sweet mushiago veggie burgers

Hi, everyone!  I was surfing one of my favorite websites yesterday, Real Simple.com, and stumbled upon a fun new blog!  It’s called Simply Stated and is a Real Simple.com blog.  Anyway, I found a food blogger contest that I couldn’t pass up called the 2011 Sweet n’ Healthy Blogger Recipe Contest.  The sweet n’ healthy ingredient is one of my favorites: Sweet Potato!

Here are the entry requirements:

1. Create an original recipe using fresh sweet potatoes as the key ingredient. The recipe has to have at least 1 whole sweet potato.
2. The recipe has to fall under one of the following categories:  Kid Friendly, Vegetarian or Sugar Free
3. Recipes will be judged on: Taste, Importance of sweet potato, Originality and Ease of preparation

I am submitting my Sweet Mushiago Veggie Burger recipe since:

• they taste amazing (I ate 5 of the 9 all by myself)
• they have an entire sweet potato in the recipe
• they can be considered for all 3 categories since kids love burgers, they’re vegetarian and sugar free!
• sweet potato-based veggie burgers are pretty original, in my book!
• they’re prepared entirely in the food processor, require very minimal chopping and only take 30 minutes to make an entire batch (30 minutes for 10 burgers and they freeze amazingly well!)

Let me share how I made these.  It started with this attachment on my food processor which shredded the sweet potato.  No manual labor needed!

On top of that I added whole Baby Bella mushrooms, spinach, onion, pinto beans, garlic, cumin, salt, pepper & olive oil.

I processed everything until it was wet and mushy… and then mixed in whole wheat flour, old-fashioned oats and a bunch of shredded Asiago cheese.  (I used the same side of the fancy blade to shred my cheese… It took a mere 5 seconds.  I will never use a hand grater again!)  I basically added the flour and oats until I got the right consistency for veggie patties!

Next, I heated a skillet with some olive oil on medium heat.  Once the pan was good and hot, I tossed in the patties and swirled them around in the olive oil.  I let them cook for 5 minutes on each side since they were on the thick side and I wanted them to be fully cooked in the middle.  Plus, I love the outside to be crispy & brown.  

Once they were done, I tossed one of the burgers onto a whole wheat bun, garnished it with some ketchup and spinach and took a bite…

Sweet potatoes make an amazing veggie burger.  I’m so happy I did this!  

Here’s the recipe for you all to enjoy:

• 1 medium sweet potato, with skin, chopped into 1” chunks
• 3 C Baby Bella mushrooms, whole (about 21-26 medium sized mushrooms)
• 1 C spinach
• 2 1/2 C whole wheat flour
• 2 C Asiago cheese, shredded
• 3/4 C old-fashioned oats
• 1/4 C onion (optional, I just had 1/2 of an onion in the fridge so I tossed it in!)
• 1- 15 oz. can pinto beans
• 1 T olive oil
• 3 large cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper

I ended up making 9 huge patties with this recipe but the nutrition information on my new recipe page is for 10 burgers, since most won’t make burgers quite that large!

I froze 4 for when I need something quick & wholesome to eat… but I let them cool completely on a cookie rack to keep them from getting soggy.

and as for the other 4?  I had some taste-testers come by to sample them.  Stephanie, Lauren,  Anne and her boyfriend all gave my veggie burgers a thumbs up.

The winner will be announced on April  8, 2011.  I hope my recipe is a winner!

What’s your favorite way to eat sweet potatoes?  This is one of mine!

Also, for you food bloggers out there, what’s your favorite contest to enter?  I’m up for more challenges after this one!