Homemade Veggie Burgers & Sweet Potato Fries

Now does that sound like a meal or what? Homemade veggie burgers and sweet potato fries! Yummm. I love trying veggie burgers at different restaurants when I go out to eat, and I've always wanted to try making my own....so, I did just that. :) Although I am not a vegetarian, sometimes I eat like I am one...I just looove my veggies! I was super psyched to make my own veggie burgers at home. And let me tell you, I will be making these again for sure!

The recipe I used was one from a great blog entitled "Oh She Glows," which focuses on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. However, I found out about these veggie burgers through another blog that I've mentioned as of late, Kath Eats. Love this girl! So, Kath had recently made veggie burgers by following the Oh She Glows recipe...and I then did the same. :)

You can check out the recipe at the link I provided above. I will admit that I omitted a couple of the less common ingredients - the chia seeds and the pumpkin seeds. I probably could have found them at the store, but I was lazy and chose not to! I would definitely be interested in trying them sometime though. I also substituted red kidney beans for the chickpeas simply because I happened to have kidney beans on hand but not chickpeas.

The recipe really is sooo simple. Essentially, you prepare your ingredients (cleaning, chopping, etc.), put them all in a food processor, process away, shape the patties, and then bake them! Could it get any easier?! I think not. ;-)  Here are some pictures of the process...

Kidney beans and carrots, followed by other veggies including onions, red peppers, spinach, and cauliflower (the cauliflower wasn't in the original recipe; I added some that I had steamed earlier)...

Time for spices!! I added garlic, basil, and chili powder.

Next, throw it all in the processor!  Love all the bright colors.

Check out how you can still see all the colors of the veggies, even though they're all blended together. Neat! 

Above, you can see the next ingredient, sunflower seeds! These are not processed with the rest of the mixture; rather, you just stir them in.

Now you add some flour (the recipe calls for spelt flour or the flour of your choice). I used whole wheat. Then form the patties!! I halved the recipe, and it made four patties.

I baked mine on parchment paper, but next time I might baked them on a well greased pan. The recipe said you could do either, but a couple of my patties stuck to the parchment just a tad. You can see that in the picture below...the patties didn't burn though, don't worry. The marks on the parchment are just from when I flipped the burgers halfway through the baking.

What should we pair with our veggie burgers?! I know! Sweet potato fries!! These are incredibly easy and very healthy too. Now that's a winning combination. ;-)

All you have to do for the sweet "tater" fries is cut your potatoes in fry-like shapes (I leave the skins on mine), drizzle them in olive oil, and then sprinkle them with whatever spices you'd like (options include rosemary, garlic, chili powder, cayenne, basil, etc.). Bake around 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. Voila! You have yourself some baked "fries"!!

I had my veggie burger plain without any additional toppings other than the tomato slices you see below. I also did not have a bun or bread with my burger... As you can see, I enjoyed a glass of wine with dinner (although, the wine was in a fun beer glass) so I saved my calories for the wine instead of bread. :)

If you're a fan of veggie burgers but have never made your own, or if you generally just enjoy eating healthy foods, I highly recommend you try these... They take no time at all to make and if you usually have fresh veggies on hand like I do, you can make them almost any night of the week! Enjoy, friends! You'll love this meal so much that it will be pretty much gone before you know it...like in this picture here!!