Veggie Burger Anyone?

by Felicia A. Williams

Summer is here, the grill comes out of hibernation and my seasonal meat eating debate begins. I love grilled food! I especially love grilled vegetables. Vegetables seem to gain a while new personality once they’ve spent a few minutes on the grill Grill

That’s all well and good, but being raised in a meat eating family, a grill usually means lots of meat. There’s something about eating perfectly seasoned and grilled chicken wings on a charcoal grill. It really doesn’t get much better than that (in my opinion).

In my never-ending attempt to improve my health and eating habits, I decided to forgo my usual turkey burger this Memorial Day and make veggie burgers instead. Being that it was my first attempt I didn’t think they were quite ready to be unveiled on a charcoal grill so I cooked them inside.

For all of you veggie burger makers out there, I welcome any tips, pointers and ideas on how to make the veggie burger consistency better. They tasted just fine, but they weren’t ready to go on a grill because their consistency would cause them to eventually fall in between the bars on the grill and become fire starter.

Here’s what I used:

  • Package of dry navy beans
  • Package of dry pink beans
  • TofuBurger
  • Onion
  • Red and green pepper
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • Cayenne pepper
  • Brown rice
  • Garlic powder

This is what I did:

  1. After washing the beans, I boiled them in water seasoned with Goya chicken bouillon in a pot until they softened. The brown rice was left over from a meal I served earlier in the week so I didn’t have to cook it.

  2. In a food processor I processed the beans, tofu, onion, pepper and seasonings. Actually I pulsed it so that it wouldn’t turn into liquid mush. I seasoned to taste and then took a scoop full and cooked it in a hot skillet with a little oil.

  3. Although they tasted very good, they were a little too loose so I threw in a little organic whole-wheat flower to tighten it up a little. All that managed to do was give it a crab cake type of texture.

  4. I sprinkled a little cheese on top to make it a veggie cheeseburger and called it a day.

My daughter is hooked. She said that next to French Fries she thinks that veggie burgers are her favorite meal (this from the queen of chicken nugget and fries).

My goal is to create veggie burgers of a grilling consistency. I don’t want to be the one stuck in the kitchen cooking veggie burgers while everyone else is outside having a great time around the grill.

Felicia A. WilliamsABOUT THE AUTHOR: Felicia A. Williams is a freelance writer and webmaster of this website, Tidbits & Stuff and No Job for Mom.com. She also blogs about Living Green one choice at a time.

This document originally written: May 27, 2008

A Dose of Health © 2007, 2008
Felicia A. Williams