Nut Burgers

I fiddled around with a recipe I've had for a few years and came up with these yummy burgers. Mitch says they rate "at least eight" on the I'd Eat It Again scale. I should have taken a picture, but it looked so lovely on the plate with the supporting cast of veggies and greens all cuddled up to it that I just couldn't wait to eat it up!


Nut Burgers
makes six patties

1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup diced celery
2 tbs diced onion
1 slice stale whole wheat bread
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 cup ground pecans or walnuts
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbs fresh parsley
3/4 cup quick cooking oats
1 tsp soy sauce
1 egg

• Sautee carrot, celery and onion for a few minutes.
• Make bread into crumbs (I like to use the grater).
• Throw everything together in a bowl and mix together well. Let it sit for a few minutes to soften up the oats and sunflower seeds.
• If the mixture seems too wet, throw in a few tablespoons of wheat germ, oat bran, or whole wheat flour. (Even better if you can toast it in a dry pan first.)
• Form into patties. Heat a small amount of oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat, then brown patties (about four minutes per side).
• Serve immediately on a bun with whatever you like on your burger... I like greens, tomato, cheese, dijon mustard, or maybe even a little guacamole. Enjoy!


And that's the most important part of eating right there... enjoy!

I've been thinking a bit about food and how we think about food lately, since listening to a few different interviews with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and more recently, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. (His voice is lovely to listen to. Not quite Ross Porter, but soothing nonetheless.) This one with Anna Maria Tremonti of CBC's The Current is definitely worth listening to. Scroll down to part three to listen.

Pollan's manifesto is this: Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.

With the first point, he draws a distinction between real food and "edible food-like substances"... which makes up an awful lot of the modern family's grocery order. We do most of our cooking from scratch around here, but I find it easy to slip into relying on convenience foods instead of taking the time to enjoy cooking and eat mindfully and joyfully. (As part of eating more mindfully, I've been taking a minute to just sit at the table and relax before digging in. Amazing how much tension and busyness I can carry with me into a meal without realizing it.)

Of course, enjoying the preparation gets trickier when you know half of the family will turn up their noses at anything mixed together.