Thai Sweet Potato Veggie Burger

I like veggie burgers. I know most people won't agree with me, but I just like the texture and taste so much better. This is a Thai Sweet Potato Veggie  Burger adapted from Oh She Glows. I also made these Sweet Potato Bean Burgers!

The burgers can be frozen (after baking and cooling). To reheat bake for 20 minutes at 400F. Just keep an eye on the burger so they don't get too dried out. To reheat an unfrozen patty I microwaved for 30 seconds. 

I served on these fresh rolls. 

I topped with sriracha and some soy sauce. 

Thai Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

8 patties 4-5 inches in diameter.

1 large sweet potato

1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

3 large garlic cloves, minced

3 teaspoons finely grated ginger

1/2 cup roasted and salted peanuts, chopped

3/4 cup rolled oats, processed into a coarse flour

1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 egg

1/2 tablespoon sesame seed oil

½ fresh lime juice

½ tsp cayenne pepper

Salt/pepper to taste

Cook sweet potato: Slice off ends of potatoes, stab with a fork a few times. Bake at 350F for 1 hour. Once soft take the peel off and slice into chunks. Puree it up in the food processor. 

To the sweet potato in the food processor...add in chick peas, garlic, ginger, peanuts. For a few pulses. Pour into a bowl. Stir in cilantro and basil.

Back in a food processor, add the oats and process until it looks like coarse flour. Add to the bowl. Add in egg. Stir in the sesame oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper all to taste. I found it easier to stir this mix in the kitchen aid with the paddle attachment, but a spoon also works.

Shape the mixture into 8 patties, packing each patty tightly between your hands so it holds together well. Place each patty onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, then gently flip the patties and bake for another 15-17 minutes until golden on both sides.

Sweet Potato Bean Burger

Burger with red onion, cheese, and
salsa on a homemade bun!

Sweet potato bean burger, this was so yummy and very filling! This recipe was adapted from Peas and Crayons. Also check out these Thai Sweet Potato Burgers!

The burgers can be frozen (after baking and cooling). To reheat bake for 20 minutes at 400F. Just keep an eye on the burger so they don't get too dried out. 

I served on these fresh rolls. 

Sweet Potato Bean Burger

makes 8 patties

1 large sweet potato, cooked

1 [15oz] can of chickpeas or equivalent

1  [15oz] can of cannellini beans or kidney beans

1/2-1 cup of diced bell pepper

1 medium-large jalapeno, diced

1 cup red onion, diced

1 cup white onion, finely diced

3 cloves of fresh garlic, minced

2 eggs

1 ½ -2 cups of rolled oats

2 tbsp oil

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 tsp each oregano and basil

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp salt and pepper

Cook sweet potato: Slice off ends of potatoes, stab with a fork a few times. Bake at 350F for 1 hour. Once soft take the peel off and slice into chunks. Puree it up in the food processor. Add in kidney beans and chickpeas and pulse a few times (I like it a little chunky). Put into a big bowl.

While the sweet potato is baking, saute the onions, bell pepper, and jalapenos in approx 2-4 tablespoons of oil with black pepper and a sprinkle or two of red pepper. After about 7 minutes or so, add garlic and continue to saute until the veggies are translucent and tender. 

Once your veggies are ready, transfer to a large bowl with the beans, sweet potato, and raw oats, and then add your herbs/spices to season.  Adjust spices as needed. I found it easier to stir this mix in the kitchen aid with the paddle attachment, but a spoon also works.

Shape the mixture into 8 patties, packing each patty tightly between your hands so it holds together well. Place each patty onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, then gently flip the patties and bake for another 15-17 minutes until golden on both sides.

No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bites

Here are some easy no bake bite sized snacks! I looked at many different recipes for no bake granola bars including the recipes from How Sweet Eats, Smashed Peas and Carrots, and GranolaNola in order to come up with a combination that I would enjoy.  

I love granola and granola bars. I don't really like protein bars. They have this funny after taste. So here are some relatively healthy snacks to munch on while filling you up.

Some ideas: you can change the nuts in the recipe, change the peanut butter to almond butter or walnut butter or soy nut butter, add in raisins or dates or dried apricots, and any other fixin's until you would enjoy! 

Using the stand mixer combines the ingredients better than stirring with a spoon. It was hard to roll into balls by hand because it was sticky but it wasn't sticky enough to use the cookie scoop so I pushed the mixture into a mini muffin tin and let it chill overnight.
 
I put the ingredients in Recipes.Sparkpeople Calculator to see what the approximate nutrition of each bite. The findings were 127 Calories, 8 g Fat, 1.6 g Sat fat, 11.2 g Carbohydrates, 4.5 g Protein

I had to add in a lot of peanut butter this time because I added in extra oats.  The nutrition info above is based off of 1 cup of peanut butter.

Next time I will use less oats, I adjusted the recipe below from 1 1/2 cups of oats (which I had used) to 1 cup below. I think adding more honey will help the ingredients stay together better as well. I used less than the recommended 1/4 cup of honey, next time I would use the full 1/4 cup. I also want to try to add in a couple tbsp of protein powder, perhaps vanilla flavored? To maintain the correct consistency with adding in the protein powder I would in less dry ingredients (maybe even less oats?) and gradually add in the peanut butter/nut butter until it looks about right.

Update (4/7/2013) 
2 cups toppings*
+ 1 cup oats
+ 3/4 cup PB (or other nut butter)
+ 1/4 c honey (plus an addition tbsp or two if the texture isn't right)
= approx 24 mini muffin bites and 3 reg muffin bites

*toppings = chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, peanuts) / seeds (sunflower, chia, ground flax) / dried fruit (apricots, raisins, craisins, etc) / dark chocolate / etc

All the stuff minus the pb, honey, and vanilla

Fill the mini muffin tins and then pop in the fridge

Yum!!

No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bites
Makes 24 bites
 
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

½ cup ground flaxseed

2 tablespoons chia seeds

¼ cup of sunflower seeds

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup raisins

2 tablespoons chopped dark chocolate 

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract 

½ to 1 cup creamy peanut butter, melted and slightly cooled (microwave about 30 seconds) 

¼ cup honey

Combine all the ingredients. Push the mixture into mini muffin tins and then put the tray in the fridge. Keep in a air tight container in the fridge to maintain freshness.

Enjoy!