Mid West Vegetarian Adventures - with Shelly!

One of the things I love about blogging and the internet is making new blogger friends from around the world.

As you know, I love to travel and one of the greatest things about travelling is discovering new food flavours - enriching your tastebud tapestry.

I met Shelly from Vegetarian Ventures on the Blogging your way 2.0 course this summer.  I really loved her vibe and style on her uber-cool blog Vegetarian Ventures and I loved the look of all her Mid West inspired veggie dishes.  I especially loved how they call mini 'Burgers'  'Sliders' over in the US.

So we came up with an idea to introduce each other to a few of our own country's favourite dishes.

We're going to do a series of recipe swaps over the coming weeks and I'm so excited to show you the results of the first one!  Shelly gave me this amazing recipe to try for her Southwestern Vegetarian Burgers with an incredible avocado mayo slathered on top.

Well, if this first recipe is anything to go by, I'm already salivating at the thought of trying the next few out, because these 'sliders' (Burgers to all the Brit folk) were delicious - a real treat!

These will be my new go-to vegetarian burgers and my vegetarian Dad loved them so much, he gave it a big thumbs up and inhaled 4 of them.

The thing I really liked about them was that they didn't contain Tofu or 'Quorn' as so many vegetarian burgers do.  They are made from fresh, healthy ingredients, and tasted sweet and ...well, southwestern! The avocado mayo is so special too, slathered on top, you will remember the taste sensation for hours afterwards and lick your lips many times.  Add the melted cheese and you're really going to pop.

The only thing I struggled with was obtaining the black beans!  In the US and Australia you can buy ready cooked Black beans in the tin, but I couldn't find any here in the UK - I had to buy them raw from a 'specialty store' and cook them myself.  But once, cooked, drained and rinsed, they should provide many happy vegetarian sliders now that I have a good stock!  In fact, I'm already thinking about making some Mid West inspired quesadillas with them!  YUM.

My Sliders also looked a bit more 'orange' than Shelly's - I think this was because I used a red bell pepper and grated my carrots (I think!)

Here's the original recipe from Shelly's Vegetarian Ventures;

Southwestern Veggie Sliders with Avocado Mayo

3 spring onions, sliced and diced (Shelly's recipe calls for 1 white onion, but I didn't have one, only spring onions so I used these instead - they worked out great!)

10 oz  pre-cooked black beans, drain and thoroughly rinsed

1/2 cup sweetcorn

1 carrot, grated

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 Jar of Ol Del Paso Salsa

olive oil, for cooking

12 Small burger buns

Some grated cheese

For the avocado mayo:

1 ripe avocado

1/2 cup mayo

2 garlic cloves, minced

salt/pepper

1 Tablespoon lime juice

In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and  bell pepper and saute for another two or so minutes.

Remove from heat and add to a large mixing bowl. Add the corn, carrot, black beans, bread crumbs, and cornmeal. Fold in salsa until everything is combined.

Divide the mixture into 12 equal parts and form patties (burgers). Heat another 2 Tablespoons of olive over medium heat and cook each side of the patty for about (depending on how hot your skillet gets) 2 minutes on each side.

To make the sauce: mash together the avocado, mayo, garlic, and lime juice. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

Stack the burgers onto toasted buns slther with cheese and then the avocado mayo. Devour,  enjoy and lick the plate clean.

Go check out more awesome recipes for vegetarians on her blog Vegetarian Ventures!

Thank you Shelly!  We raise our empty plates to you J