Pecan Mushroom Sloppy Joes

I was inspired by several recipes on eatingwell.com to make vegetarian pecan mushroom burgers. None of the recipes on eatingwell were exactly what I wanted, so I borrowed a little from here a little from there and added a few things of my own.

1/2 c. cooked brown rice, cooled

1 tsp. grapeseed oil

4 oz. mushrooms, diced

1 small onion, diced

dash of balsamic vinegar

1/2 c. pecans, chopped

1 carrot, shredded

1/4 c. panko breadcrumbs

dash of cayenne pepper to taste

I heated up the grapeseed oil in the pan. I sauteed the the mushrooms and onion, with some salt and pepper to taste. When the mixture was dry I put a dash of balsamic vinegar and set it aside to cool down.

Add the pecans to the pan and toast until fragrant about 4 minutes. Add to the mushroom/onion mixture. Add the carrots, breadcrumbs and cayenne pepper.

I formed the mixture into patties. They were kind of crumbly and I set the patties into the refrigerator in hopes they would firm up.

I sauteed the patties in a little grapeseed oil and they kind of fell apart when I flipped them.

I served these sloppy joes with a blue cheese dressing and homemade hamburger buns (will blog on the buns another day soon). For the blue cheese dressing I combined greek yogurt, blue cheese and a couple of dashes of worcestershire sauce.

So, they were delicious, but they did not stay formed in the patties, which is why I decided they were really sloppy joes. Next time I try it I might add an egg and see if that helps them stay together, or I may just decide sloppy joes it is and keep them vegan (minus the blue cheese dressing of course)!