Mushroom Burger Sub

How are you keeping cool this summer?  We're struggling to keep active but cool and last night's run did not help that situation!  We headed out into a wall of heat and humidity to start a 10 mile run around a lake near our house.  I only made it halfway.  There are day use areas on both sides of the lake, and a swimming area is at the opposite side of the lake from where we parked.  I was struggling with the heat so badly by the time we hit that beach area that I decided to stop and cool off there instead of finishing the last 5 miles.  So, I sent the hubby off to run the last 5 miles alone and come back and get me.  Yeah, I wimped out.  But I'm trying to dwell on the 5 miles I DID do instead of the 5 I didn't.

While I was sitting by myself for an hour or so, I had time to really think about dinner.  We had a casserole on the menu but there was NO WAY I was making our house hot once we finally made it back from being out in that heat!!  I devised a plan...mushroom burger subs.  And they turned out just like I hoped they would.  I've missed having cheeseburger subs...not for the cheeseburger but just the whole taste of it.  This sub gave me a little bit of that back.  :)

Being a Eastern Shore girl at heart, these looked a lot like crab cakes too...and that is another thing I've missed more than I'll usually admit.  I feel so much better when eating a mostly plant based diet but there are some foods that just transcend labels and diets.  If I were to run across some good crab meat that is from our region, I would not turn it down!  This recipe could easily be adapted to mimic a crab cake with a swap of Old Bay instead of the Italian seasoning.

The most time consuming part of this sub was chopping the mushrooms but other than that, it was a quick put together!  I had the sub rolls on hand too and that helped.  Usually I would make the rolls to go with them. The gravy was also a purchased organic mix I'd bought on a whim.  It made the sub though.  I think tomatoes and lettuce would be awesome if you didn't have any gravy on hand.

Mushroom Burgers recipe

Ingredients:

• 10 oz pkg baby bella mushrooms, cleaned and diced


• 1/2 c bread crumbs


• 1 egg


• 1 1/2 c prepared tvp (I bought dried and reconstituted it.)


• 1 T Italian seasoning mix


• 1 T salt


• 1/2 small onion finely chopped

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients until well mixed.  If too wet, add more bread crumbs.  If too dry, add some vegetable broth or water.


2. Preheat a frying pan with some oil covering the bottom to get a good crisp.


3. Make patties and fry for about 5 minutes each side.


4. Serve on roll with whatever toppings you enjoy.

I hope you love it!

Sheri