apple sage chickpea burgers

This recipe has been sitting in my head for quite awhile now.  I thought of it when I made the Italian tofu sausage a few months back.  As you can see, I am clearly missing the Field Roast vegan sausages, even after a full year of being gluten free.  So, I am doing my best to replicate the flavors in a new way.

This is the first veggie burger recipe I would actually consider eating for breakfast.  Especially when topped with the lemon ginger yogurt sauce you’ll see below.

Crockpot chickpeas!

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Veggie burgers can sometimes be a little tricky to get the hang of.  Often times, there are problems with the mixture holding together, or being too soft after cooking.

These seemed about as full proof as you can get!  Not too many ingredients, so not much can go wrong.  I always try to leave my veggie burger mixtures a bit on the textured side.  Gives them much better chew!  No one wants a mushy, doughy veggie burger.

Below is the mixture before adding the ground oats.

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My best textured veggie burger to date!  Although I’m still quite fond of The Burger.

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Enjoy these wrapped in lettuce with a few slices of apple, on a bun with melted cheese + ketchup, crumbled on a salad, or however you choose.

Apple Sage Chickpea Burgers

yields 9 small, 2-3” patties

  • 1.5 cup chickpeas
  • 1/4 cup onion, chopped
  • 1/2 cup apple, grated
  • 1.5 Tablespoons sage, finely chopped
  • 1/2 cup ground oats
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon oil + 1-2 Tablespoons for cooking
  • 3 Tablespoons sunflower seeds
  • pinch of black pepper
  1. Rinse + drain the chickpeas.
  2. Grind the oats, about half way to flour in a blender, food processor, coffee grinder, etc.  Measure out 1/2 cup and set aside.
  3. After grating the apple, squeeze between a few paper towels or a kitchen towel to absorb some of the moisture.  Measure a loosely packed half cup.
  4. Add the chopped onion + garlic to your food processor and pulse a few times.
  5. Add the chickpeas, apple, sage, salt, oil + black pepper.
  6. Process until everything is combined.  About 5-10 seconds.  Refer to photograph #2.
  7. Add in the ground oats and pulse around until the mixture holds together.  Avoid over processing, so the burgers have a nice texture.
  8. Test by forming a ball and pressing it into a patty.  If it’s not holding together, pulse in 1-2 Tablespoons more oats, until it holds.
  9. Stir in the sunflower seeds.
  10. Heat pan over medium and add 1-2 Tablespoons oil.  Coconut oil works really well for this.
  11. Form patties and cook on each side for about 4-6min until golden brown.

tips/substitutions: You may be able to add a flour instead of partially ground oats, but the texture will differ slightly.  I would start by adding 1/3 cup and go from there.

Lemon Ginger Yogurt Sauce

  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  1. Mix together and use as a topping.

I scarfed these down with side of cottage cheese scrambled eggs?  Major egg excitement over here.  Our local non-chain pet store sells fresh eggs!  The owners raise chickens and sell the eggs for the amazing price of $3!  And, they beat out every other farm fresh egg to date!  I’ve never seen such a golden yellow/orange color and the yolk sits about one inch high!  Even after adding cottage cheese, these scrambled eggs were bright yellow.

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Breakfast [lunch or dinner] is served!

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The sauce adds a nice tangy bite.  Made these today and they’re already 100% polished off.

This is another recipe, I highly recommend doubling.  Freeze one whole batch, by tightly wrapping each [cooled] burger in saran wrap, then in a sealed freezer bag.  Defrost the night before in the fridge.  Super quick and easy to heat back up and take to work in the morning, topped with an egg on a toasted bun, or lettuce wrap style.

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I’m missing those Field Roast sausages less + less.

Now back to being wrapped up in a blanket, on the couch, with a box of tissues, sipping tea, and eating popcorn. 

Ashley

sun butter banana protein bars

I cannot believe I just made a photo folder for the month of DECEMBER. 

And to kick off December 1st, Colorado knew just what to do.  With temps all week in the 50’s, today plummeted to the 20’s, and we got about 4” of snow.

It was a bit of a crazy day, evidenced partially by the photos below.

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My morning + afternoon were jam packed, leaving me with not much time to bust out this delicious experiment.

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Complete chaos, for one pretty easy recipe.  I’m making it look much worse than it actually needs to be.  I was also in a bit of a hurry because the snowy sunlight was fading fast. 

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So fast that I had to crank my ISO up to 1600 and leave you with this craptastic image.

crappy quality

fantastic tasting

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Bringing it closer to the window, did absolutely nothing to help the situation.

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Even taking it outside, proved useless.

But, that’s life.  Sometimes the sun doesn’t cooperate when you want it to.

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Sometimes, other things are more important.

Like the recipe.

Sun Butter Banana Protein Bars [serves 9] vegan/GF/nut free

  • 1 1/4c GF rolled oats
  • 1/2c GF oat flour
  • 1 1/2c GF brown rice cereal
  • 1/2c plain protein powder
  • 2 med. bananas [just less than 1c mashed]
  • 3T ground flaxseed meal
  • 1/4c sunflower seeds
  • 1/4c sunflower butter
  • 1/4c dark chocolate chips
  • 5T brown rice syrup
  • 1T vanilla extract
  • 1t cinnamon
  • 3/4t salt
  1. Preheat oven to 350*
  2. In a bowl, mash the banana until there are no lumps and then whisk in all other wet ingredients.
  3. In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients, except for the chocolate chips.
  4. Mix wet into dry and stir until just combined.
  5. In a lightly greased, or parchment lined 9x9 pan, spread the mixture evenly and bake for 30min.
  6. Let cool completely.
  7. Melt the chocolate in a small bowl, in the microwave in 20sec increments, stirring in between.
  8. Drizzle the chocolate on the bars, cut the bars, then place in the freezer for 5-10min until set.

tips/substitutions:  Buckwheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour should work in place of the oat flour.  You can grind GF oat flour from GF rolled oats or GF oat groats in a blender/coffee grinder/spice grinder.  I use Raw Protein, which was completely undetectable in the recipe.  I would suggest using a plain or possibly a vanilla flavor protein powder.  The protein powder I use has 80 cals + 18g protein per 1/4c serving.  I used 2 servings in this recipe.  You can most likely sub pumpkin or squash puree for the banana, at just under 1c, but it will take away a lot of the sweetness.  Sub any nuts or nut butter instead of sunflower if desired.  Honey or maple syrup can be subbed for the brown rice syrup.

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When these first came out of the oven, I didn’t have my hopes set too high.  I was betting that the texture would be off, but after fully cooling the bars, the texture was spot on.  Soft and chewy, but also held together very well.  Chris loved them too!  Double score. 

For me, 2 of these are the perfect mix of carbs, fats + protein to get my day started right.  It will be so nice to wake up to breakfast already made. 

More photos coming soon…

Ashley