Big Fat Veggie Burger Bowl

I've decided to make November a healthy month on the blog, so I'm going to give you lots of colourful fresh healthy foods low in fat, low in carbs and low in sugar! I've been craving fresh healthy foods this month, because I did a fair bit of (wonderful) indulging last month.

I love a good veggie burger, but often I don't feel like eating the bread so it's become less common on our weekly dinners. This week I wanted a burger so I thought I'd make it into a big fat salad bowl instead. It was just as filling but minus all the bread, and I felt really great after I'd finished it (as opposed to over full and slightly ill which is how I often feel after a big fat veggie burger).

You can make this salad using any patties you like. I used chickpea and cumin patties which I bought from the supermarket, which made this a super quick and easy dinner. You can use any bought veggie or bean or lentil burgers, or you can make your own burger patties from the millions of great recipes out there on the internet :) You can also adjust the other salad ingredients to be what you like to have on your burger, I've chucked in some marinated artichoke hearts here which are not traditionally on a burger, but which I happened to have lots of in my fridge. Add or subtract what you like! If you like your burgers Aussie-Style then you might want to whack some tinned beetroot in with it (yum!).

Big Fat Veggie Burger Bowl

Ingredients
2-3 handfuls of torn iceberg lettuce (you can sub fancier stuff if you like, but for burgers I like the crunch of iceberg)
1 carrot, grated
1 large tomato, diced
2-3 marinated artichoke hearts, chopped (optional)
1 large dill pickle, thinly sliced
1 ripe avocado, sliced
2 veggie patties of your choice
Burger sauce of your choice (I used BBQ, you can use tomato, sweet chilli, mayo or anything you like)
2/3 cup hummus
Sumac or smoky paprika for sprinkling on the hummus

To Make
1. Distribute the lettuce, grated carrot, tomato, artichoke hearts, pickle slices and avocado evenly between two bowls.
2. Cook the burger patties according to the instructions on the packet - you can usually pan fry in a little oil (I like this method, as is makes the edges nice and crispy) or heat in the oven for a slightly healthier, oil-free option. Once cooked chop roughly into pieces and add to the bowl.
3. Drizzle the chopped veggie patties with your choice of burger sauce and then dollop about 1/3 cup hummus on top of each bowl (you can be more generous - of course!).
4. Sprinkle some sumac or smoky paprika on top of the hummus and you're ready to go!

Serves two.
Part of the VVLP.