Bring the 'beet' back!

My fabulous Veggie friend, Tambra Riddle, introduced me to a delicious spin on a burger,  (click on her name to check out her website which is chock full of other savvy ideas!).  She dropped the beets in this healthy burger and I was impressed with the yumminess so I cooked 'em up for the fam last night.  The results were overwhelmingly positive and now I'm passing the love along.

What's in a beet?  This powerful little phytonutrient (ala Belatins) provides a great source of fiber, potassium, vitamin C and iron...just to name a few.  They are also anti-inflammatory and give their consumers a boost of antioxidants.

"In recent lab studies on human tumor cells, betanin pigments from beets have been shown to lessen tumor cell growth through a number of mechanisms, including inhibition of pro-inflammatory enzymes (specifically, cyclooxygenase enzymes). The tumor cell types tested in these studies include tumor cells from colon, stomach, nerve, lung, breast, prostate and testicular tissue." -- http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=49

The recipe also incorporates brown rice, flaxseed and lentils...more sources of fiber and protein.  What's not to love?  I promise, after you try one of these beets, you won't miss the meat.  Hey...I'm a poet and I know it!

What's in your burger?

The good stuff - 

These portions will yield (approximately) 12 burgers...I highly advise freezing any unused portion and then cooking them when the next meal comes around.

If you don't want to put this in the food processor, getting to this step was yummy enough for me to eat as is! 

12 Tbl water

6 Tbl ground flaxseed (you can also use ground Chia seeds)  - DO NOT SKIP THIS INGREDIENT, this is the binding agent

2 Tbl olive oil (divided) - I used more than 2 via eye balling 

2 cups crimini mushrooms, cleaned and coarsely chopped (I don't like mushrooms, so I skipped this)

1 cup yellow onion, coarsely chopped (I just used a small little onion, no measuring needed)

6 Tbl tamari (or low Sodium soy sauce, which is what I used)

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tsp Dijion mustard

1 tsp salt (eye balled)

1 tsp ground rosemary (which, let me tell you is nowhere to be found, so I used 1/2 tsp all spice and 1/2 tsp coriander) 

1/2 tsp black ground pepper (eye ball)

3 cups cooked green lentils (drained)

3 medium sized beets finely shredded

2 3/4 cups cooked short grain brown rice, divided (p.s. short grain takes about 50 to cook)

This truly looked like raw meat, kind of made me think I could really fool some of my favorite carnivores...hmmmmm

1.  In a small bowl, combine water and ground flax or chia seeds.  Stir and set aside to thicken

2.  In a saute pan over medium heat, heat a splash of olive oil.  Add mushrooms and onion and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring infrequently, until onions are caramelized.  Add tamari (soy sauce), garlic, mustard, salt, spices and pepper.  Fold in lentils, beets and 1.5 cups of brown rice.

3.  In a food processor, add saute pan contents and seed/water mixture and process for (roughly) 20 seconds.  Transfer processed mixture into medium sized bowl.  Stir in remaining rice.

4.  In a saute pan or skillet over medium heat, heat remaining oil.  Once pan is hot, form small patties and cook 'em up.  Cook for 5 minutes until golden brown, flip, and then cook 5-7 minutes longer.  This time will varry.

5.  OR preheat oven to bake at 350 - place patties on a foil covered cookie sheet.  Be sure to put a bit of oil on the foil first!  Then slightly coat top of patties with olive oil.  Bake patties on one side for 20 minutes, take them out, flip them over and return to oven for another 10-15 minutes.

I put a bit of mustard on mine.  It's also fabulous with sliced avocado.  You can use a sprouted grain bun (or other types of buns). 

BRING THE BEET BACK!