Our Two Girls: Mmmm....Black Bean Burgers

Tonight's dinner was delicious black bean burgers. Yummy yummy! If you like black beans and ground cumin, this is the recipe for you! (I got the recipe from a girl in our playgroup who made these for lunch for us) I usually try to do a meatless meal every Monday night, just as a way to try to eat a little healthier.

Black Bean Burgers

2 15 oz cans black beans
6 T Salsa
6 T finely diced green onion
3/4 C Red bell pepper
3 T cilantro
1 1/2 C breadcrumbs
1/4 C poblano peppers or 1 T jalapeno (I use jalapeno), diced
1 large, minced garlic clove
2 t chipotle sauce or 1/2 t hot sauce, or to taste
1 1/2 T lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Tortilla chip breading
1 1/2 C crushed tortilla chips
1 t cumin

Rinse beans in cold water and drain well for about 10 minutes. Add all ingredients except tortilla chip breading in large bowl and blend well, mashing some of the beans to make a thick mixture. Form into 6 patties (Although I find that there is enough to make more unless you make really big patties). Roll each patty in tortilla chip breading. At this point you can cover and refrigerate until you are ready to heat them. Heat skillet, saute in just enough oil to brown cakes and heat through.

I really enjoyed these burgers and I'm sure Maddie would to, but she had a late lunch and is refusing to eat anything...I'm filling her up with milk instead :)

So, I've been so excited about cooking again lately that I've decided to start giving myself some challenges. Next week I'm going to do all my dinners on the grill. The meat and vegetables will be grilled and the pasta or rice will be done in the house...unless someone knows how to grill pasta :) Here's the plan:

Sunday: grilled Ham steaks
Monday: grilled Portobello Mushrooms
Tuesday: grilled Chicken (haven't decided on a recipe)
Wednesday: grilled Hamburgers (this is the night we're gone late so I needed something easier)
Thursday: grilled Pork Chops (haven't decided on a recipe)
Friday: grilled Shrimp
Saturday: grilled Garlic Lime Chicken

I'll let you know how they work out!

Some other ideas I've had to challenge myself are a week of stovetop dinners (I like to use my oven a lot), crock pot dinners (I HATE my crock pot, so this will force me to find some new recipes) and a week of Rachael Ray's meals. You know how every day on her show she has a "that's what's for dinner" segment. At the beginning of the week her website lists the menu for the week and the recipes/ingredient lists so you can do your shopping and be ready! That one could get pricey (since she uses a lot of ingredients I don't keep on hand) so I might hold off on that for a while. I'm open to suggestions if you have any!

So, the cooking itself has been fun but the cleanup has been less than exciting. I really liked that Mediterranean Lemon Chicken because that clean up was SO EASY! Now it seems I'm making recipes that require more chopping and prep work. Oh well, at least we're eating real meals again!

Here are some pictures from tonight's dinner...

The mixture ready to form into patties