My Garden Surprise Recipe

A few years ago, I needed a way to use up veggies from my garden. I came up with this recipe and it has been a staple ever since. You can use whatever vegetables you like - cucumbers, zucchini, onions, scallions, squash (any kind), green peppers, potatoes, carrots, eggplant, etc....

As with most gardeners, it seems that I am bombarded with zucchini or cucumbers, or whatever the current ripe vegetable happens to be. Because of this, my recipe uses whatever vegetables are available at the time - hence the recipe name:  Garden Surprise. For this batch, I used onions, potatoes, zucchini, green peppers and carrots.

Peel and wash the vegetables and slice them to a size that will fit into your food processor. Shred them with a pulsing action. I ended up with about 8 cups of shredded vegetables.

Mmmm......There is nothing quite like fresh vegetables.

To your large shredded vegetable bowl, add:

- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoons Black Pepper
- 2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
- 2 teaspoons Onion Powder
- 2 tablespoons Dried Sweet Basil
- 1/2 cup Aquafaba

We tend to like things on the spicy side, so you may want to adjust these amounts to your taste.

Your veggie mix is now ready for the next step.

Add just enough dried instant potatoes to absorb some of the water from the vegetables. You want to be able to make patties with the veggie mix.  I used 2 cups for this large batch. Cucumbers tend to be very watery so I would probably need more dried potatoes with them.

Preheat a non-stick pan or griddle and lightly coat with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Shape mix into patties and place on pan. Cook on medium heat until browned on one side. Flip with a spatula and cook the other side. You want to give them a nice browning, as they tend to stay together better and the crispiness adds to the flavor.

You can serve them as is, or with a side of ketchup, barbecue sauce or marinara sauce.

I find this is a great recipe for kids, who aren't big on eating vegetables. It has been consistently delicious, no matter what combination of vegetables that I have used.