Black Bean Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

This has quickly become one of Dane and my favorite dinners. It is so easy! (Especially because the burger patties freeze really well. All you have to do is prepare them as usual, freeze and then pop them in the toaster until they are reheated to perfection.)




Black Bean Burgers: (from Veganomicon)

2 cups or 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten (*or flour works too)
1/2 cup plain whole wheat bread crumbs
1 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon tomato paste or ketchup
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (optional but highly recommended)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 small onion
About 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus olive oil spray
Whole wheat buns

Mash the beans with a fork in a mixing bowl. You don't want to puree them; just get them mashed so that no whole beans are left, but leave some half-beans.

Add the wheat gluten, bread crumbs, chile powder, cumin, water and tomato paste (and cilantro) but don't mix yet. Use a microplane grater to grate the garlic in. Use the large holes on a box grater to grate the onion.

Mix everything together with a fork and then proceed to mix with your hands until the mixture is firm and uniformly mixed (about a minute).

Preheat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat.

Divide the burger mixture into six equal pieces. Roll each piece into a firm ball. Use your palm to press the ball down on a clean surface to form a patty that is about 1-1/2 inch thick. Press so that the patty is flat on both sides. Make six patties.

Pour a thin layer of olive oil into the pan. Cook the patties three at a time for 5 minutes on each side, gently but firmly pressing down on them with a spatula. Spray with olive oil before turning them over, for uniform browning. Once cooked, the patties should be very firm when you press down on them.

Serve warm on burger buns.



Sweet Potato Fries: (I made this one up! yay me!)

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fry-size wedges
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 C four
1/3 C bread crumbs
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper


Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. In a large bowl coat sweet potato wedges with olive oil. Mix dry ingredients and sprinkle over sweet potatos. Mix until fully coated.
Spread eavenly on a large cookie sheet and bake for 20-30 min. Just until it is easy to poke them with a fork. Don't over cook them, they will be too soggy. Enjoy!


p.s. My favorite way to eat the fies is with home made fry sauce: Mix equal parts of tomato ketchup, your favoite BBQ sauce, and mayo. (our fave is Sweet Baby Ray's)