Feeding the Family

I could write a meaningful, reflective piece about how sad it is to put away Mina's 3-6 month clothes or about balancing my career goals with being a mom as I search for a job OR I could write about my delicious dinner last night. Dinner it is.
Last night Ben was home and I had a dilemma - I had no plans for dinner. I had some sweet potato tots in the freezer I could use as a side but nothing for the main course and I didn't want to go to the store. I decided to go with an old standby, black bean burgers. I love these because I almost always have a can of beans on hand (you can use pinto or even chickpeas) and the rest of the ingredients can be adjusted based on your tastes and what you happen to have in the fridge or pantry. Also, they are really quick and easy to make.
To begin, I made hamburger buns. You can use any bread you have on hand, but we didn't have much left so I wanted to make buns. I had very little time as I started thinking about dinner around 5:00. Luckily, an internet search yielded this tutorial from Taste of Home for quick hamburger buns. From the point of view of a pastry chef, it makes an extra-yeasty and not very flavorful bun, but as a mom who wants to get dinner on the table in an hour, it is a lifesaver and pretty tasty too.
Now for the burgers. I always start with a can of beans (any kind), an egg, bread crumbs, and salt/pepper. Everything else can be adjusted based on what is available. I don't usually measure my ingredients either. This is a rough recipe but make yours to taste. I also will use different seasonings based on the beans; I use - curry and paprika with chickpeas, for example.

Black Bean Burgers
1 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1 egg
bread crumbs (2-4 Tbsp)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped onion (optional but good)
Salt (approx 1 tsp)
Pepper (1/2 tsp)
Cayenne (1/8 tsp)
Chili Powder (1/2 tsp)

- Reserve 1/4 of the black beans and set aside. Place the remaining black beans in a food processor along with the onion and egg. Process until smooth.
- Add bread crumbs and process until you get a mold-able consistency (runnier than cookie dough but thicker than muffin batter, you just need to be able to form it into a patty)
- Season to taste.
- Stir in the remaining whole black beans.
- Heat up a skillet over medium heat and add oil to coat the bottom.
- form patties and cook in skillet, 2-3 minutes on each side until nicely browned

We topped our burgers with pepper cheese and sweet sauteed peppers. A winning combination with chickpea burgers is goat cheese, caramelized onions and a blueberry balsamic glaze. This is an easy dinner that anyone can do with whatever ingredients are on hand. So it is great for people like me who are terrible at planning out meals at the beginning of the week (I envy my mom's skill at this). It is hard to share recipes since I don't really measure things out but I hope this makes sense. Just keep tasting and you will reach something delicious. Enjoy!

Yum!