re·cipe: black bean veggie "burgers"

Last year, my doctor mentioned that I had high triglycerides. While it wasn't an immediate threat, I needed to work on lowering the number. Her two suggestions were to cut down drastically on carbs and red meat. Well, I LOVE my carbs. There is nothing like fresh bread and I love a good cupcake! That left the red meat. It wasn't something I valued highly to begin with, and since I wasn't planning to budge on the carbs, I decided to cut consumption of it completely.

Add that to the fact that I don't eat seafood (I've just never liked the stuff), and I'm left with chicken and turkey. I make a lot with it at home, but over the past year, the case for vegetarianism has really began to jump out at me and make sense. I've already reduced my meat consumption greatly, but have been inspired to try and cut back more.

Among the cookbooks I recently borrowed from the library, I got one for vegan recipes. I quickly returned it, frustrated to realize that I didn't recognize half of the ingredients in the book! Yikes! I wanted to start simple so I wouldn't get frustrated and fail. I wanted to start with ingredients I already like and use and work my way up.


A quick internet search for vegetarian recipes got me a recipe for Black Bean Veggie Burgers. I almost always have a can of beans in my pantry, so I figured this would be a great starting point. My hubby was curious, so last night, I made my version with what we had available. We actually ended up with black bean veggie "tacos." Yum! Not a bad start. Easy, tasty, and easily modified to your preferences.

Black Bean Veggie Burgers (or tacos)

• 1 16 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• onion powder to taste 
• garlic powder to taste
• 1 tsp. hot or chili sauce

Mash black beans until thick and pasty. Finely chop green pepper in food processor and stir into black beans. In a separate bowl, combine egg, cumin, and chili powder. Combine mixture with black beans. Add hot sauce and garlic and onion powders to taste. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Form mixture into four patties and cook in greased skillet on medium heat, approximately 7 minutes per side. Enjoy!

We went on to chop up the patties and serve on warmed tortillas with cheese and tomato. The recipe is on the blander side, so feel free to change spices or add more hot sauce to suit your personal heat level!