Black Bean Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

Tonight we had black bean burgers and sweet potato fries for dinner.  Let me just say this, "YUM!!"  And it was a healthy meal to boot.  I've been making sweet potato fries for who knows how long.  They only take about 30 minutes to cook, and are so sweet and spicy, I can't even stand it.  But I've never made black bean burgers from scratch before.  We are usually Boca or Morningstar Farms folks, (honestly we are really big juicy beef people, but we do like an occasional veggie burger as a healthy alternative and especially here in Guam, where the meat is shipped frozen from far away lands and always tastes just a tad freezer burnt in burgers (is that an actual phrase? I will admit that I originally typed frozer burnt- what the heck does that even mean?), non-meat burgers seem more and more appealing.  And it's getting close to the end of the month, which means we are getting close to the end of our grocery budget, so I went shopping in my pantry to see what all we had on hand before coming up with my menu this week.  I ran across a recipe for black bean burgers via a link from the orgjunkie web, and since I have more cans of black beans than a non-survivalist should have, it was perfect for this week's menu.

Sweet Potato Fries
2 large sweet potatoes
2 tbsp Tony's Creole Seasoning
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.  Line 2 cookie sheets with aluminum foil.  Thinly slice potatoes (I cheated and used my food processor).  Place about a fourth of the potatoes into a large bowl, sprinkle with about 1/2 tbsp of Tony's and 1 tbsp of olive oil.  Stir, coating slices with oil and spice.  Repeat process until all slices are coated.

Place slices in single layer on cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with brown sugar.

Cook for 15 minutes, remove from oven and turn over, cook for 15 more minutes or until tender.


Black Bean Burgers (adapted from Low Calorie Black Bean Burgers submitted by Kimberly Eggleston)

1 15-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup dried breadcrumbs

1 large egg, beaten

1/2 lrg onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp chipotle chili powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp olive oil

4 hamburger buns

In a skillet, melt butter.  Add carrot, onion and garlic. 

Cook, stirring frequently, until onions are translucent and carrots are fairly tender.

In the meantime, smoosh beans.  Smoosh, that's one of my more technical terms...

Add bread crumbs, seasonings, worshestire sauce, and cooked veggies.  Stir to combine all ingredients.  Add egg.

Check on your kids to see what they are destroying while you are cooking.  Enjoy the quiet caused by the harmless distraction.  

Heat olive oil in skillet used to cook veggies.  While oil is heating form 4 patties from bean mixture and place into warm skillet.

Cook until patties are firm- about 4 minutes on each side.  They'll look a lot like hamburgers when they are done.

I tried not to take pictures since these aren't the prettiest things to look at.  Thank goodness for buns out of season Christmas plates to distract you.  We did put our burgers on buns and used typical condiments.  In the future, if the Commissary ever has avocados again, I'll dress them with avocado and a spicy mayo or something.  Also, I am going to tweak this recipe and try it with peppers and mushrooms- really any veggies would work well, just be sure to chop small enough that they are almost tender when added to the bean mixture.