Lentil walnut veggie burgers

Hello, blog world! It's been awhile.

Michael and I spent 2 weeks abroad in New Zealand for a belated honeymoon and we had an amazing trip! Here are a few of my favorite photos...

Kayaking in Abel Tasman.

I was super excited about seeing the Tasman Sea!

Rainbow over Franz Josef Glacier. 

Michael and me on a pull off point on the Queen's Crowne Road between Wanaka and Queenstown.

A ripple distorts the mirror image in Doubtful Sound. 

Sunrise in Queenstown.

The Remarkables. We also saw these with a rainbow from our plane on the last day.

Everything was beautiful and I highly recommend a trip to NZ if you ever have the chance to go. We are already planning our next adventure there:)

But onto some food. When we returned all I wanted to do was eat some non-processed food. My parents were in town and we made a delicious dinner of recipes from Let Them Eat Vegan! and we sat outside and it was a wonderful spring evening. The recipe I'm sharing is Dreena's "Lentil Walnut Burgers". These burgers come together quickly once the lentils are cooked and are really savory and delicious. My beef with veggie burgers is that a lot of them try to imitate meat which just makes them taste rubbery and awkward. My favorite veggies burgers showcase the ingredients themselves and are not meat substitutes. This cookbook has a lot of wonderful options for burgers and after making almost all of them I still can't pick a favorite - they all have come out really well.

So here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Tbs olive oil (optional, omit by cooking onions and garlic with lentils)

1 1/2 c chopped onion

3 medium to large cloves garlic

1/8+1/4 tsp sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 c cooked green lentils

1/2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 Tbs mild miso

1 1/4 tsp dried thyme

1/2 to 3/4 tsp dried sage

1/2 tsp dried basil

1 c rolled or quick oats

3/4 c raw walnuts (toast to enhance the flavor)

1 c peeled and diced apple tossed with a squeeze of lemon juice

1. Pour the olive oil into a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, 1/8 tsp salt and pepper to taste, and cook for 7-8 minutes, until the onion has softened.

2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the cooked lentils, Worcestershire sauce, miso, thyme, sage, basil, and 1/4 tsp salt and blend. When the onion mixture is ready, add this to the food processor and puree again, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the oats and walnuts, and pulse a few times to break up the walnuts. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add the apple and mix well.

3. At this point, you can refrigerate the mixture until ready to fry (this will make it firmer and easier to shape). To cook, take scoops of the mixture and form into patties with your hands. In a skillet over medium-high heat, heat some olive oil. Add the patties, flatten gently on the pan, and fry for 6 to 9 minutes on each side, until golden and a crust has developed, flipping them over only one or twice, working in batches as needed.

Roasted butternut squash, Kale Slaw and Lentil Walnut Burger. Homemade ice cream for dessert. Yum!