Super Ozzifying Daphne Oz’s Beet Sauce & Mother Trucker Veggie Burger from The Chew, September 30, 2011

Daphne Oz went into the field to explore healthy street food which is where she came upon the Green Truck and their Mother Trucker veggie burger.  You can find the recipe she made for the Beet Sauce here:

Daphne prepared the Beet Sauce and the Mother Trucker for The Chew panelists, but I Ozzified it a little bit more to make it even more healthy.

Kept: 

•     Roasted Beets - no need to go organic since I peeled them before I roasted them for dinner the night before.
• ·         Veggie burger patty - I used Boca, because they have a wide variety of tasty veggie burger patties. I don't have a financial or any other kind of relationship whatsoever with BOCA, other than being a consumer of their products for the past three years. In other words, I don't get any money from them - I spend money on them.
• ·         Organic Heirloom tomato slice 
• 
  

Modified:

• ·         Whole wheat bun – I used a whole grain bun. The bun in the piece looked like a white bun with some caramel coloring thrown in to make it look browner - one of the head fakes about which Dr. Oz is always cautioning us.

Swapped:

• ·         Axed the arugula for raw kale - not for any health reason, just that I had kale on hand and didn't want to go buy arugula just to use as a garnish. I was a little leery because raw kale has a strong flavor that I absolutely can't stand. Surprisingly, it actually worked thanks to all the other strong flavors in this yummy burger. As my daughter would say, "it didn't suck."
• ·         86ed the organic catsup for a no-salt catsup (saving 1200 grams of sodium – critical since veggie burgers tend to be high in sodium already (this should be proof enough that I don't get any $$$ from BOCA).
• ·        Skipped the Veganaise in favor of low fat Greek yogurt instead, saving nearly a day’s worth of calories (1280) and over 140 grams of fat. I also saved gas since I didn't have to drive to the store to buy a mayonnaise I probably wouldn't like anyway. Of course, adding yogurt makes this burger non-vegan, but since I'm not vegan, it isn't a problem. I am trying to lose weight, however, so saving the fat calories by losing the mayo would've happened even if I were a vegan.

KAdded:

• ·         sodium free Greek herbs for a little Mediterranean punch

This burger took very little time to make. In the seven minutes it took to cook up the Boca patty on my stovetop grill, I was able to whirl together the beets (roughly chop them up some first unless you have a super efficient food processor), yogurt, herbs and catsup to make the sauce. I slathered on the sauce rather than make the cutesy heart and peace sign - not a big fan of washing more dishes than I absolutely have to.