Veggie Burgers and Grandmothers

Both of my grandmothers were incredible cooks. Absolutely incredible. Some of my most cherished memories are those spent with these amazing cooks in their kitchens while they prepared delightfully delectable dishes. There was never a time at either house that we left feeling less than completely satisfied and loved.

Not a single one of us can duplicate even the simplest of their sinfully delicious kitchen creations. And we have tried. Multiple times. Countless times. It simply cannot be done. And there is a very good reason for our failure. Neither of these accomplished cooks used such trite kitchen tools as measuring cups.

My mother once asked my grandmother how to make the pudding part of her banana pudding. Here it is:

Amount of sugar you think it needs

Add milk ‘till it tastes right

Add flour ‘till its thick enough

Start with 2 egg yolks; add more if needed

You can put vanilla in it but you don’t have to

 

This is all leading up to the explanation of why I can only give out the ingredients I used for those VEGGIE BURGERS I made this week. It's not that I don't want y'all to have it. It's that I cook just like my grandmothers did. I rarely, if ever, measure. I change most recipes that I do follow- adding or changing or taking out ingredients here and there. If I were to attend cooking school, I'm certain they would kick me out after one day.

That being said, here are the ingredients I used for the veggie burgers.

shredded carrots
shredded zucchini
a handful or two of mixed baby greens
chopped onion
1 can Garbanzo beans (chick peas)
oats (some I ground up in the food processor to a floury consistency, some I kept whole) [Next time I will use coconut flour and whole oats]
egg whites
various seasonings (this one is easy though- just add what your family likes)

I will mention that, once I had it all mixed up, I thought it was a tiny bit wet so I added some more oats. Next time, I will leave those extra oats out. I think they would have been even better had the mixture remained wet- but dry enough to stay together in a patty.

Then I simply baked them in the oven on 400 degrees. Don't remember how long but I did turn them over so they could brown a bit on both sides.

Sorry y'all. BUT here's some good news! For those of you who asked for the Zucchini Lasagna recipe, I can lead you to the one I used as a guideline:  my Zucchini Lasagna is based on Debbi's here. She also has a recipe for Tomato Zucchini Bisque that really is to die for! I follow the bisque recipe almost to the letter. It's so amazing!

As a matter of fact, Debbi has an entire index of recipes that she has modified for lower calories and calculated the nutritional value for her readers. I am using quite a number of her recipes as a guideline for the Slimmer this Summer Challenge! Check her out! 

AND maybe, if we're lucky, Patrice at Everyday Ruralty will share her Ratatouille recipe with us! She's a professional chef you know! (And mom to four daughters, wife of a farmer, friend extraordinaire, owner of Wendell the wonder horse...).