Lentil Burgers with Mint-Yogurt Sauce

     Our first family vacation to Maine was a success and now we are home enjoying summer.  Driving home I spent some time on Pinterest reading about good recipes for toddlers.  It's hard to believe our little girl will be turning one in just a couple of weeks!  I have already begun to think about what I will pack her for breakfast and lunch once I go back to school at the end of August.  She hasn't had any purees since  school ended in June.  She prefers to eat whatever we are eating or leftovers from the fridge.  Wren's meals usually consist of a lot of random things-something that may not be as easy to pull off in her lunchbox.  I pulled out my Cooking for Baby book again tonight to try and get inspired.  I had all of the ingredients for these lentil burgers so I gave them a try.  I thought they were good-Wren had her own opinions.  The burgers had a lot of flavor and they stuck together better than most veggies burgers I have attempted.  I also thought the yogurt dipping sauce would be a selling point for Wren-I read that toddlers like to dip.  Apparently, she is not a fan of dipping-maybe because she isn't technically a toddler yet.  She has this great new move where she uses her tongue to slowing spit things out and then uses her hands to swipe everything to the floor where our dogs are always waiting.  Luckily this recipe made six burgers so we will try again tomorrow!

Lentil Burgers with Mint-Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients
3/4 cup lentils
1/2 cup old fashion oats
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
1 egg
salt and pepper
1 cup plain yogurt
2/3 fresh mint, minced
1 tbsp cooking oil (I used coconut)

Not happy about lentil burgers for dinner...

Method
1. Put lentils and 2 cups of water in a saucepan over medium-high heat.  Boil and then reduce to a simmer and cover.  Cook until tender- about 15 minutes.
2. Use a food processor to grind oats to a coarse meal.
3. In a large bowl, use a potato masher or fork to mash the lentils.  Stir in 3 tablespoons of the oats,the cumin and curry.  Add the egg, salt, and pepper and stir. 
4. Use your hands to form burgers approximately 4 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick.  Coat each burger with the remaining oats.
5. Place the burgers, uncovered, in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
6. When ready to cook, heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the burgers and cook for 3-4 minutes per side.  They should be brown and crispy.
7. Prepare the dipping sauce by stirring the mint into the yogurt.

Some of my vacation favorites: