Yesterday was Earth Day, so I thought it would be a good idea to walk to the local grocery store and pick up the ingredients we needed to make some meatless meals.
The first one (which we had for supper last night) was Portobello Mushroom Burgers. I've made these a few times before, and my favourite version combines wonderful ingredients such as goat cheese, prosciutto, asparagus, and even peaches. Yesterday I thought I'd try a Mexican-inspired version, so here's what I came up with:
MEXI-MEATLESS BURGER
4 portobello mushrooms
1 can beer (I used Bud Light Lime)
1/2 pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp. Nacho Cheese Dip Mix (or any Mexican-flavoured seasoning)
1 green onion
2 tbsp. salsa
Soak the mushrooms in beer and then grill on the bbq for 5 minutes on each side. Toast buns on the grill (mushroom burgers can be quite soggy, so toasting the bun is a crucial step!) Combine remaining ingredients. Set one mushroom on each bun and top with cheese mixture, along with any other toppings you like (I put lettuce, tomato, and avocado.)
Personally, I much prefer my other recipe with the prosciutto and asparagus. But these were pretty good, and my daughter thought they were great (she didn't have any of the cheese mixture on top.) My son basically went to bed hungry because he refused to try even the teeny tiniest bite of mushroom. Needless to say, he was not thrilled when I whipped up some more veggie burgers for lunch today, this time using a Nutty Lentil Burger Recipe from Epicure.
I used sunflower seeds (but no nuts) and I used dry lentils that I soaked overnight and then boiled for about 30 minutes in the morning. I thought they were delicious (I ate two of them for lunch!), and by 2pm my son thought they were weren't so bad either. (He knew I was dead serious when I said he had to try at least one bite. He ended up having 3 fairly big bites, and then I gave him his beloved peanut butter sandwich.) 
I froze the extra patties (uncooked) so I can torture my son another day with more meatless burgers!
I still haven't tried veggie burgers. I really need to! Looks great!
ReplyDeletethe portabella idea is great - i like to not eat mushrooms in general, except medicinal mushrooms (healing ones) like Reishi etc
ReplyDeleteanyway i am going to try that
but i wanted to add my burger recipe since i am a vegetarian and i also try to avoid processed soy products (unless soy is fermented / cultured it is undigestible for humans) so my burger is actually something like this:
a cup or two grated beets & carrots
mashed chick peas and/or lentils (not much, just like half a can or whatever)
spices including minced onions & garlic, paprika, salt, pepper, what-have-u
i hold it together using a cracked egg and/or if you're totally vegan just oats and some other source of liquid even ketchup works
i like egg and oats but either or is fine... like with meat burgers, the oats are indeed avena sativa (food that satisfies) ...
i form them into burgers just using a container - they don't shrink up too much but they work best pan-seared (fried w/ onions) tho we've had good results with a barbeque too
beets r so flavorful and they amaze the taste buds in this burger concoction
:) enjoy
feralgoddess
meat burgers with oats r yummy is what i meant to say
ReplyDeletei also meant to say i love portabellas - they are the exception in culinary fungi for me :)
Thanks Marna! I hate beets, but I probably wouldn't notice them in something like this. Plus they would be pretty!!
ReplyDelete