Veggie Burgers & Zucchini Chips

Last week I found a recipe for bulgar & white bean burgers. I detest store-bought veggie burgers and I'm not a huge fan of homemade bean burgers--the texture turns me off. The recipe looked good, though, and I had all of the ingredients on hand, so I decided to whip them up.
I liked them, but I didn't love them...but I was excited to see potential in the recipe. The bulgar changed the texture of the bean burgers and made them much more delicious. I took to my lab kitchen to make over the recipe to perfection.
The results? Amazing! They're similar to falafel. Here's the recipe:

Chickpea, Bulgar, & Veggie Burgers
Yields: 8 burgers

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil, plus more for cooking
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped finely
1/2 cup uncooked bulgar
1 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup nut of your choice (walnuts would work best because they're soft, but I went with almonds because I had them on hand)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1 tsp cumin
1 cup cooked or canned chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 large carrot, grated (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup frozen peas

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onion and garlic, sautéing until the onions are translucent, about 2 minutes.
2. Add the bulgar and 1 cup of water, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow bulgar to simmer, covered, 10-12 minutes, until cooked through. Stir in the soy sauce.
3. Allow the bulgar to cool slightly. Throw it in a food processor with the nuts, cilantro, and cumin, pulse until the nuts are chopped up and everything is incorporated. Transfer to a large bowl.
4. Put the chickpeas in the food processor and pulse until they are crumbly, but not smooth. Add these to the bulgar mixture and mix well.
5. Add the egg and bread crumbs to the mixture, mix well.
6. Add the carrots and peas, mix until evenly distributed.
7. Scoop out 1/4 cups of the mixture and form into patties with your hand. Place them on a plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least a few hours. Here's what you'll have at this point:

8. Once they've chilled, heat a bit of oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add the burgers (as many as will fit comfortably) to the pan, allow to cook until brown, about 3 minutes. Flip them over, brown the other side. And you're done:

This was the start of my sandwich. I cut a slice of honey oat quick bread in half, plopped the burger down, and added tomato, spinach, and a little bit of ranch dressing. I tried to put the other half of the bread on top, but I could not, for the life of me, fit it into my mouth, so it ended up being open faced.

These are so, so good. I could have eaten a million of them. They're surprisingly low-calorie (about 150 each) and really filling.

On the side of my burger, I decided to try yet another experiment: zucchini chips. I took the sweet potato fry baking method I learned on Iowa Girl Eats and used zucchini instead. Here's how to do it:

Zucchini Chips
Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 small zucchinis
1 egg white
Panko bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 400˚. Slice the zucchinis into rounds (I used a mandolin). Beat the egg white in a bowl and sprinkle the bread crumbs on a plate. Dip the zucchini in the egg white and then in the bread crumbs to coat. Lay on a metal cooling rack placed on top of a baking sheet (for crispiness). Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.
These were good, too. Crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside. Yum!
This was quite a vegetarian feast: