Green Options

The first year we grew beets on our farm, it was on a serendipitous whim because neither me nor my husband had ever cooked with beets. As serendipitous gardening fate would have it, we pulled out a bumper beet crop that fall — quickly necessitating research in what to do with them.

Which led us to developing this Beet Burger recipe, a new twist on the veggie burger. It’s a very adaptable, forgiving recipe—feel free to modify and experiment with ingredients, like substituting carrots for some of the beets. The burgers freeze well (freeze them on a tray before placing in a freezer bag so they don’t stick together) and taste surprisingly good cold. The recipe is a bit complex, so I usually make a triple batch in a jumbo bowl and stock up for a while.

Recipe after the jump.

I thought about writing an April Fool’s Day post, wherein I pretended I’d gone back to eating meat. But I realized that a) Beth already did a great job covering our practical joke bases, and b) I’m a terrible liar.

So I decided to stick with something I’m much better at: creating new recipes. After my black bean burger recipe got such great reviews from testers, I was inspired to make a new version of the recipe. Jeff had asked if one could substitute pine nuts for pumpkin seeds (sure!) and I started concocting from there.

This week I decided to make an Italian version: White Bean Burgers! The directions for this version are nearly identical — all that’s changed is the ingredients.

Ah yes, the veggie burger. If you’ve ever gone meat-free for a substantial amount of time, chances are you came to rely on this tried and true staple. It’s gotten me through many a company barbecue and airport layover. It turns out though, that most big name veggie burger brands are not actually vegan — most use eggs as binding.

Furthermore, let’s take a look at the three leading producers of veggie burgers. Boca Foods, makers of the Boca Burger is a subsidiary of Kraft Foods. Morningstar Farms is owned by Kellogs, as is Gardenburger. While it is possible to find small independently run veggie burger producers (Dr. Praeger’s comes to mind), these three dominate the market. There’s nothing particularly eco-friendly about the packaging. None of the brands I checked use recycled materials, and the patties come individually wrapped in plastic.

So what’s an earth-conscious herbivore to do? Make your own, of course!