Chipotle Maple Sweet Potato Burgers

These are my new favorite burgers.

They are absolutely amazing. Perfect texture? Check. Sweet and spicy? Check. Super healthy? Check. I know there are a scrillion-bajillion sweet potato burger recipes out there, however, with buddies like maple, chipotle, pecans, and oats these guys are truly unique. An epic fall flavor combination, if I do say so myself. 

You'll see a departure from my usual photography in future posts. During Alaskan winters it gets dark at about 4 pm. Thus, dusty artificial lights and lamps are summoned from the closet, hiding from the midnight sun of the summer.

It's kind of fun to play around with lighting. I'm not terribly experienced with lights, but luckily Todd is very fluent in these things. He helped me capture the spotlight effect for these photographs. I hope you enjoy the seasonal style! 

“It is better to walk alone, than with a crowd going in the wrong direction.”

— Diane Grant

These perfectly textured vegan, sweet potato burgers have a hint of maple sweetness and a smoky chipotle kick.

Taking advantage of the last bit of sun!

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Chipotle Maple Sweet Potato Burgers

by Katie @ Produce On Parade October-15-2014

These perfectly textured vegan, sweet potato burgers have a hint of maple sweetness and a smoky chipotle kick.

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes (about 1lb. 10 oz.), diced small
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1 ½ cups quick cooking oats, dry
• ¼ cup pecans, minced
• 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast
• 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• ½ tsp. chipotle chili powder
• ¼ tsp. ground black pepper
• 3 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 8 hamburger buns

Instructions

In a medium saucepan, add the diced sweet potatoes and cover with water. Add a dash of salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Then, reduce to low and simmer for about 15 minutes until very tender. Drain and set aside for later.In a medium frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium-low. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for about 10 minutes, until the onions are brown and fragrant. In a large bowl, add the oats, through and including the pepper. Whisk well to combine. Add the boiled sweet potatoes and the onion mixture as well as the maple syrup. Using a wooden spoon, mash the sweet potatoes and mix everything together very well. Preheat oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Coat your hands with a nonstick cooking spray and form the burger mix into eight large patties. Arrange on the baking sheet in a single layer. Bake at 400 F for about 45 minutes, turning the patties over halfway through. Once done, remove from oven and allow to rest for about 5-10 minutes. This will set the patties. Serve hot, with BBQ sauce! Freeze the leftovers for a quick meal later.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 1 hour Total time: 1 hour 10 mins Yield: 8 burgers

Dutch Word of The Day

Maple --> esdoorn (es-doren)

Good Deed of The Day

Perdue has been forced to remove "humanely raised" labels from it's packaged chicken flesh. "..undercover investigations have shown that Perdue's chickens are raised in a space the size of a sheet of paper, crammed with others so tightly that they suffer broken bones that go untreated, and are placed in sheds that reek of ammonia." Who would support such atrocities? It's really mind-boggling. Read more about it here. 

Healthy Caramel Oat Bran Muffins

Happy Halloween everyone! Today I am not Katie, but Deb, from Napoleon Dynamite. I have a super scary, super spooky, super Halloweenie recipe for you today...Caramel Oat Bran Muffins! Muah-ha-ha-ha-haaa. Okay, so they aren't scary, spooky, or particularly Halloweenie. I didn't even make like a white icing to render mummies on the top or anything. I know, I know. I am the worst. I just never get into the whole Holiday food decorating thing. I wish I could, but I just can't. If you want cutesy recipes (and who doesn't?) there are tons, upon tons of recipes on the world wide web that can satisfy. I'm like the food Scrooge of Halloween. I realize that makes no sense.

Anyways, I made these Caramelesc Oat Bran Muffins for a little family Halloween get together tonight. Perhaps they are a bit of a treat and a trick, though. A treat because they are obviously delicious. I am a huge fan of oat bran muffins. Quaker has the best recipe, hands down. And they are a bit of a trick because there's actually no caramel in them. Hah HAH! Yes. It's true. I'm evil...or wonderful?

So here's the story. I really wanted to put pumpkin chips in these. You know...like the little pumpkin flavored chocolate chip things? Yea, the store didn't have them. Did I imagine that these were a thing? I suppose it's possible. Anyway, without any pumpkin chips available, I decided I could put little caramel bits in them! Perfect right? Um...no. There are no vegan caramels at the Wasilla Fred Meyer. I could possibly have made some, but I didn't really have the time.

Saddened, I stood in the candy aisle all distressed and morose. Then, in my wallowing, I thought about a caramel dip I made last year with dates and how much everyone loved it. Realizing that dates pretty much equal caramel, I had my answer! I guess a more appropriate and accurate name for these muffins would be Date Studded Oat Bran Muffins, but that sound much too boring. Besides it's Halloween, so here's your trick and your treat! 

These dense, wholesome oat bran muffins are infused with caramelly sweetness and studded with soft and chewy "caramel" bits...aka...dates.

Healthy Caramel Oat Bran Muffins

Inspired by Quaker Oats (okay yes, I used the recipe from the photo of the back of the box on Amazon)

Makes 12 muffins

• 2 Tbsp. ground flaxseed
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 2 cups oat bran hot cereal, uncooked
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla butter & nut extract (or caramel extract)
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil (or coconut or canola)
• 1/2 cup dates, de-pitted and chopped (about 5)

Preheat oven to 425 F and spray a regular muffin pan with a non-stick cooking spray. 

Whisk together the flax and water in a small bowl and place in the fridge until ready to use. 

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Whisk the wet ingredients together, including the flax eggs but not the dates, in a medium bowl.

Now, gently stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture until just combined. Fold in the chopped dates. 

Place about 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin cup and bake at 425 F for 15 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. 

Remove from pan with the edge of a knife and set on a cooling rack. Sprinkle with a bit of brown sugar if you like. 

Also, West Elm has free shipping today and...well, I did a bad, bad thing. This was me when I told Todd what I did. Heh heh heh. Source: mrwgifs.com

Listening to Gerygone & Twig – Kind of Leaving(That Is Not) (They are from my hometown!)

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Healthy Pumpkin Maple Pecan Oat Muffins

Did you know October is non-GMO month? Yep, it is! Sugar is one of those rampant GMO foods, so if you're trying to avoid genetically modified foods or just don't want your sugar manufactured by using the bones of cattle (yes, it's a thing...I talk about it briefly here), then get yourself some ethical sugar! You might be laughing at me, but I don't care. There's such a thing, and I like Zulka. Bet you didn't know that sugar could be such a big time downer, but guess what? I've got something to cheer you straight up! These Healthy Pumpkin Maple Pecan Oat Muffins! There's no flour, oil, eggs or butter in them! Doesn't that make you happy? However, if you're like me, anytime you see "no flour, oil, eggs, butter, etc..." you run far, far away from these type of recipes. However, I promise you that these are healthy as well as delectable! Try them out for yourself.

Healthy Pumpkin Maple Pecan Oat Muffins

Inspired by Examiner

Makes 12 muffins

• 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped small
• 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats, dry
• 1 cup pumpkin puree, canned
• 1/3 cup vegan sugar (I always use Zulka)
• 2 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
• 5 oz. plain vegan yogurt (I used Silk)
• 1 tsp. maple extract
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Flax is first. To make the two flax eggs, in small bowl add the ground flaxseed then add in the cold water and whisk to combine. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

Chop the pecans very small and scatter them evenly on a baking sheet. Toast at 350 F for about 10 minutes or until fragrant. Careful not to let them burn! When done, remove them from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet. Leave the oven on.

In a food processor, add the dry oats and pulse until very fine and a  flour-like texture is achieved.

Add in the remaining ingredients including the flax eggs, but not the pecans. Pulse until smooth and well combined. Now, fold in the pecans until incorporated evenly. 

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Coat a regular muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray and distribute the batter evenly. 

Bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes or until the tops of the muffins spring back when poked. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in their pan. Then, gently remove them and place on a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. 

Serve for breakfast (like me!) or as a snack or even for dessert! Store in an airtight container.

Also, I thought I'd share this pretty little quote. So eat these nutritious muffins and be happy. It's good for your healthy after all!

I'm listening to The Features – How It Starts

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