Lentil Burgers

    I am having a great time blogging.  This blog has helped me connect to people in ways I never imagined. Who would have thought a year ago that people would be asking me for suggestions for what to make for dinner?  I was the girl with dinner anxiety!  My confidence has grown and now I love trying out new things-knowing that sometimes they'll be a hit and others times will end up in the garbage disposal.
     There are blogs about everything.  If I let myself, I can get lost in blog land, a lot like some people get lost in reality television.  There are so many creative people out there doing amazing every day things and blogs give you a little glimpse into that.  I find it inspiring.
    One of the first blogs I ever stumbled across was What I Wore.  Jessica Quirk blogs almost every day about her clothes.  I love her style and how she mixes up her clothes to reinvent new outfits-something I try to do myself.  Jessica recently wrote about a site she turns to for recipes, called Clean Eating, which I in turn checked out.  That's where I got this recipe for a new kind of veggie burger.

Lentil Burgers

Ingredients
1 cup dried green lentils, rinsed
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 tbsp flax seeds-the recipe said ground-I threw them in whole
5 tsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 cup cooked brown rice
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method
Preheat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
1. Cook rice and lentils according to the directions on the package.  When the lentils are done, mash them a bit with the back of a fork.
2.  Mix lentils, rice, onion, garlic, celery, flax seeds, mustard, tomato paste, and spices in a large bowl.
3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Form the lentil mixture into 6 patties.  Cook in the skillet for 2-3 minutes per side.
4. Transfer burgers to the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Serve over salad.

The Taste Test
     These were very easy to mix together.  I actually prepared the ingredients the night before so that I could just make the burgers the next day.  Somewhere along the way, something didn't go right because these burgers would not stay together for anything.  I'm thinking maybe I didn't cook the lentils enough because they didn't mash so well.  If they had been less firm, maybe they would have helped to keep everything together.  If you could get over the sight of the jumbled mess I served over salad, these burgers were pretty tasty.  I'll have to experiment with them a bit more to see if I can get them to come together a little better.