Black Bean Burgers

When looking for something quick to make for dinner, my husband turns to frozen Boca spicy black bean burgers about once a month or so.  I've been trying to stay away from frozen dinners, so when I came across this recipe I knew I wanted to give it a shot.

There isn't anything too fancy in the burgers (the only thing I had to run to the store for was chili powder since I had just used up the last of mine the other day) and it really wasn't hard to make.  I even got to use my fancy new masher I picked up at the store the other day.  I never really felt like I was doing anything wrong, though I did burn my finger on my stupid stovetop.  I forgot that the burners get hot when the oven is on (apparently the output for the hot air is directly into one of the back burners) so I bumped my knuckle on the burner and now have a lovely blister.  I did learn something new - if you burn yourself, put toothpaste (the white paste kind) on it.  I don't know exactly how it helps, but my mother-in-law suggested it, so I did it and it stopped hurting as much.

Next time I make these burgers I'll get fancy and add some toppings.  Normally my husband doesn't put anything on his black bean burgers, and I put a little sour cream on it to cut the spiciness (and I eat it sans the bread), but I think that some tomato and maybe a little cheese would go really well with this.  I served the burgers on whole wheat rolls with a side of roasted brussels sprouts and a sweet potato puree.  In all it took me less than an hour to cook.  I started the brussels sprouts first, then while they roasted I started getting the burgers ready.  When the sprouts came out, I finished mixing everything in, covered it, put it to the side, then finished up prepping the burgers.  While the burgers cooked, I heated the sweet potatoes in the microwave, then pureed it while the burgers cooled.

I'd definitely make these burgers again, I think they were better than the frozen kind!
 

Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers (from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients 

1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces

1/2 onion, cut into wedges

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 egg

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used panko)

Directions  

If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.   

In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty. 

In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans. 

In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce. 

Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties. 

If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Sweet Potato Burgers

I am constantly in search of new recipes to try and I came upon this one for Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers on Pinterest.  Now, there are two foods that I have been obsessed with over the past year or so...sweet potato and avocados.  Put them both in a recipe?  I'll make it next chance I get!

I adapted the recipe a slight bit.  The original recipe says it makes "7-8 large patties".  That just sounded like too much since there are only two of us, so I adjusted a bit and only used 1 can of cannelini beans and although it says "1 large sweet potato (about 2 cups)" I used one medium-large potato which seemed to yield a little over a cup.  The rest of the ingredients I halved as well (for the flour I eyeballed half of my 1/4 cup).

The rolls we bought were very large wheat ones, so I tried to make the patties the size of the rolls.  What I ended up with was one large patty, one extra large patty, and one small patty with what was left in the bowl.  I also was making this after work, so to "bake" the sweet potato I put it in the microwave for 4 1/2 minutes, then let it cool enough to peel.  When I went to cook the patties, they ended up burning a little bit on the first side (I then turned the high heat down a bit when I flipped them).  I honestly don't know how long it ended up cooking for in the end.  But thankfully no ingredients needed to be cooked to be eaten, so I wasn't worried about undercooking it.

The last obstacle I ran into was that I didn't have a masher (guess who needs to make a run to Bed Bath and Beyond??!!).  I used a serving fork to mash the ingredients  The only problem with this was that some of the beans didn't get fully mashed, but I did the best that I could...

Sweet Potato Burgers slightly adapted from the Happy Healthy Life vegan blog

 Ingredients
1 can cannellini white beans, drained
1 medium-large sweet potato, baked/peeled/mashed
1 Tbsp tahini
1 tsp agave syrup
1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
1/8 cup wheat flour

optional: additional seasoning - I used a little salt and a little pepper

Panko crumbs
vegetable oil for pan
Whole wheat rolls.  

 Toppings - avocado, tomato, Dijon mustard

Directions
Bake sweet potato. Peel, place in large mixing bowl.
Add drained beans to mixing bowl. Mash beans and potatotogether.
Mash in seasoning, flour and any additional seasoning.Your mixture will be quite soft and moist. But you should be able to form apatty. Add more flour or a scoop of breadcrumbs - or dry rice to thicken themixture if needed.
Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a pan over high heat.
Form a patty from mixture and coat in Panko crumbs.Thick coating. Then drop the patty in the pan. Repeat until the pan is filled.Cook until browned on both sides.
Transfer cooked patties to paper towel. Cool for a fewminutes.
Serve on bun with toppings of choice.

**Note from original recipe: yes this patty does fall kind of apart as you eatit. But that is OK because it tastes yummy.