Veggie Birder
Get it?
Okay, it’s a bit of a stretch.
But this afternoon, I spent some time doing two things: making veggie burgers, and obsessively taking pictures of the birds that have officially taken over our yard. We’ve put feeders in the front yard, side yard, and backyard, and I guess word of the all-you-can-eat buffet has gotten out, because there are birds EVERYWHERE!!
This guy was cracking me up:
He kept puffing out his feathers. Maybe some sort of mating move? Or maybe he was just trying to get me to stop taking pictures.
But enough about the birds. Let’s get to the burgers.
I’ve been meaning to make some veggie burgers to freeze for our post-baby dinners, and I finally got around to it this afternoon. I was kind of flying by the seat of my pants making these burgers, but they turned out good!
First, I cooked up about 3/4 cup of brown lentils. While the lentils were cooking, I minced a small onion, a few carrots, spinach, and some red bell pepper, then sauteed them in olive oil. After the veggies were cooked and soft, I combined them in the food processor with a can of drained kidney beans, plus a nice sprinkle of garlic salt and a handful of fresh parsley, which ultimately looked like this:
Once the lentils were totally cooked (almost to the point of being mushy), I added them to the rest of the beans and veggies.
I added about 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs so that the burgers weren’t overly-moist, and…that’s about it! Formed them into burgers and voila! I saved four for the freezer (layered between parchment paper), and cooked up the rest for us to enjoy now.
To cook them, I seared them in a pan on the stove first:
…and then cooked them for about 10 minutes in the oven to finish off the cooking.
The final burgers:
….were very tasty! Especially when topped with a nice dose of cheddar cheese:
Great dinner!
Hope you had a good Monday!
They look fantastic! Having frozen veggie burgers on hand rocks! You can use them in so many dishes
Wow…those burgers are PERFECT! Whenever I make veggie burgers they are a little crumbly and never get so pretty…you are the master!
That cheddar looks so delicious. We’ve been out of cheddar for 3 days now and I keep going to the fridge for some and forgetting. It’s my favorite snack item
I agree. This IS a great dinner.
I’ve never made homemade veggie burgers before but these look so delicious. I was a vegetarian for around 10 years before I started eating meat again but I like to keep some meals vegetarian…that’s where these will come in handy
This is getting pinned ASAP! Veggie burgers are so fun to make, in my opinion, and this recipe sounds fabulous.
Speaking of birds, I’ve seen them a lot lately too. I swear a robin in our tree yesterday morning was about to give birth. I wanted to just sit and watch her all day….it was pretty amazing.
MMM awesome looking veggie burger. And birds can really be pretty funny to watch if you take time to notice them.
I thought we might be treated to a picture of the cattledog covered in birdseed.
Are you going to do a post recapping all the pre-made dinners that stood up after Lila comes home?
Haha…nah, she was chasing too many birds around the yard
I’ll definitely do a post like that. Honestly, we’ve stocked our freezer and pantry, but haven’t made too many “dinners”…I still need to get on that!! One of our colleagues has promised us a tator tot casserole, so you KNOW Ryan is excited about that. I think he wants Lila to come just so that he can get the tator tot casserole
You know that I love me some lentil burgers. Good call with adding beans too!
Great minds! We have been feeding our birds a lot lately, as well, and have some birds in our yard that I have never seen before. I love watching them! Our burrowing owl has not reappeared – I think he got tired of the dogs bothering him. Those veggie burgers look great! I think I’ll make them for dinner tomorrow night (unless we’re on the way to Huntsville : ) )
Shoot– and y’all never got a picture!!