veggie black bean burgers & lime "sour cream"

Lately I've been cooking a lot and sharing a little. not sure why..but I'll try to be better about sharing what's going on in my kitchen. I made these for our small group for the first time last week and they were a hit! I made another big batch of them just for Ryan and me and put the leftover patties in the freezer for sometime soon..tonight maybe?

Veggie Black Bean Burgers (12 servings...serve to a crowd or freeze what you don't eat):
3 (15 oz) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1.5 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
1.5 onion, cut into wedges
9 cloves garlic
4 eggs
3 T chili powder
4 t cumin
1 T Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
2 c panko bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly oil a baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, mash beans with a fork until thick and pasty. 
3. In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Remove excess water from vegetables. Stir into mashed beans. Add a little cilantro and corn if you'd like!
4. In a small bown, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and hot sauce.
5. Stir egg mixture into mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into 12 patties.
6. Bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Lime Sour Cream:  (I put sour cream in quotes in the title of this post because I used light sour cream the first time I made it and 0% fat Greek yogurt the second time...use which ever you prefer)

The amount of each ingredient could have "ish" at the end of every one of them! There is a lot of freedom in how you make this. More lime, okay! Less cilantro, okay! More red peppers...fewer jalapenos....more yogurt....you get the point. Play with it until it tastes just right to YOU :)

combine all ingredients and lightly stir:
1 cup nonfat greek yogurt or light sour cream
1.5 T fresh lime juice plus a little bit of grated lime zest
10 sliced jarred jalapenos, minced
sea salt to taste
small handful chopped cilantro
a few T finely chopped red pepper

Serve black bean burgers (topped with lime sauce of course!) over brown rice, on a bun, by itself, over mixed greens, accompanied with a salad (roasted beet salad recipe coming soon!), or sweet potato fries. Or anything else that sounds great to you!

enjoy every bite!

vegetarian chili

This recipe says that it makes 6 servings, but I think it made more like 12. We ate chili for lunch and dinner for several days. Next time, I'll half the recipe probably. It was very easy and good!! Enjoy :)

what you need:
1 (12 oz.) package frozen burger-style crumbles (I used Morning Star brand)
2 (15 oz.) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 (15 oz.) cans dark red kidney beans
1 (15 oz.) can light red kidney beans
1 (29 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 (12 fl. oz.) can tomato juice
2 onions, chopped
3 T chili powder
1.5 T ground cumin
1 T garlic powder
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

what to do: 
In a large pot, combine meat substitute, black beans, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, tomato juice, onions, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cover. Let the chili simmer for at least 1 hour before serving.

Top with crumbled tortilla chips and a dash of cheese. Mmm!