BBQ Açaí Tempeh Burger

Warm nights, fresh produce, and a long weekend ahead of us. Grilling season. Like usual, I had to add the superfoods and turn the classic burger into ultimate vegan tastiness - and I think you'll like where it ended up. So here's to friends and BBQs and a great summer ahead of us all.

Açaí BBQ Sauce
(Enough for 2, size up as needed)

1/2 Sweet yellow onion
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 Sweet piquanté peppers (they are from South Africa and sometimes called Peppadews or peri peri peppadrops)
1/3 ketchup
1/2 tsp red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp chili powder (just use your favorite)
1/2 Sambazon Açaí Pure Smoothie Pack



Saute onion in oil till translucent, then add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer for a couple minutes. Pour into a blender, and blend till smooth.



The Burger

Tempeh
Yellow crooked-neck squash
Tomato
Avocado
Romaine lettuce

Douse tempeh with BBQ sauce and rub squash with olive oil and add to a hot grill. Let cook till brown lines appear, flip and do the same. Add extra sauce to your tempeh each time you flip it. After about 10 minutes, or until desired doneness, add your buns to the grill to toast them briefly. Then pull everything off and assemble as you please.

Great with sweet potato fries (make them yourself of buy them frozen) and Açaí Sangria!

B Corp: Certified Sustainable

We founded Sambazon (Sustainable Management of the Brazilian Amazon) eleven years ago with a desire to create positive social change through a “sustainable” business. Our philosophy was, and continues to be, based on a triple bottom line, which aims to achieve social, economic, and environmental success in all that we do. During this period, that very word, sustainable, has started to loose meaning as companies big and small adopt “sustainable” practices that have any range of positive influence from vast to none.

We’re not a fan of greenwashing any more than you are, so in a quest to seek out credible measures that would both demonstrate our transparency and keep Sambazon at the forefront of this movement, we continue to work hard to push the envelope with respected third parties to grow our certified USDA organic and Ecocert Fair Trade supply chain. And today, I’m happy to announce that Sambazon is honored to call itself a B(enefit) Corporation.

A certified B Corporation is a mission-driven organization that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems – and that mission is built into its legal DNA. Not only can companies become certified after passing a rigorous review process that looks at how a corporation treats its employees, consumers, community and environment, but B Corp is also working state by state to pass Benefit Corporation legislation – they are working on our home state of California right now.

You can see how Sambazon stacks up in the ranks of B Corporations in our public profile. http://www.bcorporation.net/sambazon. If you see something we should work on, let us know. We appreciate your insights and know that the ultimate success of our society is dependent on all of us working together to create the future we want.

Ryan Black, Co-Founder + CEO

Recipe: The Kale + Pineapple Bowl

Spring means tons of fresh leafy greens... at your local supermarket, in your CSA basket, or from your garden. I'm a big fan of kale, chard and collards (my new found favorite). So, with all this goodness floating around, I decided to make a fresh greens bowl this morning for breakfast with a handful of kale from my garden, although this would taste great with any leafy green you have around.



The Kale + Pineapple Bowl

2 Sambazon Original Açaí Smoothie Packs
1 Banana (half for blending, half for topping)
4-5 Leaves of kale
1/4 Cup pineapple (frozen or fresh)
A splash of apple juice (a little goes a long way)



Chop up your smoothie packs. The easiest way is to slice them in the middle then bend in half and squeeze them out. Then make sure you recycle them!





Blend everything up, top with half of the banana and Manitoba Harvest hemp seeds. Cheers to being a greenie!

Purple Hearts

Salted chocolate, caramel, açaí tarts... more purple in spirit than in look. This stuff is rich. I mean really rich. So make sure you have someone (or a few someones) to share it with. This also will take you a bit of time, about 3-4 hours. But in the end, you'll get to eat it, and its worth it.

Chocolate Tart Dough

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 Cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
1 Large egg yolk
1 Tsp pure vanilla extract (pls don't use vanilla flavoring, it's just never as good)
1 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1/4 Cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

I use an electric mixer because I just got one, and am obsessed with it, but you could easy hand mix this with a wooden spoon, it will just take a bit longer. Either way, mix butter and confectioners' sugar till smooth. Then add egg yolk and vanilla and mix till smooth.



sift flour and cocoa powder (this makes sure you don't have those evil clumps in your dough) and add to your bowl then mix until just combined; form dough into a disk, seal in plastic wrap, and chill for an hour.



Preheat oven to 325° F. Flour a large surface and roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch thick and press into a tart pan. You can either use a 10-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom or smaller individual tart pans - I used heart shaped small tart pans. Chill for about 30 minutes.



To bake, line with parchment paper and beans or weights - I didn't have parchment paper, and used garbanzo beans, which works, they just make small indents in the bottom of your tart - not a big deal. Bake with beans for 15 minutes, then pour the beans out and bake for 5-10 minutes more, or until crust is dry. Move to cooling rack.

Caramel Filling

1/2 Cup water
2 Cups granulated sugar
1/4 Cup light corn syrup
1/2 Cup heavy cream
8 Tbsp(1 stick) unsalted butter
2 Tbsp crème fraîche

Put water, sugar and corn syrup into a large saucepan and simmer and stir occasionally till it begins to turn golden. Turn off heat, and add cream (it will bubble ferociously once you begin to stir, but don't worry, it mellows out quickly). Add butter and crème fraîche and stir till smooth. If your caramel doesn't mix completely at first or you have some harder bits, you can put the pan on very low heat as you stir. Once mixed, let cool but stir occasionally so as not to form a crust on top. Pour into your tart and let it set.



Chocolate Ganache

1/2 cup heavy cream
3 1/2 ounces extra-bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 Scoops Sambazon Freeze-Dried Açaí Powder



Chop chocolate finely and put into a heatproof bowl. Heat cream to a slight boil and pour over chocolate. Let it sit for a moment, and then stir until smooth. Add in açaí powder and mix. While warm, pour into the tarts as the top layer and place tarts in the fridge to set.



To serve, remove tarts from the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to warm up to room temperature, and sprinkle with salt - I used large sea salt.

Adapted from LOTTIE + DOOF, who adapted a recipe from Marlow&Sons.