my favorite {vegan} burger

Now, as you all know...I am most certainly nothing close to vegan or vegetarian.  Mind you I have had my moments, but I do really and truly enjoy farm raised animal products.  Anyways...that is not the point of this post!  I wanted to share my new favorite vegan burger (which I suppose was turned vegetarian when I plopped a fried egg on top...see picture below).  I love veggie burgers of all kind...especially lentil burgers....but alas, these are now ranking #1.  They hold together beautifully (don't have egg to bother baby brother) and taste fantastic.... The recipe is modified from HERE....i just simplified it a bit.

sweet potato-black bean-tempeh burger.
Served on a toasted bun & topped with lettuce, veganaise (i prefer the grapeseed one), ketchup, avocado and a fried (runny) egg!

Okay now that I have you all drooling add the following to your next shopping list:

• 1 large sweet potato (cut/peel/cut into 1-2 inch pieces)
• 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 package tempeh (cut into a few pieces)

from the pantry you should have (if not...pick it up!)

• a couple shakes of soy sauce or tamari
• a big squirt ketchup
• 1 cup oats (you can add more if your final consistency of burger seems a bit too wet)
• garlic (i like a lot...3 or 4 minced tablespoons)
• salt & pepper to taste
• other seasonings optional...do what you want!  I simply put in a bit of chili powder & cumin.

Okay now that you have everything.  Steam the sweet potato and tempeh at the same time....they are done when the sweet potato is fork ready (the tempeh doesn't necessarily need to be steamed but i think it takes a bit of the bitterness away).  Separate the tempeh and let it cool a bit.  Combine potatoes and 1/2 black beans in your food processor (or blender...or heck a hand masher will work too!) and process them...chunks are fine!  Pour the processed yumminess into a big bowl and crumble the now cooled tempeh in.  Add the rest of the ingredients (including the rest of those black beans), mix thoroughly and then pop them in the fridge to cool (a cool veggie burger will hold together better...but if you are in a rush skip this step!)

Once burgers are cooled turn your oven onto 350, I like to form my burgers in a biscuit cutter (choose a biscuit cutter about the same size as your bread of choice).  Press a good handful into the biscuit cutter and voila....a perfect looking veggie burger.  Add a little olive oil to your favorite hot cast iron skillet...brown on both sides and then slide them onto a baking sheet and into the oven for 10 minutes (or until the rest of your burgers are done).  The kids also like it when I roll up little balls of these guys and they call them veggie nuggets (sure ...okay...sounds good...as long as they end up in their mouths).  Oh...and these freeze well - form burgers and then put on a little square of wax paper.  Put the burgers in the freezer on a baking sheet for an hour or so until they harden.  Then stack them and put them in a freezer safe container (the pre freeze on the baking sheet ensures they won't all stick together and you can pull out one at a time)...when you have a hankering for a burger just thaw and follow the browning and oven finish as described above.

seriously folks...try it out...you will never buy veggie burgers again!