Barb's Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Four years ago when my grandson began his vegetarian lifestyle, I knew that I needed to come up with alternative meals that he could enjoy with the rest of the family - especially when we had our family cookouts in the summer.  His mom would buy packaged frozen veggie burgers.  But one day he said, "Grandma, I bet you could make better veggie burgers".  So the challenge was on!  With some experimentation, I came up with my black bean veggie burger.  Our family all tasted them, and thought they we much better than the national chain's veggie burger.  Now, I noticed that a local fast food chain has started selling black bean burgers, at $4.50 EACH !  My recipe makes 5 good sized burgers for about $1.00 total.

You will need:
1 (16 oz) can black beans
1/2 medium green pepper
1/2 medium red pepper
1/2 medium onion
1 medium carrot
3 cloves garlic
1 egg
1 Tab. chili powder
1 Tab. cumin
1 teas. hot sauce
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Drain and rinse the black beans

Chop the red pepper and green pepper into 1 inch pieces.
Chop the carrot into 1/2 inch pieces
Slice the onion into wedges
Peel the cloves of garlic

Toss all the vegetables into a food processor

Process for a couple of seconds, until finely chopped.

In a small bowl beat 1 egg.
Add the chili powder, cumin, and hot sauce.

Note:  You can use any type of hot sauce you want. Don't worry, the patties won't be hot.

Mix together well.

In a medium bowl, add the beans.  Mash the beans.

Add the chopped vegetables, and stir into the mashed beans.

Add the egg mixture, and stir into the bean and vegetable mixture.

Add the bread crumbs.  Mix into the bean mixture.

Form the bean mixture into hamburger sized patties.

Place the patties on a sheet pan, lined with parchment, (or wax paper).  Place into the freezer for 20 - 30 minutes to set up the patties.

If you are going to bake you patties, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and lightly oil a baking sheet that has been lined with foil.

If you are going to grill your patties on an outdoor grill, preheat the grill to high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of foil.

If you are pan frying your patties, on medium high heat add 1 teaspoon of oil to a pan.  When the oil is hot, add the patty,  Cook for 3 -4 minutes, until brown then flip over.

 As you can see, the patty has a nice golden brown color, and it doesn't absorb the oil that it cooks in.  Continue cooking on the second side for 3 - 4 minutes until the second side is nicely brown.

While the patty is cooking, start assembling your bun and condiments.

Before I put my patty on a bun, I wanted to show you the inside.  See how nice and colorful the inside of the patty is with the carrot, red and green pepper.  And the hot sauce doesn't give any heat to the patty.  But the cumin gives the patty a nice smokey flavor.

I like to add a slice of cheese, tomato, lettuce, mustard, and ketchup on a whole wheat bun.

Now that's a patty that makes a great lunch !

Give this black bean burger a try.  It's a great alternative to those store bought frozen kind.  And at 20 cents apiece, it's a real money saver compared to the fast food joints.

Now, if you want to keep your patties on hand in the freezer - layer squares of parchment paper, (or wax paper) between the patties.  Place the patties in a freezer zip lock bag.  Remove all the excess air, and place in the freezer.  Then whenever you want a quick black bean burger, just grab one from the freezer, cook it up, and enjoy.

I like to keep them on hand for a quick weekday lunch.

Enjoy!

Ground Turkey Salad Spread

I have always loved the season between Thanksgiving and the end of the year.  We can get roasted turkey very inexpensively, and I just love turkey.  And I especially love leftovers.  Like most people I do the sandwiches, casseroles, soups, and so forth.  BUT, my mom would make a ground turkey salad spread that our family could not get enough of.  I made it for my son, and I make it for my husband.  It's easy, takes very few ingredients.  And it really makes a little meat go a long way.

 As I think back, I sometimes wonder if maybe one of the things I loved most about the anticipation of those turkey salad spread sandwiches, was the chance to turn the crank on the old table top meat grinder that my mom had.  We kids used to take turns, and it always seemed like our turn was never long enough.  Those were certainly good times, now that I look back.

I often wonder what became of my mom's old workhorse of a grinder?

As I said, it doesn't take much meat, and my mom used to make the salad spread anytime we had leftover turkey or even ham.  Both are equally delicious.  And the spread never lasted more than one day.  You can use both white and dark meat.  

You will need:
about 2 cups of meat, (turkey or ham)
1 large onion
dill pickles, (about 3 or 4 whole)
mayonnaise
yellow mustard

1 medium size bowl

 First remove the skin and remove the meat from the bone and chop the meat into chunks.  Chop the onion into chunks.  If your pickles are whole, slice them.  Everything needs to fit into your meat grinder.

Get your meat grinder set up and ready to go.

Today my mom would marvel at how easy I have it in the kitchen, (very little effort goes into grinding, slicing, dicing, etc.).   My kitchen set is at least 30 years old, but it's sturdy, well built and I still use it.

If your meat grinder has multi-blades or settings, choose the smaller blade setting.  This is the smaller blade on mine.

First grind about 1/3 of the meat, then do 1/2 of the onion, and 1/2 of the pickles.

After you have done 1/3 of the meat, 1/2 of the onion, and 1/2 of the pickles, repeat the process.

When you are finished, the last 1/3 of the meat will be the final thing to grind.  Finally, my mom would always push 1 or 2 slices of bread through the grinder.  This was to serve 2 purposes; first to push the last bit of meat out of the grinder, and second to add a small about of binder to the spread.

As you can see, we already have almost a full bowl of ground meat.

 Now add about 1/2 cup of mayonnaise, (more of less depending on the texture and moisture of the meat), and 1 teaspoon of mustard, (you don't need much mustard - just enough for a little flavor).

Now stir everything together, incorporating the mayonnaise and mustard evenly throughout the meat.  The mixture will be creamy and smooth.

And here is your salad spread, ready to spread on bread, crackers, tortillas, (as a roll up), or whatever you want.

I like to give mine a quick taste to see if it needs any salt or seasonings.

On crackers, it's delicious!  On bread, with lettuce and tomatoes, (oh be still my heart, I am a small child again sitting at my mom's table reliving my youth).

See how the spread holds it's shape, it doesn't fall off the cracker when you take a bite.  It's smooth, creamy, yet still has a good body.

My husband likes to make lettuce roll ups with the turkey salad spread.  Just layer it along the inside of a large leaf of lettuce and roll the lettuce around the spread, (like a tortilla), and eat away.

So if you still have a little leftover turkey or ham - try making some salad spread.  It's a great lunch idea.

Enjoy!

Chicken and Pepper Quesadillas

When it's hot, (and you don't want to heat up the kitchen), or you're pressed for time, (and everyone wants something to eat quickly), but you look in the refrigerator and realize that you don't have enough leftover chicken to feed 4 people, let alone 6 - then here's a quick and easy way to turn just a few ingredients into enough food for everyone.  And the best part is you can easily adapt this recipe for one person, two, four, six, or how many you need.  These directions will easily feed 6 people.

You will need:
1 medium Anaheim pepper
1/2 cup shredded Mexican style cheese
1 cup shredded cooked chicken
1 medium tomato
1 green onion
1 small handful of fresh cilantro
6 8-inch flour tortillas
butter
salt

Seed and finely chop the Anaheim pepper.

NOTE:  if you want, you can substitute one 4 ounce can of diced green chili peppers, (drained).  But fresh is better, as it adds more flavor.  Don't worry about heat, there will be no heat, since you are removing all the seeds, and also Anaheim peppers are very low on the heat scale.

Finely chop the green onion

Chop the tomato,  (if you want to also seed the tomato, that's fine).

Shred the chicken into small pieces.

Chop, or snip the cilantro into small pieces.

Note:  if you don't have, or don't like cilantro - you can substitute fresh oregano, fresh parsley, or even fresh basil.

 On one side only, very lightly butter the tortillas.

Very lightly sprinkle salt on the buttered side of the tortilla, (trust me - this really adds to the flavor of any quesadilla you make !).

Note:  I use fine sea salt, but you can also use regular salt.

On a griddle, (or in a large skillet), over medium heat - place the tortilla, buttered side down.

 Add a sprinkling of chicken on 1/2 of the tortilla.

Add a sprinkling of onion on top of the chicken.

Add a sprinkling of pepper on top

Add a sprinkling of cheese

Add a couple pieces of tomato and a sprinkling of cilantro.

Fold the top of the tortilla over the filling, and very gently press down.

 You will be able to cook 2 quesadillas together in the pan.

After 3 or 4 minutes, when the outside of the tortilla has lightly browned, flip the tortilla over, and cook another 3 or 4 minutes until the second side browns.  Then remove from skillet.  Repeat with remaining quesadillas.


If you are preparing a large number of quesadillas, place them on a baking sheet and keep them warm in the oven, preheated to 300 degrees, until all the quesadillas are done.

Cut the quesadilla in half.

I like to serve mine with a little salsa and sour cream.  Sometimes I will make some homemade guacamole to go with them.

And just that quick you have delicious chicken and pepper quesadillas.

If you want to make a meal, just add some homemade Spanish rice and some homemade refried beans.

You can add and delete items, to customize these to your family's taste.  So the next time, you want something quick, make up a quesadilla.

Enjoy !