Recipe: The Best God Damn Veggie Burger You Will Ever Eat

I love burgers. A good cheeseburger is pretty much essential to my happiness. Unfortunately, most ground beef that I can afford is not sustainably or humanely raised. So while I save up for my monthly ration of acceptable ground beef, I decided to figure how to make a tasty and nutritious veggie burger.  As a meat eater, the key to enjoying a veggie burger is to realize that the veggie burger will never taste like a meat burger... and that's ok! However, that does not mean the veggie burger has to taste like cardboard or be overly processed like some of the ones you can buy in the frozen section of the grocery store. The following is a recipe for the best veggie burger I have ever eaten.. and yes I made it myself... but my steak'n potatoes, mid-western raised husband also loved them, which is how I know they rock. In addition to tasting rad, these burgers pack a nutritional punch with a whole bunch of protein, iron and some carbs, which are all essential nutrients for endurance athletes. Personally, I think it should be illegal to ever eat burgers without avocado on them, so I highly recommend topping the burger with sliced avocado. I enjoy mine over a bed of spinach, arugula, watermelon radish and shredded carrot, but they would hold up really well being topped with cheese and shoved in a bun.

Prep time: 25 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Makes: 10 large or 18 small burgers

Ingredients

8 Portabello Mushrooms (chopped into 'cubes')

1 medium yellow onion (finely chopped)

1 medium beet (grated)

1/2 large orange sweet potato (also called a yam) (grated)

2 Jalepenos (finely chopped)

4 green onions (finely chopped)

2 15 oz cans of black beans (rinsed and drained - you can also pre-cook dried black beans if you prefer)

1 cup garbanzo flour

3 eggs

1 tablespoon butter or ghee

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 teaspoon Salt

2 teaspoons Paleo Jerk Seasoning (from Well Fed 2)

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire or Soy Sauce (warning some Worcestershire sauces have fish sauce in them)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan and when hot, add the onions. Let them cook for a few minutes and add the grated beet and grated sweet potato. This mixture should cook for about 10 minutes, until the sweet potato can cook and some of the moisture cooks off. Stir Occasionally.
3. While the veggie mixture is cooking, heat up the butter or ghee and sautee the chopped mushrooms. Use a garlic press to crush the garlic into the pan after a few minutes. If you don't have a garlic press, just finely chop the garlic. Add a sprinkling of salt and the Jerk seasoning. Saute the mushrooms until they are dark colored and have shrunk significantly. About 10 minutes.
4. While the other ingredients are cooking, add the rinsed and drained black beans to a large mixing bowl. Mash the beans with a potato masher until they are a paste like consistency.
5. Once the veggie mixture and mushrooms are cooked, add them to the black beans. Add in the jalapenos, green onions, salt and eggs and stir until the ingredients are mixed together. Add in about half the garbanzo flour and stir until combined. Repeat with the rest of the garbanzo flour.
6. Grease 2 muffin tins. I use the oversize ones that make 6 muffins each, but it will work fine with the smaller ones too. You may need to adjust the cooking time if you use a smaller muffin tin - check in at 15 minutes.
7. Fill the muffin tins with the mixture and pat down with spoon to make sure its packed in.
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes or so before removing from muffin tin. They kind of look like hockey pucks, but they taste amazing! (Alternatively, you could also fry them if you would rather)
9. The burgers can be eaten right away or refrigerated for about a week and re-heated either in the over, or by frying.
10. Things you can add to the burger mixture: corn, pumpkin seeds, Parmesan cheese..
11. Toppings: as I said above, avocado would be my number 1 topping. Cheese is always a good option.

I would love to hear what you add / what you top yours with! Enjoy!