Bean burgers, yum!

Sometimes you don't have everything you need to complete a recipe. Like the main ingredient. Sometimes this happens several times a week. You know, to some people. Certainly not me...

I had pinned a recipe for black bean burgers but my pin mysteriously disappeared so I ended up googling black bean burgers to find a recipe. It was less than 15 minutes to supper time, I already had tater tots in the oven, and my baby was screaming her head off so I choose the quickest one I could find. I went to the pantry where I the cans of beans seem to multiply daily and of course, not a single can of black beans to be found. But because I half-ass my meals like I do pretty much everything else, I soldiered on with some navy beans because they were the can in my hand at the time.

Now, I sort of followed the recipe I had looked up but altered it enough that I feel safe saying this is my very own recipe (ha! Almost like I know what I'm doing or something) and I'm going to share it with you because my 10 year old ate THREE patties. We ate them with forks and ketchup because we didn't have any bread or hamburger buns. We had hamburger buns but someone in this house doesn't realize that I only buy buns when I have a plan for them and always eats them before I can get to that meal. Also, not very good at laundry sorting. He makes me crazy. Any ways, here's my recipe.

1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained
1 can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
half a yellow onion
half a green pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 egg
1 tbsp chili powder (I used less b/c of the small ones)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tsp Frank's wing sauce (I'm obsessed with this stuff, use more if you like it hot)
1 cup panko

Preheat oven to 375F. In a medium bowl, mash the navy beans well with a fork. Add kidney beans and mash not quite as much (because they are harder and you are lazy). Whiz up the onion and green pepper in the food processor. Add them to the beans, throw in everything else and mix well. Form into patties (or balls that you toss on the pan and then smoosh) and bake on a baking sheet for 10 minutes per side. At the end you can broil for a few minutes to add a little color if you would like. This made 7 for me but I wasn't being careful about making evenly sized patties or trying to make them fit on a bun.

I think this would work with any kind of beans you have on hand. I thought about brushing them with egg to get some more color on the outside but then I didn't want to deviate quite that much so I didn't. Try it and let me know if it works or if it makes them gross and weird. This doesn't taste anything like a hamburger but my kids liked them. They added cheese and the 5 year threw some tots on top, which was genius! With the recipe as listed it was a little spicy but nothing they complained about so if you actually enjoy spicy food (I don't) you would want to up the heat factor.

Go forth and eat beans. Don't blame me if you end up accidentally giving your spouse the dutch oven effect.

Crockpot magic

I have this habit of just throwing a bunch of stuff together for supper and then my whole family loves it and thinks it's delicious and I can't remember a single thing I used. It happens with pasta and roasts and chicken. Of course there are super supper fails too so I can't just depend on always throwing together something wonderful. So I'm going to try to record some of my expiraments here and maybe I'll even come back and tell you how they went and post a photo or two.

Today's supper is going to be a pork roast with mashed potatoes and lima beans. I took a pork shoulder picnic roast and rinsed it well and threw it in the crockpot. I mixed together 1 cup of water, about 1/4 cup soy sauce, about 4 Tbsp A1 steak sauce, 3 Tbsp red wine, some jarred roasted red peppers, and a small handful of sun dried tomatoes. I poured that all over the roast and set it to low where it will stay for about 8 hours.

I know that the soy sauce and A1 are a safe bet but I'm a little worried that the red peppers and tomatoes won't go in the direction I'm trying for. We'll see I guess. With a roast you can always cover it in BBQ sauce or ketchup if it isn't amazing and nobody will know the difference. I mean, that was totally your plan all along. BBQ sauce covers a multitude of sins and salt makes mistakes taste good.

What's for supper at your house? Do you even eat supper or is it dinner or something else? My dad eats breakfast, dinner, supper, and anything in between is called having a little lunch. I eat breakfast, lunch, supper, and snacks because most people understand what those words are supposed to mean and dinner is just too confusing.