by Sidonie Maroon, abluedotkitchen.com

Adapting to challenging times; supporting protests for racial justice; the roller coaster ride with everyday normalcy — I want to pause and acknowledge that we’re in this together and it’s not easy.

For my health and wellbeing, I’m tending my inner support systems and asking — Do my daily actions and attitudes give me strength?

I know that eating sugar knocks me off balance, while nuts and seeds calm me down. Yoga gives energy, but too much social media fills me with anxiety. I’m realigning my compass, which has lately felt a few degrees off.

With everything going on, I’ve overused my adrenals hyped on emotional concerns beyond my control. I’ve felt overwhelmed and a need to realign. So I went back to basics—relearning and remembering.

Six Kitchen Practices That Make Me Feel Strong

1. Pre-planning Meals: Knowing a few hours ahead what I’m making and how much time and effort it’ll take. I like to plan the week on Monday, at least in broad strokes, and then adapt as needed. This allows me to make healthy choices and work in ingredients that need using.

2. Giving gifts to tomorrow’s me: It feels so good to wake up to a clean kitchen, to have the table already set, veggies or sauces prepared. It’s like having elves in the house on my side.

3. Knowing what I eat: I don’t have to think anymore about foods that make me sick, but are tempting. They’re not on my list. This is power!

4. Keeping things organized, Mise en place, everything in its place and ready to use when needed.

5. Attending to the fun stuff: good quality tea and coffee, music, enjoyable dishware even if it’s from the thrift store, ice cubes, something sweet, cozy place to cuddle up with a snack, time to experiment and make messes, cooking with friends and family, joy, seasonal foods like strawberries.

6. Making meals that are delicious and healthy but not labor intensive. I have techniques, equipment and systems to support this way of cooking. I cook with ease, allowing my skills to make it easy.

Cooking is my place to reset and begin again. Like the yoga mat, it’s fundamental. I have to show up, so we can eat, regardless of how I feel. There’s no getting around it, so I might as well find a positive attitude if I want to thrive. Some days it’s easy, others not so much.

I have my strategies and tactics. Some kitchen practices support my capacity for ease, while others get me out of a tight spot by making life easier.

Building cooking skills, like learning the piano, it creates inner ease because I know what I’m doing. I never want to stay a novice and end up playing “twinkle twinkle little star” forever. Challenge, growth and learning feed my desire for overall ease through strength.

This brings us to Plantaise, a thick and rich vegan mayo, and Planet Burgers, an easy homemade mix, so you can whip up a plant based healthy meal in no time. Make the mix with new-friend ingredients and skills and let it help bring ease and joy into this wild and weird summer. If only for a while, put your feet up, breathe, and how about some iced tea?

Planet Burger Mix

3 cups dry mix makes 12 burgers

Or 4 burgers per cup of mix

Quick

Delicious and healthy. Keep this dry mix in the fridge to make plant based burgers anytime. One cup of mix makes four burgers. They’re yummy baked or fried. Top with homemade plantaise, vegan mayo, Maroon’s barbeque sauce and pickles.

Ingredients

1 cup whole dry chickpeas

2 tablespoons flax meal

1 tbsp psyllium seed husk powder

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1 tbsp smoked paprika

2 teaspoons garlic powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup dehydrated onion flakes

1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/2 cup walnuts or other raw nuts

Directions for dry planet burger mix

Using a high speed blender on the top setting, grind the chickpeas into a soft flour. Dump the flour into a work bowl. Add the remaining ingredients to the blender and grind them into a flour. Blend the flours together in the work bowl and rub out any lumps with your fingers. Store the planet burger mix in the fridge or freezer.

Directions for making planet burgers

1 cup of mix makes 4 medium-sized burgers.

Pour one cup of mix into a small work bowl. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon Braggs liquid aminos, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar and ¼ cup boiling water to the mix. Stir for 1 minute until a soft dough forms. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes. Lay a piece of oiled parchment paper out on a baking sheet. Oil your hands and divide the dough into 4 evenly sized balls. Press each ball with the palm of your hand into a patty. If needed, dust the patties with flour of your choice if you are planning on frying them. If baking, rub each with 1 teaspoon olive oil.

To Fry Burgers

Preheat a skillet. Pour ½ cup high heat oil into the skillet. Allow the oil to heat to between 350 F and 375 F. Fry the burgers for about 2 ½ to 3 minutes per side or until crisp on the outside but still juicy inside.

To Bake Burgers

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for about 15 minutes.

Serve hot on buns with the fixings.

Plantaise (Vegan Mayo)

Makes 2 cups

Quick
This is a thick and smooth vegan mayo. Serve it plain or use it as a base for other flavored mayos.

Ingredients

12 ounces firm organic tofu, crumbled

4 teaspoons dijon mustard

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar

½ teaspoon guar gum

1 tablespoon agar flakes

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 cup avocado oil

Directions

Using a high-powered blender, add all the ingredients and blend on high until smooth. Stop and scrape down the sides as necessary. You may need to blend for several minutes before you get a thick and smooth sauce. Will keep refrigerated for several weeks.

Variation for spicy mayo

Add ¼ teaspoon sriracha sauce and 1 teaspoon dried onion flakes per 1 tablespoon mayo.