Homemade Black Bean Burgers

Yesterday we had a few friends & their dogs over for an afternoon cookout. One of the friends is a vegetarian so instead of our typical meat on the grill, we made black bean burgers. They were super tasty!

• 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

  Directions

  1. 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.
  2. In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
  3. In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.
  4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

Great Things

1.  Those lovely little basil leaves you see are right out of our garden. 

2.  We used it to make a tasty pizza that I cooked on the grill.  First time using the grill and I am already a master.

Such great things on this lovely Sunday.

Calling All Recipes!

Although I have to be one who considers cooking a hobby, I am starting to enjoy it more than I have in the past.  That doesn't mean a whole lot since regular cooking for me consists of scrambling eggs, if that even counts.  But I'm coming around.  Living with a guy who likes to cook may be partially responsible.  Living with a guy who likes Hamburger Helper may also be partially responsible because, well, sometimes it grosses me out.  So when I have to take matters into my own hands and volunteer to make dinner, it surprises me that I like it a little bit.  Once I find a yummy recipe and get started, it turns into fun.

Tonight it's my turn to make dinner.  Boymate (My boyfriend, my roommate.  See what I did there?) has cooked for us the last two nights.  Last night he grilled out and Monday he made fajitas (not to be confused with fajadas).  Definitely my turn.  Please tell me, dear readers, what on earth should I make?

I would say my difficulty level can be at the beginner-intermediate level.  I'm up for a challenge.  I mean, I have officially used apple cider vinegar in a recipe, successfully poached an egg, and am getting pretty fast at chopping vegetables.  Plus I have a really great apron.

Please send some recipes my way!!  It overwhelms me when I start googling things and the possibilities are endless.  Merci Beaucoup.

Fajadas

I don't cook on a regular basis.  Usually my roommate makes dinner for us and usually he does a darn good job.  He gets home earlier from work than I do, so it makes sense that he starts cooking when he's hungry and it's done shortly after I get home.  (I know, idyllic.)  More importantly, he enjoys the art of cooking.  Me, not quite there yet.

Tonight, however, we switched it up a bit.  He was busy working on a report for work and when I asked him what was for dinner, he walked me to the refrigerator.  There, ice-bitten, plastic-wrapped and highly marketed were meals with "Done in 5 Minutes!" and "Flash Frozen Vegetables" written proudly on them.  What does that even mean?

As he pondered which option sounded better, I interrupted his thoughts and asked him how much sodium was in package #1.  42% PER CUP.  Yikes.  There weren't many other options though.  I hate going to the grocery store and our regular weekly trip hadn't happened.  Hence, the frozen dinners that he picked up a few days ago.  I refused to eat those things though and poor roommate was a hungry man.  It was looking like a cereal-for-dinner kind of evening.  And then. . .

Vegetables!  We had vegetables.  Surely I could concoct something up.  I started cutting, threw them on the stove, and continued to brainstorm what the green peppers and onions would become.  After stepping outside for a minute I returned to a smell similar to fajitas.  Fajitas!  That's what they will become!  I went to the refrigerator.  Chicken, we have chicken!  Some tomatoes, those should do.  Tortillas, yes!  I went to work.  Two skillets were going, the cutting board was covered, and the roommate hollered that it was smelling good.

You can guess the general outcome of the story.  I cooked the veggies.  I cooked the chicken.  And then I (over) cooked the tortillas.  They were  crispy.  Oops.  Still, I prepared our plates.  When I apologized for the crispy tortillas, Mr. Roommate said he likes them like that.  "It's like a tostada."  Except these weren't tostadas.  They were fajitas.  Well, at least they were supposed to be.  And so fajadas were born.  I was pretty pleased with the outcome until he ruined it with, "It's amazing actually.  You're going to have to start cooking more often."  Blast.

yum.

Have you ever tasted churros?  If not, you really must.  The subtle crunch mixed with ooey gooey thick chocolate puts our doughnuts to shame.  Just look at them, bursting with deliciousness:

Mmm, these are so worth the calories.

[Photo taken at Salt in Boulder, Colorado.]
(It's a great great place.)