Homemade Veggie Burgers!

At this time of year, both of our jobs get insane. Lots of late night meetings. Lots of school club events. Right now, we're in the thick of the school year with no end in sight. There's no real time to cook, which makes us very happy that we have our own version of "fast food" ready to go in our freezer. Lately, we've been partaking in the veggie burgers we made and froze over Winter Break (we quadrupled our batch and are so thankful we did!). We found the recipe in Vegetarian Times several years ago. We love experimenting by adding the various types of cheese we receive through our CSA cheese share and by whipping up tantalizing sauces!

Chicago Diner Burgers
3 stalks celery, diced (about 1 1/4 cups)

1 small onion, diced (about 1 cup)

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce

2 tsp. onion powder

2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
12 oz. mushrooms, finely chopped
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour

Directions (makes eight burgers)
1.Bring 4 cups water, celery, onion, soy sauce, onion powder, garlic powder and pepper to a boil in pot over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in oats, mushrooms and flour, and cook 5 minutes more. Transfer to bowl, and chill.

2.Preheat oven to 350F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Shape mixture into patties, and bake on prepared baking sheet 15 minutes. Flip, and bake 10 minutes more. Cool.

3.Heat grill to medium-high. Place foil on grill, and coat with cooking spray. Grill burgers on foil 7 minutes per side.
 
Per SERVING:  Calories 175; Protein 9g; Fat 2g; Saturated Fat 0g; Carbs 32g; Choelsterol 0mg; Sodium 289mg; Fiber 5g; Sugar 3g

In this picture, the burger is served with Otter Creek and Harmony Valley Farm's beet-garlic cheese and our own homemade red aoili sauce. To make our red aoili sauce, we simply blended some of the roasted red peppers from our freezer with Canola Mayonnaise. Yum!