Delicious Vegan Burgers

I caught this recipe on a facebook post from the local healthfood store. I was hesitant to try it, since it takes so many ingredients. But thankfully I had all of them on hand, so I did it. I'm sooo glad I tried them, they are awesome! Plus they make 8 HUGE burgers. Trust me ONE is enough for each person, especially when paired with my home made wheat buns. It's worth the work, and they keep well in the fridge for a few days. Plus you get so many good things in the burgers... And they're VEGAN!  Yield: 8 burgers

 

You will need:

 

• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• Flax "eggs": 2.5 tbsp ground flax + 1/2 cup warm water, mixed in bowl
• 1 cup oats, processed into flour* (other flours might work)
• 1.5 cups bread crumbs (I processed 3 pieces of Alvarado bread until fine crumb)*
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed and roughly pureed or mashed 
• Heaping 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (or fresh herb of choice) Cilantro is yummy too
• 1/3 cup almonds, chopped1/2 cup sunflower seeds, (toasted if preferred)
• 1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
• 1.5 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. oregano
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp kosher salt)

Directions:

 

1. Preheat oven to 350F (if baking). In a large skillet, sauté onions and garlic in 1/2 tbsp oil. Mix your flax egg together in a small bowl and set aside for at least 10 mins while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

 

2. Place all ingredients (except spices and salt) into a large mixing bowl and stir very well. Now, add seasonings and salt to taste.

 

3. With slightly wet hands, shape dough into patties. Pack dough tightly as this will help it stick together. I made 8 medium patties.

 

4. Cooking methods: You can fry the burgers in a bit of oil on a skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side. If baking in the oven, bake for 25-30 mins (15-17 minutes on each side) at 350F, until golden and crisp. For the BBQ, pre-bake the burgers for about 15 minutes in oven before placing on a pre-heated grill until golden and crisp on each side. Our preferred method of cooking was the George Foreman Grill.

 

GF Note: To make these burgers gluten-free, use certified GF oats, GF Tamari, and gluten-free breadcrumbs.

Yam Sandwitch

A guy at our church thought up this recipe and verbally shared it with us Thursday night. He wasn't specific on the amounts or much. Just what he put in it. And so of course I had to go home and try out the idea and use Jerrod as my guinea pig. I was fearful that it would be terrible and he would come home starving cause he couldn't choke down his lunch... but the opposite happened. According to him it was so good he could eat it for lunch every day for 2 months. So I thought I'd share with you all. I haven't tried it out myself yet. Though I did taste a little of the mix while I was making it. Please feel free to add or subtract anything you want or don't want. It's all just what I had on hand.


You will need:

• A steamed or baked sweet potato or yam
• radishes
• onion (any type)
• hummus (recipe posted later)
• a pickle or pickle relish (sweet or salty)
• lettuce
• tomato
• sliced bread

1. First take the desired amount of yam and put it in a bowl. For reference I'll say 1 cup, but you can make any amount. Mix in 1/3 to 1/2 cup of hummus. Chop up the radishes (probably 1 or 2 small to medium ones) into very small pieces. Use about the same amount of onion chopped in very small pieces or even grated. Add half of a large pickle or 2 small baby pickles also chopped up very small like relish.
2. Stir all of the ingredients together well and then spread desired amount onto the slice of bread. Top with lettuce and sliced tomato.

This sandwich reminds me of a tuna fish sandwich. It smells like tuna too. I think it has to do with the pickles and onion. So you can also make it like you would with tuna and just use yams. Enjoy!