These two recipes have got to be one of our absolute favorite meals! I don't think a week has gone by since we first made these that we haven't made them. Generally, we make them for dinner one night during the week, and then the rest of the week, the girls and I (and sometimes Jason if he's home during the day) will have them for lunch. We have no problem with leftovers! In fact, the way I feel is that if a meal doesn't make enough for at least 1 or 2 more meals, it's not worth making. =)Both of these recipes I got from the recipe blog "Delicious Wisdom." One of the things I like about this site is that she gives health benefits and other information for certain ingredients used in each recipe. Some of the recipes might be considered a little strange, but I just pick through and find the ones that we would be interested in trying. If you look on the right-hand side of the page, you will see a monthly archive. After you click on a certain month, you will see all the entries listed by title. Click on the name of a recipe to view the entire recipe.
Okay, let's start with the bean burgers. They are actually called Any Bean Burgers, because you can choose the kind of bean that you want to use. Since I've already given credit to "Delicious Wisdom," I'm going to just copy the recipe from her site. She gives such good information, and I don't want to leave anything out or have to change the wording around. =) Here it is:
So this is basically a bean burger, with some nuts thrown in for extra nutrition, flavor and protein. I've made the recipe completely adaptable, so that you can make things like "White Bean and Walnut Burgers", which sounds really chi chi. Or "Peanut and Black Bean Burgers", which sounds a little more...Latin, maybe? The point is, once you make your own 'veggie burger', you must promise never to buy the chemical-filled frozen ones again. Make your own and freeze them, because they freeze nicely.
Make beans from scratch, use leftovers, or use quality canned organic. Wheat germ serves a few purposes here: helping to shape the burgers, upping the fiber content even further than the beans already do, and providing a source of vitamin E, folic acid and other nutrients. Ground flaxseed will work in much the same way, but keep these things in mind: always keep it in the fridge, grind the seeds yourself in a coffee grinder if possible, and know that the omega-3 fatty acids do not survive high heat. For this reason, the main benefit of the flax in a cooked recipe like this would be the fiber.
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cooking Time: 25 Minutes
Yield: 6-8 Servings (Freeze the leftovers or crumble into a wrap for lunch the next day with some lettuce, veggies, and a condiment)
Ingredients:
2 Cups Cooked Beans (Any Type of Black, White or Red)
2/3 Cup Finely Chopped Nuts (Like Walnuts, Almonds or Peanuts)
1/4 Cup Chopped Red Onion
1/2 Tsp Chili Powder
1/2 Tsp Cumin Powder
1 Tsp Sea Salt
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
3 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1/2 Cup Wheat Germ (for the gluten-intolerant, use ground flaxseeds or try rolled oats)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients, using your hands to mush the beans into a chunky paste. Form into 6-8 burgers and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Serve on the best multi-grain bread you can find with tomato, sprouts, dark green lettuce and optional condiments like mustard, salsa or hummus. They can be slightly crumbly, so use some finesse when loading onto the bread.
We triple this recipe and make it with black beans and walnuts. We use yellow onion instead of red, and we use ground flax seeds instead of wheat germ. The kids love helping with this recipe. I usually measure out a little over 2 cups of nuts and put them into a Ziploc bag. Then I give the girls a rolling pin and let them crush the nuts. If you are pressed for time, just toss them in a food processor until they are well chopped. The bean mixture can either be mashed by hand, with a potato masher or dough blender, but the easiest way that we have found to do it is to put all the beans in a food processor and run it for about 5-10 seconds - just long enough to mash the majority of the beans without completely pureeing it. You want to have some "bean chunks" left in. After you've run the beans through the food processor, you can then just stir in the rest of the ingredients. We recently bought a 2 1/2" stainless steel ice cream scoop to form same-sized burgers. After we scoop the mounds onto a baking sheet, we press them down flat with our fingers. I also put some olive oil and pepper on each side of our wheat hamburger buns and lay them open faced on a baking sheet under the broiler to toast. You can "dress" your burger any way you like. We use the ketchup from the recipe below and some green leaf lettuce (not iceberg).
The thing about this recipe is that you can't go into it thinking that it's a hamburger. It is not the same texture. We compare it more to a bean burrito on a hamburger bun. The textures and flavors are so good, that chances are you won't even miss the high-fat red meat. We don't!
If you decide you like this recipe and would like to triple it like us, here are the "amounts" to make it easier for you.
4 cans of beans
1 can tomato paste
2 cups nuts
3/4 cup onion
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 T. salt (We are actually cutting back on salt, so we only use 1 1/2 tsp.)
6 T. olive oil
1 1/2 cups flax seed
What would a "burger" be without ketchup? This ketchup recipe is so yummy, that once you taste it, you will never want store-bought ketchup again! Here is the original recipe on Delicious Wisdom. Once again, I'm just going to copy her recipe below.
One of many blessings of home-made ketchup is that it contains no high fructose corn syrup. Use agave nectar, a sweetener made from a cactus-like plant with a honey-like texture and mild flavor (find it in your local health food store) and you’ve got ketchup with a very low glycemic index. Spread it on burgers, dip your sweet potato fries in it, use it to make barbeque sauce, or substitute it for tomato paste for an extra kick of flavor in your recipes. And, by the way--stop wasting tomato paste! Buy organic canned tomato paste and freeze the leftovers in tablespoon-sized chunks. Use as needed.
Prep Time: 10 Minutes
Cooking Time: 60 Minutes
Yield: About 2 Cups
Ingredients:
1- 28 Oz. Can Crushed Tomatoes
1 Medium Sweet Onion, chopped
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Tomato Paste
1/2 Cup Honey or Agave Nectar
1/4 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 Tsp Sea Salt
1/2 Tsp Dry Mustard
Pinch Cloves
Pinch Allspice
Pinch Cinnamon
Cook onion until soft and translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add all other ingredients and simmer on low, uncovered, for about one hour or until very thick. Stir occasionally while cooking, but more often at the end. This will prevent scorching or sticking. Blend in a food processor or blender once cool. Keep refrigerated. Keeps for about three weeks. Delicious!
The only change I make to this recipe is that I use the Muir Glen Fire-Roasted Tomatoes. These are not crushed but will be run through the food processor at the end, and they will leave the little black flecks from the fire roasting. A single recipe of this makes plenty of ketchup for our triple recipe of burgers.
Let me know if you try this and how you like it...
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