Even though I ate every imaginable vegetable during my pregnancy and my milk probably tasted like a mixture of broccoli and Brussel sprouts, my baby does not like her vegetables. I mean, she likes some vegetables. For instance, she enjoys kale smoothies and she loves to ‘paint’ everything purple with her beets. But no matter how delicious and fun I make her veggies look and sound, she will give me a look that says ‘what, is that all you got?’. Nope, not a big veggie lover. But! She does love veggieburgers. So a couple of months ago I decided to try my hand at some homemade veggie burgers that actually contain a lot of real vegetables and anything else I want her to eat. It was a hit! So of course I have to share it with you.

A little disclaimer before I get into the recipe. I am not a really good cook. I mean, I try my best every day to make healthy meals for Isaya but I’m horrible at following recipes from cookbooks and nothing I make ever looks like the pictures in those books. I’m not really selling this blog am I? But I just wanted to be honest and appease my fellow average cooking mama’s: you don’t have to be the Queen of Baking to get this one going!

So here is what you need:

• 6 table spoons of white beans
  You can also substitute this with cannellini beans. Or if you like, use chickpeas, but make sure to add olive oil when you make the paste.
• 100 grams or ¼ pound of couscous
  You can also use rice, quinoa, bulgar, barley or any other type of wheat you are used to, but couscous is just very easy.
• ½ zucchini
• 5 mushrooms
• 1 paprika
  Use any vegetable your child likes. For instance, carrots, egg-plant, broccoli, cauliflower or pumpkin.
• A little bit of parsley
  Again chose a herb or spices you like or go well with the veggies you picked out.
• Bread crumbs
• Olive oil

[easy-image-collage id=12856]

It will take about 30 minutes to make these burgers, but make sure you have time to make preparations three hours before dinner time.

1. Cut the veggies in small pieces and bake them in olive oil
2. Prepare the couscous according to instructions
3. Put the beans in a blender and make a paste
4. Put the bean paste in a bowl and add the couscous
5. When the veggies are done, mix them with the paste you just made and add some herbs
6. Let everything cool off before you put it in the fridge
7. Leave it there for at least an hour and a half
8. Take it out thirty minutes before dinner time; it has become a little more compact
9. Put some bread crumbs on a plate and make burger sized forms from your veggie paste
10. Make sure to also put bread crumbs on top, so you can have a delicious crust
11. Heat the baking pan with olive oil and carefully place your burgers in the oil
12. Bake one side, then turn and bake the other. Take them out and lay them on a plate to cool off a bit. And voila!

You can easily complete your dinner with some extra couscous and a nice, fresh salad. O, and practice makes (kind of) perfect. The picture on the left shows my first attempt and the burgers on the right were after some practice.