black bean burger

The weather is warming up here in Richmond and besides the fact that my car is colored yellow from the pollen, I am pumped about it! I can’t wait for cook-outs, fresh berries, sweet juicy tomatoes, warm nights on the porch, long walks and everything else that comes along with summer.

One thing that always reminds me of summer is burgers. Even though it’s not summer yet, we played pretend last night and made black bean burgers and sweet potato frites, which is probably one of my favorite meals.

I used my traditional black bean burger recipe with a few modifications, but totally changed things up with the sweet potatoes.

The biggest change with the black bean burgers is that I left out the egg. Eggs are typically used as a binder in bean burgers but these burgers held together quite nicely without it. <– Perfect for all my vegan readers.

Black Bean Burger Remix

Print Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup carrots, grated
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley
• 2 cups cooked black beans
• 1 T dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t garlic powder
• 1 t onion powder
• 1/2 t sea salt
• 1/2 t ground pepper

Preparation

1. Heat a skillet on medium heat and coat with non-stick spray. Once warm add the red onion and carrots and sauté for 2 minutes. Stir in the the chili, garlic and onion powder and cook until onions are translucent.
2. Turn off heat and let the mixture cool then place into a food processor or blender. Add the parsley and pulse several times. Add the beans and pulse five or six times. The beans should be broken up but there should still be some small chunks. Don’t over process, as you want your bean burgers to be a little chunky.
3. Transfer the veggie and bean mixture into large bowl and stir in the bread crumbs, mustard, salt and pepper.
4. Form into four patties.
5. In the same skillet, heat on medium, spray non-stick spray and add the patties, cook each side until browned, about 7-8 minutes total.

And, what’s the difference between fries and frites? The world may never know, but I’m okay with that because I like them both.

The recipe is from a new book I was sent to review, The Eat-Clean Diet Stripped: Peel Off Those Last 10 Pounds by Tosca Reno.

At 52, Tosca (who once weighed over 205 lbs) is a huge inspiration. If she can look that good in her 50′s she must be doing something right! I may not have 10 lbs to lose, but I have several of Tosca Reno’s books so I was excited to see what was new in this one. Most of content is similar to what is in her previous books however there are a few new things that looked interesting to me:

• New meal plans and training plans that guarantee results (I’m going to try out the gym weight training routine this morning!)
• Detox solutions (i.e. how to deal with the symptoms that crop up when you cut out the junk)
• Tips for conquering your cravings
• Over 50 brand new Eat Clean Diet recipes

One of the new recipes that caught my eye was Veggie Frites, a roasted veggie recipe that allows you to use the veggies you have on hand to create frites. I only had sweet potatoes last night but you could use asparagus, carrots, broccoli, parsnip or onions. And, if you love crispy sweet potato fries, you’ll love these. They have a rich, flavorful coating, making them a fun change from the plain jane sweet tater fries that I normally make.

Sweet Potato Frites

Serves 2 / Adapted from Eat Your Veggie Frites in The Eat-Clean Diet Stripped

Ingredients

Coating:

• 3/4 cup brown rice cereal
• 1/8 cup oat bran
• 1/8 cup cashews
• 1/8 t sea salt
• 1/2 t onion powder
• 1/8 t garlic powder
• 1/8 t celery seeds
• 1/8 t sweet paprika
• 1/8 t chili powder
• ground black pepper, to taste

Egg Wash:

• 1 egg whites
• 1/4 cup water

Veggies:

• 2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and sliced into 1/4-inch pieces
• cooking spray

Preparation

1. Preheat over to 400°. In a food processor or chopper, combine all coating ingredients and pulse until finely ground. Pour into a bowl and set aside.
2. In another bowl, whisk egg white and water until frothy and set aside.
3. Spray a backing sheet with cooking spray. Dip sweet potatoes into egg white mixture, let excess drip off and place in coating mixture, flipping until each piece is completely covered. Shake off excess coating and place veggies on baking sheet. Spray lightly with cooking spray.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown and tender.

So there you have it, a summer classic inspired by Tosca!

Oh yes and I also wanted to show off the new table cloth I found at Target.

We’ve had a deep red one on since the holidays so it felt nice to brighten things up.

Time to go enjoy this lovely Saturday. Apparently we’re supposed to get a terrible storm so it’s probably going to be an indoors kind of day. Hopefully yours will be sunnier than mine.

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