I'm not a vegetarian, but I'm thinking about it

That's a joke.

While I have nothing but the utmost respect for people who have the self control to deny themselves something as spectacular as a really good steak, I have no real desire to join them.

HOWEVER meals like this one make me think about it: black bean burgers.

You can find a million and a half recipes online, but I tend to adjust to accommodate: 

1. what I happen to have in the fridge and 

2. which ingredients I most/least like.

This recipe was my jumping off point. (It also happens to be the first recipe on the page when you Google "black bean burgers," but hey, I'm a busy girl), and I also drew a few ideas from this one.

I don't like mayonaisse (in fact, I despise it), so I didn't want to follow the second recipe, but I love to use spices rather than premade seasonings so the chili sauce in the first didn't appeal to me either.

Here's what I used:

16 oz of canned black beans

2 slices of wheat bread, chopped

1 green bell pepper

1 onion

1 packet of fresh cilantro (whatever size your supermarket sells it in, I always use the whole thing)

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 eggs

Zest and juice of 1 lime and 1 lemon

SPICES: pick your favorites. I used cumin, red pepper flakes, basil, salt and pepper 

TOPPINGS: go crazy

The name of the game is mash it all up:

Essentially every ingredient is being mashed up by hand or run through a food processor. Since these are ultimately supposed to be burgers, you're trying to make a vegetable mush that as closely resembles the texture of ground beef as possible.

Mama G says for breading, store bought bread crumbs are fine, but for more substantial things like meatloaf or burgers you should make your own.

Cumin, pre-slicing up

I don't have a really fine zester (is that a word?) so I use a cheese grater which makes these relatively large  gashes.

I didn't take pictures of chopped bell pepper, garlic or onion because I feel like both of those things have appeared on this blog before, and I didn't take a picture of the mashed up black beans because my hands were both covered in bean and none on my roommates were handy to wield the camera for me. 

Once the beans, onion, pepper, bread crumbs, cilantro, lime, lemon and garlic were all chopped, mashed and mixed together, set that aside and crack your two eggs into a bowl. Once they cook the eggs help hold the whole thing together so they're really important. Put the spices you're using into the bowl with the eggs and mix it all together.

The basil was a last minute addition. It's not the most scientific of reasoning, but I felt like it needed a little green.

Dump the egg mixture in with everything else and mix it by hand, forming patties and putting them on a greased cookie sheet. Originally I had imagined myself grilling these but they were just not solid enough to stay together on a grill. I baked them for about 25 minutes at 350 F.

They look a little like really lumpy cookies, no?

While they're cooking get together your preferred toppings. I sliced up some tomato and had arugula and salsa to put on the burgers, as well as regular hamburger buns. I also cut the lemon and lime I had used earlier into wedges to put in our waters, like I did when I had mussels.

Looks like a good spread to me

Lastly, pair with some homemade fries and call it a day!

I did use a top bun too, but for artistic reasons chose not to include it in this photo.

We had a few left over patties too so I ate them with tortilla chips the next day, and I have to say this recipe doubles as a pretty good black bean dip as well.