Bulgar and Mushroom Burgers

The recipe: Bulgar and Mushroom Burgers from Canadian Living Barbecue (available online here).

The substitutions: none

The verdict: Yum! We invited a vegetarian over for a BBQ, so I was really excited to try making my own veggie burgers. As a former veg myself, I've had plenty of pre-made veggie burgers in my life. These are so much better. The magic comes from sauteing the mushrooms before forming the patties, which makes the burgers juicy and delicious. I used my food processor to get the mushrooms chopped up really fine, which I think also made a difference. I think I'll make these many times again, even if we don't have any vegetarians coming to dinner.

Stuffed Cheddar Burgers

The Recipe: Stuffed Cheddar Burgers from Canadian Living's The Barbecue Collection. Recipe online here

The Substitutions: I added about a quarter cup of barbecue sauce to the mix because that's the way I like it.


The Verdict: Not bad. I've actually tried quite a few recipes from this book (sorry, it's summertime and the bloggin' is lazy) and in general, it's an awesome book. This is not my favourite burger recipe from this book (that would be the Meat Loaf Burgers), but it's not bad. It's a pretty basic burger recipe -- with an egg and bread crumbs included, which is a must for me when it comes to homeburgers. A must. I do like the cheese inside the burger, though the method they use makes it pretty concentrated right in the middle of the burger. And my resident griller (I realized the other day that I don't even know how to turn the barbecue on) was annoyed when the cheese oozed out and caught the burgers on fire. But a good burger is a good burger and these are... well, good burgers.