Black Bean Veggie Burger

Make no mistake, this burger will not taste like a beef hamburger. But, if you like veggie burgers, after one bite of this spicy black bean burger you'll never go back to those prepackaged, over-priced ones in your grocery store. Best part: it's completely cholesterol free, has about 3 grams of fat, and 11 grams of protein each.

 I whipped up a soy yogurt chipotle dressing too for the kids to dip into and to drizzle on top. The kids and I like our burgers bun-free. These were good enough to please even the adult carnivore in my home (with a bun and lots of toppings, but I call that a success).

I found this recipe on the website allrecipes.com. I had to substitute out the egg to make it completely vegan. After some googling I found a site that suggested using ground flax seed mixed with water to create a binder.

I chopped up all the veggies in my food processor, mixed the spices with the ground flax seed and warm water, then mashed with the beans and bread crumbs. These formed nice little patties.

I froze the patties for about a half an hour before throwing them on the BBQ. They held together surprisingly well. Yeah! Success without the egg!

These were so good I wished I'd doubled the recipe. They'd be great to freeze and pull out for a quick lunch.

We grilled some yummy corn along with these burgers.

After brushing the corn with olive oil, I sprinkled on salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Unique and delicious!

Here's the burger recipe (my changes are in italics):

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 T ground flax seed mixed into 3 T warm water)
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
• 1/2 cup (1 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 flax and water mixture, 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 freeze patties until fim then place directly on the grill , and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Enjoy!