Gardenburger Recipe

I checked out a few cookbooks at the library last week and several of the recipes we tried this weekend were from those books. So far we have had two winners for the Top Secret Recipes Lite. with several others in that book left to taste. I think this is the same type sold in the frozen food section at the grocery store, so we may go that route next time just to compare.

The Gardenburger recipe was a lot of work for us since we have a itsy bitsy food processor. However, they were tasty, so I would take back some of those bad words I was saying when I had the pasty goop all over my hands and had to fill and empty the bowl a dozen times. We made a double recipe and everything worked out okay in the end. I recommend you have margarita ingredients on hand if you only have a little food processor -- you might get as grumpy as I need and need the "break."

Garden Burger Veggie Patties (makes 6 patties)

2 TBSP Bulger wheat (we found it near the flour at the store)
1 LB. mushrooms, quartered
1 C. diced onion
1/2 C. rolled oats
2/3 C. cooked brown rice
1/2 C. shredded low-fat mozzerella cheese
2 TBSP shredded low-fat cheddar cheese
2 TBSP low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
dash of pepper
2 TBSP corn starch
olive oil cooking spray

1. Add 1/4 C. boiling water to wheat in small bowl and let set about an hour.

2. Add 1/2 C. water to oats and let them soak until soft (about 10 minutes.)

3. Steam mushrooms about 10 minutes until tender. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Steam onions about 15 minutes until translucent. Keep separate from mushrooms, but set aside.
5. Drain excess water from wheat and oats, then combine wheat, oats, rice, mushrooms, cheeses and spices in a food processor. Pulse 4 or 5 times until ingredients are chopped fine but not pureed. You want it to be coarse with some chunks.
6. Pour mixture in bowl with onion and corn starch and mix well.
7. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F, and set large skillet over medium/low heat.
8. Spray skillet with olive oil spray. Make patties (1/2 cup flattened to 1/2" thick). Cook patties 2-4 minutes per side until light brown on surface.
9. After skillet cooking all patties, arrange them on lightly sprayed baking sheet and bake 20-25 minutes in oven turning over half way through cook time.

Serve immediately on bun with burger condiments, tomato, onion, lettuce & pickle. After cooking, they can be frozen, too. To reheat, thaw completely, spray skillet, and cook each patty 3-4 minutes per side or grill until hot.

These were very tasty and healthy, too. 135 cal per patty, 3 g. fat.