Our family has a favorite vegetarian casserole that we make quite often that is known by a couple different names such as Special K Loaf or Cottage Cheese Loaf, but I've been looking for more variety and different foods to offer at dinner or lunch. There are a LOT of veggie burger recipes and they are easy to find already made for you at any grocery store. But I like to try to make things from scratch. We recently had the pleasure of having a Trader Joe's open near our house and I can say for sure that this store is now my favorite "go to" for food! One of the things we discovered on our first or second trip there was their "Brown Rice Medley", which is as stated on the package - "A delicious blend of long grain brown rice, black barley and daikon radish seeds." Now I know we thought that sounded like a strange combination but decided to give it a try and we were happy that we did. I'm not a real big fan of regular brown rice - it takes too long to cook and it tastes rubbery to me, but I eat it because it is so much better for me than the white rice that I really like. So I am very happy to say this particular brown rice is absolutely delicious, takes approximately 35 minutes to cook and the texture is very nice. Which is why of course that I decided to try a brown rice veggie burger. Hope you like it!

Annie's Brown Rice Veggie Burgers

2-1/2 cups water
1 cup Trader Joe's Brown Rice Medley
1 to 2 teaspoons of Earth Balance butter spread
McKay's Chicken Style Instant Broth to taste (I used about one tablespoon)
1 Tablespoon seasoning blend of choice (we LOVE Olde Westport's Special Blend and buy it in bulk)
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 green bell pepper
1 carrot chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1-1/4 cups nuts (walnuts or pecans) finely ground in food processor
1 egg (range free if possible), whipped slightly
1/2 cup raw sesame seeds - you can grind these or not depending on your preference

Bring the water to a boil, add the brown rice medley, the butter, instant broth, seasoning blend, onion, bell pepper, carrot and garlic in a large saucepan. Cover and turn down to low or medium low - however, you normally cook your rice and everyone's stove is different. Cook this for approximately 35 minutes or until the water is soaked into the rice. I like to set it to the side still covered for about 10 more minutes because it makes the rice softer. Let this mixture cool enough to handle.

Combine the rice mixture with the egg until the mixture stays together. Make into about 12 balls or whatever size you want really (yep, it's a little messy - wet hands work best). Flatten the balls into patties and roll in the sesame seeds. Cook patties in organic extra virgin olive oil (just a little to keep them from sticking to your pan) over medium heat. Cook until golden and you're sure the egg has set and they are heated completely. Usually 3 to 4 minutes on each side is sufficient. 

Now these are really good on whole wheat buns with your favorite hamburger fixings, but I like them also with a creamy dill sauce that we make and no bread.

Sure hope you try them, like them and let me know about it!

Thanks for listening!