This recipe is in March Everyday food. Like a lot of you, I’m looking for a good veggie burger to make at home. This recipe caught my eye because it has some beef in it, but also has barley and chickpeas. I thought maybe this would be a good compromise. Sorry, Martha. This one was a loser. It was completely flavorless, even though it had fresh mint in it. I was really disappointed. It needed garlic I think. I don’t even know if that could save it though. A total thumbs down.

2 oz feta

1/4 c plain yogurt

salt and pepper

1/4 c bulgur

15.5 oz can chickpeas rinsed

1/2 lb ground chuck

1/3 c roughly chopped mint leaves

4 buns

1 small cucumber

1 large tomato

Mash feta, stir in yogurt and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Combine bulgur with 1/2 c boiling water. Cover with plastic wrap for 10 min. Pulse chickpeas in food processor, mix with beef and mint. Drain bulgur and add to mixture. Mix with your hands until combined. Divide into 4 1 inch thick patties and season with salt and pepper. Spray a pan with cooking spray, heat over medium high. Add patties and cook 8-10 min, flipping once. Serve on buns with cucumber, tomato and yogurt sauce.

This recipe is in March Everyday food. Like a lot of you, I’m looking for a good veggie burger to make at home. This recipe caught my eye because it has some beef in it, but also has barley and chickpeas. I thought maybe this would be a good compromise. Sorry, Martha. This one was … Read more →

As part of my new Martha on Demand initiative, I recently asked readers of this blog to tell me what Martha recipes they would like me to test out for them. There was an overwhelming number of people who asked for veggie burgers. Stephanie in particular requested the veggie burgers in the July issue of Everyday Food and others chimed in saying any veggie burger recipe would be great.  Thanks to all of you who requested it, I gave this recipe a try.

Things did not start off well in the grocery store! I could not find bulgur. I ended up buying a tabbouleh mix, which has bulgur and then spices in an envelope inside. You start by soaking 1/2 cup bulgur in 1 cup boiling water for 30 min. Then you drain it. Coarsely chop 1 can of drained and rinsed pinto beans and add to the bulgur. Shred 2 carrots and add that and an egg. Also add 1 thinly sliced scallion and salt and pepper and 1/2 cup grated Swiss cheese.

The recipe says to measure 1/2 cup of the mix as one burger and smush it with a spatula to the right thickness. It was supposed to make 4 burgers, but I ended up with 5. You cook them in a pan with a little olive oil. My mix was really kind of mushy and didn’t hold together too well. The recipe says to cook 3 min per side. Mine took about 20 min before they were cooked through, but I had them all in one large pan so the heat was not very direct. I did successfully transfer most of it to buns. The recipe says to put avocado and bean sprouts on the bun. I used Miracle Whip and avocado.

They looked pretty decent – nicely browned. They tasted really bland though. There’s nothing in them to give them any flavor. It just tasted like plain beans. At the very least this needed onion or garlic and some other seasonings – herbs of some kind. I don’t think I would make this again. It was a lot of work with not much taste, unfortunately! A big disappointment. My kids hated it, but they aren’t veggie burger fans in general. I love Gardenburgers, but this didn’t measure up at all.

I’ll be making some of the other Martha on Demand requests made on the other thread in my continuing Martha on Demand series, but if you have any requests, go ahead and post them here. I’m always open to suggestions and it’s great when people post specific Martha recipes they want me to try.

As part of my new Martha on Demand initiative, I recently asked readers of this blog to tell me what Martha recipes they would like me to test out for them. There was an overwhelming number of people who asked for veggie burgers. Stephanie in particular requested the veggie burgers in the July issue of … Read more →