Veggie dishes

I have two to share tonight, one the baby Badger LOVED, the other he shunned. But the adults in the room enjoyed both, so they'll stay in the rotation! Veggie burgers (the big hit) and veggie shepherd's pie.

Veggie Burgers

1 can black beans
1 14.5 oz can tomatoes with diced chiles (I did mild)
1 garlic clove minced (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
1 tsp onion powder
2 green onions, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped (didn't have so we skipped this, but I'm sure it would be good)
1 cup cilantro or parsley, chopped
2 cups rolled oats

Preheat oven to 400 deg. Process first 7 ingredients until blended, add to oats (mine seemed really soupy at first, so I let it sit for a few minutes and the oats absorbed a lot of the liquid). Form into patties (I got about 8 out of this). Put on a baking sheet and bake 8 minutes. Then you have options:

-Turn oven up and broil 2 minutes until browned
-Cook in frying pan with a tiny bit of oil, about a minute on each side
-Use counter top grill and grill until score marks appear (this is what we did)

Because there were oats, I didn't feel like putting these on a bun, so we ate them bun-less, dipped in a tiny bit of bbq sauce. We all enjoyed them this way. If you can't live without the bun, these are a really good, meaty texture that would masquerade well as a regular burger.

Veggie Shepherd's Pie

5 small red potatoes
1 clove garlic
1 onion diced
1 stick celery, chopped
1 leek, chopped and washed thoroughly
1 carrot, chopped
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 can of beans, drained
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (or regular)
1/4 c grated low-fat cheese

Cook potatoes until soft.
Saute veggies in a little bit of olive oil for 10 min
Mash the potatoes with the milk and cheese

In a 9x9 baking dish, put veggies on bottom, top with mashed potatoes. Bake at 350 for 20 min.

This is adapted from a recipe I found on allrecipes; the biggest change I made was that I halved the amount of potato to balance our plate a little. I don't feel like the dish suffered from it, and the veggies were allowed to play a main role.