I’m back!
Adjusting to life without Lilly has been hard…and weird. I still expect to see her when I get home and when I get up in the morning. The house is quiet. SO quiet! I knew she was a heavy breather but I didn’t realize she was that noisy!

When all this happened I was 100% never wanting another dog EVER. Ever. Ever. But then I had the bright idea to go online dog shopping and let me tell you that was a huge mistake!
Because as soon as I see a picture like this, it’s game over for me.

Seriously right? That is ridiculously cute. I know it’s not the right time for a new dog though. We have summer trips planned and puppies are a ton of work and blah blah blah. Whatever, my heart wants a new puppy so bad it’s crazy. Probably I should stop looking at pictures of dogs on the internet and just try living without a dog for 10 minutes.

Has it been 10 minutes yet…?

Ok let’s change the subject and talk about food instead!

Let’s talk about these veggie burgers I made over the weekend! They are a simplified version of these burgers I posted a while back.

They are really easy to make and really tasty to eat! They remind me of the type of veggie burger you get in a super fancy vegan restaurant. Except these will cost about $5 to make 11 burgers. I believe the combination of ketchup, red onion, avocado, bun and veggie burger is a magical thing. Oh and add sprouts to that list. Sprouts are a must.

I whipped these up in 14 minutes flat. They do have to go in the fridge for 30 minutes before they bake so I think the smartest way to go about making these would be to make the dough early in the day, stick it in the fridge and forget about it until dinner time. These did great on the grill and that’s my recommended method. Broiling them in the oven works just as well but be sure to use an old, junky cookie sheet you don’t care about because the broiler will warp a pan like crazy.

Restaurant Style Veggie Burgers
Makes 11 burgers

2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves minced garlic
1 yellow onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
6 tablespoons ground flax seed
2 cups cooked brown rice (or quinoa or a mixture of the 2)
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
Sea salt to taste

In a large frying pan sauté the onion, pepper and garlic in the olive oil over medium high heat for about 5 minutes.

While the veggies cook, get a very large mixing bowl out. In the mixing bowl, combine the flax seed, chili powder, cumin, nutritional yeast and salt.

I used a food processor for the next part but if you don’t have one you can just use a fork or your hands. The goal is basically to get the beans mushed up. Not puréed, just to the point where there are some whole beans and some smashed beans.

In a food processor, combine the rice and one can of beans. Pulse a few times to smash the beans a little, then transfer to the large mixing bowl full of spices. Then, take the remaining can of beans and the sautéed vegetables and pulse them together a few times in the food processor, again just to smash the beans a tad. Not puréed. Transfer to the mixing bowl.

Stir everything together in the mixing bowl. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer. This part is key because the flax seed will absorb moisture and give the dough a good texture.

After 30 minutes, form the dough into burger sized patties and grill, flipping once. They can also be broiled. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray and place them on the baking sheet. Set the oven to broil. Broil for 5-8 minutes or until burgers start to brown a little. Do not use parchment paper as it will catch on fire when the oven is on broil. I learned that the hard way.

Alright, that’s all for now! I have a couple more recipes I need to post so I better hop to it!

Laura