Great Moments in Homemade Veggie Burgers (recipe 1)

Inspired by Katydid and Kid and her recent vegetarian burger experiments, I thought I would share a few of my favorite recipes.
I have been a vegetarian for over a decade. When I first "went veg" it was kind of hard to find vegetarian convenience foods. I went a little crazy when Bocca Burgers and Morning Star Farms started having options available in the freezer section of normal grocery stores! I ate their products so often that I was actually eating processed foods MORE than when before I became a vegetarian!

This is the first home made veggie burger recipe I ever tried, and I love it. It makes a lot and I freeze the leftovers in a ziplock bag and reheat them one at a time. You can also make "meat balls" out of this recipe. It comes from the Country Life Vegetarian Cookbook.

Oat Burgers

1 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 TBSP olive oil
4 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup soy sauce, unfermented (I have used Braggs Liquid Amino for this)
1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 TBSP onion powder
1 1/2 tsp. basil
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp ground dill seed (I leave this out because I have never bought it)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast (I got mine from www.BulkFoods.com, but I have also substituted 1/2 cup of sesame seeds when I was half way through a recipe and realized I was out of nutritional yeast!)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds or chopped walnuts
3/4 cup cracked wheat (I have used wheat germ as well)
3 1/2 cups regular rolled oats

In a large pot, saute onions in olive oil until soft. Add remaining ingredients except oats. Stir together and boil for 5 minutes.
Add oats and mix briefly. Reduce heat and simmer 5 more minutes.
Cover, set aside and let sit 1 hour (this lets all of the liquid be absorbed by the oats)
Using 1/2 cup measure dipped into water, fill with oat mixture.
Place on greased cookie sheet (I used parchment paper)
To prevent sticking, dip hands into water before forming into burgers.
Bake at 350 F for 35 minutes.
Turn over and bake additional 15 minutes.

yield: about 15 burgers

I have also pureed all of the ingredients in my blender before boiling.

I did that so that I could feed bits of oatburger to my one-year-old who doesn't have many teeth. It gives it a more uniform texture, but isn't at all neccessary.