Millet Veggie Burgers

I was a busy bee in my kitchen yesterday, and it shows.

It looks like my pantry exploded!!!!!

But the mess was well worth the result–> a delicious, detox-friendly veggie burger! Unlike store-bought veggie burgers, which are often filled with processed soy and other “fillers,” this veggie burger is packed with veggies and millet. That’s it!!

Millet is hands-down my favorite grain. It’s alkaline in the body (remember we want our bodies to be slightly alkaline), and tastes wonderful!

Especially in this burger.

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Millet Veggie Burger (vegan, gluten-free)
makes 7 patties

adapted from The Beauty Detox Solution

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dry millet (soak in water overnight, and rinse well)
1 1/2 cups water
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cups arugula (or dark green of choice)
2 stalks celery, minced
2 carrots, minced
2 tsp. sea salt
1 T. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups millet flour (or gluten-free flour of choice)

Directions:

Add the 1 1/2 cups of water to a saucepan, and bring it to a boil. Add the (soaked and drained) millet, reduce heat to a simmer, and cover  for 15-20 minutes until tender.

In the meantime, pre-heat your oven to 400F and chop your veggies! I chopped the onions by hand, but got tired of chopping by the time I got to the celery…

So I threw the roughly chopped carrots, celery and arugula into my food processor, instead!

Sure, it’s one more bowl to clean– but the resulting mixture was so uniform!! Perfect texture for veggie burgers.

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In a large saute pan, cook the onion in a bit of coconut oil until translucent, then add the rest of your veggies:

When they’re cooked, remove from heat, add the freshly cooked millet, and mix well.

Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl, and add all of the seasonings, followed by the millet flour.

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I made my own millet flour using my Vita-Mix!!

Holy cow, this was easy. I simply threw 1 1/2 cups of dry millet into this baby, and let it blend for about a minute. (note: I don’t have a “dry” container, but my standard container worked just fine!) Oddly enough, 1 1/2 cups of dry millet makes MORE than 1 1/2 cups of millet flour! So be sure to measure it again, once it’s in flour-form.

*If you don’t own a Vita-Mix, you can buy a high-quality flour at your local health store and skip this step!

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Mix your millet flour into the burger “dough:”

This mixture may be rather moist, but don’t worry. Simply scoop the dough with a 1/2 cup measuring cup, and plop it onto your baking sheet. I recommend lining a baking sheet with parchment paper for best results! Using your fingers, press the dough into burger-shaped patties, as shown above. Repeat until you have 7 similar patties.

Bake at 400F for 10 minutes, then flip and bake for another 10 minutes, or until firm and crispy on the outside!

Serve immediately, while they’re still hot!

These burgers were such a HIT!!! Austin said he’d happily eat these again, and preferred this burger over the other burgers I made last week. I think I agree! Austin enjoyed his veggie burger on a sprouted-wheat bun, with his usual burger fixin’s, and I enjoyed mine over a salad of romaine lettuce, with my usual salad fixin’s.

I realized later that Austin ate a properly-combined meal tonight, and didn’t even bat an eye! I think I’m rubbing off on him… bwah ha ha!! To keep this starch-based burger properly combined, you can serve it on a high-quality whole grain bun with oven-baked sweet potatoes, or with any other veggies you desire. Really, you just have to avoid the cheese! (and the bacon, obviously…)

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The best part about this recipe? Plenty of LEFTOVERS!!!

These leftover patties are going to be waiting for us in the freezer when we get back from Kansas City! It’s always nice to get home from a long day of traveling, and have dinner nearly ready! I already keep the sprouted-wheat buns in the freezer (since we don’t eat bread often, and I don’t want them to spoil), so we simply have to re-heat them both in the oven when we get home!

In fact, next time I’m making a double-batch!! While these burgers were a little more time-consuming than most recipes I make, I certainly don’t mind spending a bit more time in the kitchen when I end up with a week or more worth of meals!

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On the other hand, there’s nothing more disappointing than working on a recipe, only to have it taste AWFUL!

Oh, how I wanted these detox-brownies to be a success… but I’m afraid they’re NOT there yet. In fact, they’re not even close.

Try, try again, right??

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Okay, I’m off to tackle my dirty kitchen.

Wish me luck.

Related posts:

1. Veggie Chili & Caesar Salad
2. Babycake Birthday
3. Move over, Kraft
4. Savory Quinoa Pilaf