how healthy foods just don’t taste as good as the more processed alternative. Now, I would never advocate that a veggie burger tastes like a Big Mac. In fact, some of the worst “healthy” recipes I’ve ever tried or seen are the ones that try to take healthy ingredients and make it still taste like processed junk. Whole, unprocessed ingredients shouldn’t taste like processed, manufactured, chemically-produced food items.
I’m really thankful they don’t! I also think that’s part of the problem with “healthy” recipes. They lead you to believe that you’re really going to produce something that tastes like cakebatter ice cream, but instead you get some runny, protein-y, probably bland…..thing. And you’re just disappointed. Here’s the thing, let’s stop trying to make whole, natural food taste like processed chemicals. I’ve got a challenge for you. It will take a mere three-four weeks of your life. That’s it. Just three to four weeks. Hell, that’s not even a quarter of the football season. It’s less than Lent! In Bachelor terms, we wouldn’t even be down to hometown dates yet.
Here it is, I challenge you to cut out processed foods for three weeks. I want you to see if you can learn to appreciate natural foods and how incredible they taste. Why three weeks, you might ask. It takes our taste buds about three weeks to die and repopulate. Right now, the majority of our society pollutes their taste buds. They are assaulted almost immediately by massive amounts of fat, sugar, and salt that’s been packed into otherwise inedible foods. So much of what we eat is a chemically-concocted, indestructible, would-survive-an-apocalypse combination of completely unnatural, non-food items that in order to make it palatable, it must be infused with massive amounts of fat, sugar, and salt (i.e. the Twinkie). And, we’re not talking “normal” sugars and fats, we’re talking “super-charged” versions. Not the natural sweetness of fresh pineapple, but the distilled, manufactured, man-made sugariness of corn syrup and dextrose, unnatural forms of these flavors that our body doesn’t recognize.
What does this mean for our palates? Think about when you brush your teeth first thing in the morning. Your mouth is all minty fresh and then you go to the kitchen, pour some OJ, take a sip and…. GROSS! That juice tastes just nasty! I know we’ve all done this, whether it be OJ or yogurt, or some other normal breakfast food. Now, you KNOW that juice doesn’t actually taste that way, that the minty toothpaste has obscured your palate and made it hard to taste and enjoy the actual juice. That’s what all the processed foods with sugar and fat and salt do to your palate and your taste buds…but for a lot longer than a couple sips of OJ. The natural sweetness of fruits and veggies and whole grains is lost on us because our palates are so blown out from the constant assault of “super-charged” sugars and fats and salts that we can’t appreciate or even recognize the complexities and richness of natural, real foods. But, over the course of time (about three weeks), those taste buds will be replaced with new, unadulterated baby buds. If you don’t coat them with the processed palate pulverizers, you might actually begin to enjoy all the sweetness, saltiness, and richness of natural foods.
Now, I still enjoy the occasional processed baked good or sweet. But the thing is, I’ve now come to prefer baked goods with raw or natural sugars, real fats, and whole grains. Don’t get me wrong; my whole wheat chocolate chip cookies definitely don’t taste like Subway’s gooey, processed ones, but I actually prefer it that way. The processed versions of food now taste…well, processed. The complexity is missing. The chemically fakeness comes through, and not only do I feel worse after eating these things, but everything tastes funny afterwards too. Try it. What do you have to loose? I’m certainly glad I challenged myself to make the change; my aversion for vegetables is nearly extinct, and processed foods are mostly a thing of the past. And, to get you started off, I’ve got a great recipe for you. It was shared with me by my brother and his girlfriend. I’m not going to call it a “burger” because then you might be disappointed when it doesn’t taste like a Big Mac, and this…this creation, well, it’s awesome and I don’t want you to miss out because you had the wrong expectations. It’s complex, and rich, and just delicious. Let’s just call it garlicky sweet potato goodness.
Garlicky Sweet Potato Goodness
adapted from How Sweet It Is
makes 4-6 patties
2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
1 can cannellini beans
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp minced garlic)
1 ½ tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 egg
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup flour (oat, whole wheat)
Garlic Sauce
1/3 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
1 bulb roasted garlic (see below for how to roast)
½ tsp maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste
Extras
2-3 tbs oil for sautéing
1 avocado (sliced for serving)
whole wheat buns (I made my own, which you can see in the pic, but some good whole-grain store bought ones, sans corn syrup or ingredients you can’t pronounce work just fine)
1) Roast Garlic and sweet potatoes. Heat oven to 350*. Peal all but the closest, most inner layer off of the bulb of garlic. Cut the very top off of the garlic bulb, so that it sits upright on its own, and the cloves within are just sliced open. Place on a piece of foil and drizzle with olive oil. Close foil around top and place in the oven. Puncture the sweet potatoes with a fork several times to allow the steam to escape. Place in oven, on top of foil or with foil underneath the rack to catch the yummy juices and sugars that will seep out as they’re baking. Bake garlic for about 20 minutes until golden and delicious smelling. Bake potatoes about 30ish minutes, or until a fork can be inserted easily.
*alternatively, you can puncture the potatoes and put them in the microwave for about five minutes until soft. I prefer the oven since I’m already using it for the garlic and because the nutrients of foods tend to be better protected through oven cooking
2) Slice potatoes in half and allow to cool until they can be easily handled. Meanwhile, rinse and drain your beans and place into a medium-sized bowl. When potatoes are cooled, scoop the insides into the bowl with the beans, discarding the skins. Mash together with a fork until well mixed and beans are mostly smushed. Add spices, garlic, egg, and flours and mix. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes (can be longer, but at least 20 minutes).
3) While mixture is chilling, prepare sauce. Put the yogurt, roasted garlic, maple syrup, and salt/pepper into a blender or food processor. (the garlic should just squeeze right out of the remaining peel/”paper”) Process/blend until fairly smooth.
4) Once sweet potato mixture is chilled, heat a skillet over medium heat; add about 1-2 Tbs of olive oil. Mold mixture into desired-size patties and place in the skillet. (the original recipe says to make 4 patties; we did this, but they were HUGE. Make your own decision. These patties do not “stick together” like a normal burger might, so if they are super thick, chances are they will ooze out the sides of the bun as you’re eating. Not a problem, just might require a fork to finish off the meal! Next time, we will make them smaller/thinner and just make more of them!) Allow the first side to cook fully, becoming golden, before flipping - about 5 minutes. Don’t flip too early or they might fall apart. Once golden, flip and repeat on the other side, adding more oil if necessary – about five more minutes.
5) Place a patty onto a bun (toasted or otherwise). Top with some of your garlic sauce and a few slices of avocado. Consume immediately and see how awesome real, natural food can be. J
*I have not tried freezing the cooked patties, but they store well in the fridge. I put the patties onto a piece of wax paper and then put another piece of waxed paper on top to separate the patties in a container. Today, I heated one up on a skillet again, making the outside a bit crispy, and just put it on a bed of greens with the sauce and avocado. It was AWESOME!
Here it is, I challenge you to cut out processed foods for three weeks. I want you to see if you can learn to appreciate natural foods and how incredible they taste. Why three weeks, you might ask. It takes our taste buds about three weeks to die and repopulate. Right now, the majority of our society pollutes their taste buds. They are assaulted almost immediately by massive amounts of fat, sugar, and salt that’s been packed into otherwise inedible foods. So much of what we eat is a chemically-concocted, indestructible, would-survive-an-apocalypse combination of completely unnatural, non-food items that in order to make it palatable, it must be infused with massive amounts of fat, sugar, and salt (i.e. the Twinkie). And, we’re not talking “normal” sugars and fats, we’re talking “super-charged” versions. Not the natural sweetness of fresh pineapple, but the distilled, manufactured, man-made sugariness of corn syrup and dextrose, unnatural forms of these flavors that our body doesn’t recognize.
What does this mean for our palates? Think about when you brush your teeth first thing in the morning. Your mouth is all minty fresh and then you go to the kitchen, pour some OJ, take a sip and…. GROSS! That juice tastes just nasty! I know we’ve all done this, whether it be OJ or yogurt, or some other normal breakfast food. Now, you KNOW that juice doesn’t actually taste that way, that the minty toothpaste has obscured your palate and made it hard to taste and enjoy the actual juice. That’s what all the processed foods with sugar and fat and salt do to your palate and your taste buds…but for a lot longer than a couple sips of OJ. The natural sweetness of fruits and veggies and whole grains is lost on us because our palates are so blown out from the constant assault of “super-charged” sugars and fats and salts that we can’t appreciate or even recognize the complexities and richness of natural, real foods. But, over the course of time (about three weeks), those taste buds will be replaced with new, unadulterated baby buds. If you don’t coat them with the processed palate pulverizers, you might actually begin to enjoy all the sweetness, saltiness, and richness of natural foods.
Now, I still enjoy the occasional processed baked good or sweet. But the thing is, I’ve now come to prefer baked goods with raw or natural sugars, real fats, and whole grains. Don’t get me wrong; my whole wheat chocolate chip cookies definitely don’t taste like Subway’s gooey, processed ones, but I actually prefer it that way. The processed versions of food now taste…well, processed. The complexity is missing. The chemically fakeness comes through, and not only do I feel worse after eating these things, but everything tastes funny afterwards too. Try it. What do you have to loose? I’m certainly glad I challenged myself to make the change; my aversion for vegetables is nearly extinct, and processed foods are mostly a thing of the past. And, to get you started off, I’ve got a great recipe for you. It was shared with me by my brother and his girlfriend. I’m not going to call it a “burger” because then you might be disappointed when it doesn’t taste like a Big Mac, and this…this creation, well, it’s awesome and I don’t want you to miss out because you had the wrong expectations. It’s complex, and rich, and just delicious. Let’s just call it garlicky sweet potato goodness.
Garlicky Sweet Potato Goodness
adapted from How Sweet It Is
makes 4-6 patties
2 medium-sized sweet potatoes
1 can cannellini beans
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp minced garlic)
1 ½ tsp paprika
1/8 tsp cumin
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
1 egg
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
1/3 cup flour (oat, whole wheat)
Garlic Sauce
1/3 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
1 bulb roasted garlic (see below for how to roast)
½ tsp maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste
Extras
2-3 tbs oil for sautéing
1 avocado (sliced for serving)
whole wheat buns (I made my own, which you can see in the pic, but some good whole-grain store bought ones, sans corn syrup or ingredients you can’t pronounce work just fine)
1) Roast Garlic and sweet potatoes. Heat oven to 350*. Peal all but the closest, most inner layer off of the bulb of garlic. Cut the very top off of the garlic bulb, so that it sits upright on its own, and the cloves within are just sliced open. Place on a piece of foil and drizzle with olive oil. Close foil around top and place in the oven. Puncture the sweet potatoes with a fork several times to allow the steam to escape. Place in oven, on top of foil or with foil underneath the rack to catch the yummy juices and sugars that will seep out as they’re baking. Bake garlic for about 20 minutes until golden and delicious smelling. Bake potatoes about 30ish minutes, or until a fork can be inserted easily.
*alternatively, you can puncture the potatoes and put them in the microwave for about five minutes until soft. I prefer the oven since I’m already using it for the garlic and because the nutrients of foods tend to be better protected through oven cooking
2) Slice potatoes in half and allow to cool until they can be easily handled. Meanwhile, rinse and drain your beans and place into a medium-sized bowl. When potatoes are cooled, scoop the insides into the bowl with the beans, discarding the skins. Mash together with a fork until well mixed and beans are mostly smushed. Add spices, garlic, egg, and flours and mix. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes (can be longer, but at least 20 minutes).
3) While mixture is chilling, prepare sauce. Put the yogurt, roasted garlic, maple syrup, and salt/pepper into a blender or food processor. (the garlic should just squeeze right out of the remaining peel/”paper”) Process/blend until fairly smooth.
4) Once sweet potato mixture is chilled, heat a skillet over medium heat; add about 1-2 Tbs of olive oil. Mold mixture into desired-size patties and place in the skillet. (the original recipe says to make 4 patties; we did this, but they were HUGE. Make your own decision. These patties do not “stick together” like a normal burger might, so if they are super thick, chances are they will ooze out the sides of the bun as you’re eating. Not a problem, just might require a fork to finish off the meal! Next time, we will make them smaller/thinner and just make more of them!) Allow the first side to cook fully, becoming golden, before flipping - about 5 minutes. Don’t flip too early or they might fall apart. Once golden, flip and repeat on the other side, adding more oil if necessary – about five more minutes.
5) Place a patty onto a bun (toasted or otherwise). Top with some of your garlic sauce and a few slices of avocado. Consume immediately and see how awesome real, natural food can be. J
*I have not tried freezing the cooked patties, but they store well in the fridge. I put the patties onto a piece of wax paper and then put another piece of waxed paper on top to separate the patties in a container. Today, I heated one up on a skillet again, making the outside a bit crispy, and just put it on a bed of greens with the sauce and avocado. It was AWESOME!
