not as boring as it looks: black bean burgers

I absolutely love these burgers (taken right out of Februrary 2009 Gourmet magazine). Before you turn away in disgust (yes, I am still the same author of AHB who prefers red meat to almost any other food), hear me out.

• These are healthy.
  
• They take 10 minutes to make 4 of them.
  
• You can freeze them. You can reheat one for lunch in 5 minutes.
  
• They are cheap.

And I'm not saying I'd ever replace a real burger with these, but I've started eating them all the time for lunch and they are wonderful. Maybe I should call them "black bean sandwich filling" or "black bean patties"? Whatever you call them, just make some up pronto, okay?

Grocery list: 2 cans black beans (rinsed and drained), 3-4 T mayo, 1/3 c bread crumbs, 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1/4 tsp cayenne, 1/4 cup minced cilantro.



Rinse the black beans and divide them - half in a bowl, half into a food processor. Finely chop the cilantro and add to the bowl with the whole black beans.



Add the breadcrumbs, mayo (the original called for 3T of mayo but I found I needed a little more), and the spices to the food processor.



Process until you have a paste - if you have to add more mayo to get the consistency right, now's the time.



Add the black bean paste to the bowl with the cilantro and whole beans, and stir to combine. As you can see from the picture, it was still a little difficult to stir so I added more mayo. Mayo makes everything better right?



Form into 4 patties. If you want to freeze some, wrap them up now and stick them in the freezer. To cook them when they are fresh, saute in olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes per side.



If frozen, thaw them in the microwave for 30-60 seconds (not all the way thawed, just a little to kick start them), then fry for 5 minutes per side. They'll heat all the way through just fine.



Serve them on a toasted bun with cheddar cheese and salsa, or cut them in half and wrap in a tortilla with sour cream, salsa and avocado. (Do you notice how pretty that bun is by the way? I made that! With my new stand mixer I'm baking all our breads now, and these hamburger buns are the best thing I've done so far.)

sneaky sloppy joes

These sloppy joes will trick you into eating healthy. I saw the idea on food network some time ago, where you replace some of the red meat in your normal sloppy joe base with equally filling, high protein and fiber-packed beans. Technically, ground beef with beans probably makes it chili though...? Either way, these turned out great. Even A, an avid bean-hater, said the beans just sneaked into the sandwich without him even noticing.

Grocery list: one pound ground sirloin, one can kidney or pinto beans (drained and rinsed well), 1 can tomato sauce, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, worcestershire sauce, tabasco, yellow mustard, 1 red bell pepper, 1 onion, 3-4 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup brown sugar, olive oil.



Chop the onion. Preheat a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium-high heat, then add the onion and the beef. Stir to break the meat apart.




Chop the pepper and mince the garlic while the beef cooks. After about 5 minutes, the onions will start to turn translucent and the beef will be about half cooked. Add the pepper and garlic.



While the peppers start to soften, add a generous splash of both worcestershire and red wine vinegar (1-2 tablespoons each). Measure out half a cup of brown sugar and open up the tomato sauce.



After the peppers have cooked about 5 minutes, the beef should be cooked all the way. Now you can add the can of tomato sauce (that's about 2 cups), plus 2 T tomato paste. I also added a generous squirt of french's yellow mustard, since that's how my mom always made it, plus a shake of tabasco to taste. Stir in the brown sugar, then season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to a low simmer and cook for about 10 minutes.



If you have the time, you can turn off the finished dish and let it sit there for a while (an hour, whatever) and the flavors keep melding together - just reheat when it's time to serve. Split fresh hamburger rolls, toast them under a broiler, and pile the filling in. Serve with lots of Frank's Red Hot or tabasco. (Do you see these buns? I made them! I'm working on fresh bread now - more on that when I'm confident enough to share...)