June Menu and a Great Veggie Burger Recipe

It's hard to believe we've already reached the end of May - but the calendar rarely lies so here we are.  Our June Menu is pretty similar to last month's, but I did put the homemade lumpia I made on it (woohoo).  The only downside to lumpia is they are 6 points each - and it is impossible to stop at just one (I may or may not have eaten 4 before I looked at how many points they were - oops).   

The other thing I added were cheeseburgers/veggie burgers.  Eric doesn't like cheeseburgers, so for a long time they were my guilty pleasure when I went to restaurants.  However, he does like veggie burgers.  The problem is even though they sound healthy - a lot of the options in the stores have unnecessary ingredients (including caramel color - which is on Eric's "wont eat" list due to reports like this.).  So one day I suggested we make our own - and after looking at a few options we chose this recipe.

Veggie Patties:

Ingredients:
2 tbsps olive oil
3 tbsps diced red onion
2 tbsps diced black olives
2 tbsps diced red bell peppers
1 1/2 tbsps diced garlic
1/2 cup black beans, drained
1/2 cup chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup white beans, drained
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp ground sage
2 tbsps seasoned bread crumbs
1 egg

Combine the red onion, black olives, bell peppers and garlic (Instead of chopping each thing individually, I guessed the amount for each item and used the food processor to dice them).  Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and saute the veggies.  Remove from heat and place in a large bowl.

Add all of the beans to the food processor and pulse to the consistency desired (your choice how chunky you want your patties).  You can either add the oats to the beans and pulse, or leave them whole and add after they are done.  Mix the beans, oats, bread crumbs and herbs with the cool veggies.  Add the egg and combine thoroughly.  Form 4 patties and place in refridgerator for 30 min.

Heat remaining oil (plus more if you want/need), and cook the patties until browned on both sides.  Serve immediately.
 
The first time I made them, I followed the instructions and didn't mash the beans.  Eric liked them, but they were super crumbly.  So the second time I made them, I put them in the food processor and they were a lot more like a patty.  I think I might even be able to put them on the BBQ this summer. 

Also, I think I will add the jalapeno's the next time I make them, which wont be for awhile.  After I tried the recipe and got 4 patties, I had tons of beans left (I had to buy cans for all of them and it only called for about 1/3-1/4 of each can).  So I made the recipe again and tripled all of the ingredients - I now have about 12 patties in my freezer for future use :) 

At this point you might be wondering - where's the picture that will make me want to make these right now?  Well, I forgot to take pictures of the first time I made these - then I made them a second time to take pictures (which I still forgot to do!) and now I have kind of been banned from making them until I either find my sandwich grill, buy a new BBQ or have a ventilation system installed.  Since I was only making one patty last time the pan had a lot of unused space, and it took longer to cook because it was frozen, and the oil kind of smoked a lot, and we don't have a fan over the stove (unfinished kitchen, remember?) and Eric's office kind of filled up with smoke since it is upstairs...so yeah I wont be making these for at least a few weeks.  Go ahead and laugh - it's okay.

If you would like to see a picture - follow the link above. Trust me, if you like veggie burgers this is a great recipe to try!!