"I can has cheezeburger?"- How to make healthier "Fast Food": Vegeburger and fries (vegan)

Burger in a bun with fries.... 

So what is this doing on a blog about wholesome vegan and vegetarian cooking and spirituality? A burger is made of meat- usually from Mother Cow- and it's full of unhealthy saturated fat too. Burger buns are highly processed, refined white flour with a lot of white sugar, food additives and goodness knows what else in them. Fries are full of fat that has been heated beyond its smoke point so that it becomes potentially carcinogenic, and ketchup is loaded with white sugar, vinegar and chemicals. What little salad there is, is probably boring old lettuce and tomato, and not very fresh either, right?
- Wrong! Just take a closer look and you will see...

...it's a vegeburger!

Actually, this whole meal is vegan, but you could, like the cat in the famous picture, "has cheezeburger", if you wish! (Or use a vegan cheese replacement such as Scheese, Tofutti or Cheezly.) For some simple and yummy low fat vegetarian and vegan burger recipes, look here, here, here, here and here. The buns shown above were made using my bread machine to knead and rise the dough while I got on with some long-overdue housework. Unlike commercially-made bread, they have no additives and are just flour, olive oil, a little salt, a little raw sugar and sesame seeds. (We only had white flour in the cupboard at the time, but usually I would have gone the whole way and made them wholemeal- even healthier, as it contains more fibre and B-vitamins.) By coincidence, today Aarthi of Yummy Tummy has posted a burger buns recipe, so take a look at it here. There really is nothing like the smell of home baking to tempt the kids in for lunch!

You could use your favourite pav bun recipe if you like, or go completely wholemeal

 Now let's look at the fries...

...not as unhealthy as they might seem at first...

The "fries" have been cut thicker, so as to minimise the amount of fat each one will absorb on its surface, I left the peel on (more fibre) and I used an oil which does not become unstable at a high temperature so that it isn't a toxic health risk. Of course, you could be even smarter and not fry at all, brushing the chips with a little oil and baking them in the oven. Then they would probably have less fat.

 And what about that limp lettuce leaf and sad tomato?

...Get creative, and throw in olives, cucumber, rocket, beansprouts, alfalfa, avocado...

...and serve more salad on the side,as well as in the bun, so you don't fill up on loads of fries. Don't bother with oily dressings either if you have home-made ketchup and/ or tofu mayo, in a recipe here. The ketchup is too easy to even warrant a recipe: mix tomato puree with lemon juice, seasalt, black pepper, date syrup/ gour and hing to your taste and nobody in your house will ever want to buy a bottle of ketchup again!

Great to dip your fries in!

So there you have it:there are healthier alternatives to meat burgers, commercial breads, lacklustre salad garnish, french fries, ketchup and mayo. Of course, the great thing about this meal is that as well as being healthier, it's all offerable to Krishna too :)

PS: Please don't forget to join in my Amazing Almonds event! Nobody has linked anything yet :(