Some friends and I have a nice tradition of getting together Friday evenings and making dinner for each other. We take turns so we only have to cook, approximately, every fifth time we get together. This works great for me because sometimes, I just don’t want to cook!

But this week it was my turn. I knew I wanted to make them these beer fries because I was obsessed with them and because I actually wanted to try them when half of them weren’t cooked to a lovely shade of black! My problem was, what to serve them with? I’m the only one in the group that has any sort of weird dietary restrictions. Because of that, we tend to eat a vegetarian diet on Fridays. I knew I couldn’t try and get a veggie burger past them, though. One of the guys at the dinner, BJ, reluctantly gives up meat for this one meal per week but often notes how everything we eat would taste better with bacon.  One time, his sister and I slipped some Morningstar chicken in his meal and he still threatens to slip me bacon as pay back. I couldn’t risk feeding him a veggie burger!

So I did what any good friend would do…I made them real hamburgers while I chowed down on this super delicious vegan burger. Thank gosh I didn’t try to feed these to them… they affectionately dubbed them “The Bird Seed” burgers. I just call them delicious!!

Nuts and Oats Veggie Burger aka “Bird Seed” Burgers
from Oh She Glows

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• Flax eggs: 2.5 tbsp ground flax + 1/2 cup warm water, mixed in bowl
• 1 cup oats, processed into flour* (other flours might work)
• 1.5 cups bread crumbs (I processed 3 pieces of When Pigs Fly Honey Wheat bread until fine crumb)*
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup cooked black beans, rinsed and roughly pureed or mashed  (I just roughly mashed them with afork)
• Heaping 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (or fresh herb of choice)
• 1/3 cup almonds, chopped (toasted if preferred, I bought unsalted dry roasted)
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds, (toasted if preferred)
• 1 tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp Tamari (soy sauce)
• 1.5 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. oregano
• Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp kosher salt)

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, sauté onions and garlic in 1/2 tbsp oil. Mix your flax egg together in a small bowl and set aside for at least 10 mins while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

2. Place all ingredients (except spices and salt) into a large mixing bowl and stir very well. Now, add seasonings and salt to taste.

3. With slightly wet hands, shape dough into patties. Pack dough tightly as this will help it stick together. I made 8 medium patties.

4. Cooking methods: You can fry the burgers in a bit of oil on a skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side. If baking in the oven, bake for 25-30 mins (15-17 minutes on each side) at 350F, until golden and crisp. For the BBQ, pre-bake the burgers for about 15 minutes in oven before placing on a pre-heated grill until golden and crisp on each side. I fried it in a skillet. Yum!

I had high hopes for these burgers. Angela at Oh She Glows.com called them the Perfect Veggie Burger. Well…how could I not try it? Though I don’t know if I would call them perfect, they were pretty darn tasty! I actually really liked the crunch that the sunflower seeds and almonds gave them. Will, the only brave soul to try these on Friday, seemed to agree with me on that point.

Also, because I was making this while trying to make beer fries and real burgers (um…I don’t even know how many times I got burned with grease…), I ended up only cooking  2 or 3 on Friday and then freezing the rest, uncooked. To reheat them, I just thawed out the patty, reshaped it a bit and then fried it up. Still tasted delicious!

They were especially delicious when topped with caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, sliced avocado and BBQ sauce. *drool* I can’t wait for dinner tonight….