Sprouted lentil veggie burgers

Another great cookbook is The Ultimate Allergy-Free Snack Cookbook; Over 100 kid-friendly recipes for the allergic child by Judi and Shari Zucker and it's amazing!  Judi and Shari have been vegetarians since age eleven, wrote their first book at age 16 and both have BAs in Ergonomics--the study of human physiology, physical education, and nutrition--so they know their stuff.  

I picked this book up because it's full of great recipes like granola, oat bars and smoothies, all made without milk, eggs, tree nuts, wheat and peanuts (although I have nothing against tree nuts or WHOLE wheat).  Most of the recipes are simple and tailored to busy moms so it's easy to throw them together in time for lunch.  I altered their Mini Veggie Burgers and made Sprouted Lentil Veggie Burgers.  These are so good the next day, so if you can plan ahead, make them the night before and let them sit out at room temperature until lunch time.  You can reheat them by placing them in a warm oven for a couple minutes but it's not necessary.  Serve alone with dipping sauce and sweet potato fries or inside a gluten free hamburger bun with some vegan mayo and ketchup :)

Sprouted Lentil Veggie Burgers

Makes about 10 medium veggie burgers

1/2 cup toasted sunflower seeds

1 1/2 tsp coconut oil

3/4 cup diced onion

1 large carrot, grated

1 cup oat flour (make your own by processing whole oats in a food processor until powder)

3 TBSP nutritional yeast flakes

1 tomato, chopped

1 tsp sea salt

2 cups sprouted lentils

1/2 cup cooked brown rice

3 garlic cloves, minced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly oil a baking sheet with 1/2 tsp coconut oil and set aside.  

Toast sunflower seeds; place raw seeds in a frying pan over medium high heat.  Stir constantly for 5 minutes or until sunflower seeds turn a little golden and give off a toasty (delicious) smell.  Place in the food processor and pulse a couple times until they are broken and but still chunky.  Set aside.

Heat the remaining teaspoon coconut oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add onion and carrot, and saute for 5 minutes or until carrot is soft.  Turn off the heat and let cool.  

Meanwhile, place the sprouted lentils in a small saucepan and cover with water until water is 1/2 inch above lentils.  Bring to a boil and let cook two minutes.  Drain the lentils and set aside.

Place the flour, nutritional yeast, and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir until combined.  Add the toasted sunflower seeds, onion-carrot mixture, tomato, lentils, brown rice and garlic and stir until everything is incorporated, smashing everything together a little with the back of a spoon.  

Scoop up small handfuls of the mixture and form patties about 1/2 inch thick.  You can choose the size of the patties according to your meal plan;  if you have small kids or just want a snack, form patties about the size of a meatball and smash a little to flatten.  If you are making this as a meal, without a bun, you'll want to make medium sized patties, about a quarter smaller than a regular veggie burger (about 2 inches wide).  If you have some gluten free hamburger buns ready, form regular sized veggie patties (about 3-4 inches wide).  When forming your patties, they should stick together easily and not leave much dough on your hands.  If you find it hard to form patties and the dough is sticking all over the place, make some more oat flour and add 1/2 cup at a time until patties easily form together.  Place patties on the prepared baking sheet and bake 15-30 minutes on each side (according to size) until bottoms are slightly golden brown.  Flip and repeat until both sides are done.  

I served these with a lentil dip, which was amazing, but a little heavy for this meal.  I would suggest serving with some vegan mayo or a light dip.  To make the lentil dip, I used my recipe for creamy pasta salad, and eliminated the nutritional yeast.  Add more almond milk to make this thinner and lighter.  

To make sweet potato fries, (these are actually yams) cut some potatoes or yams into thin wedges and toss with 1/2 tsp coconut oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  (It's a lot easier to cut into thin wedges if you look for the long skinny potatoes versus the short fat ones.  Cut them to the size you want your fries, half them, halve the halves, and slice again if necessary.)  Arrange on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake 20 minutes on each side, or until both sides are brown.  Mine never get crispy, they are always soft but they are still great!  I served all of this with a strawberry milkshake for a true taste of vegan (healthy!) "junk food".  A better choice for busy moms than McDonalds ANY DAY.

Check out this post for directions on sprouting lentils.