With all the health concerns about eating too much meat, I've been experimenting a lot lately cooking with beans. For one, they are economical, full of fiber, and convenient to cook ahead of time and store in you refrigerator for future meals.
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| My Pinto Veggie Burgers are fantastic! |
Usually I cook up about four cups of dried beans at a time. What's nice is that I keep them whole for when I might need some for other dishes like chili for instance. Most often, I like to make a bean paste in my food processor and use the mashed bean mixture in casseroles and these pinto burgers I'm going to share with you.
You'll like how much money you'll save instead of buying those expensive veggie burgers in the freezer section. And what is especially great is how my burgers taste.
Pinto Veggie Burgers--Nuts Style
1 quart jar of cooked dried pinto beans
small onion (about 1/3 cup)
4 cloves of garlic
2 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs (if you bake, thrown in the crusty parts in your food processor for these crumbs)
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Add your drained, cooked pinto beans into your food processor. Process this until you get a texture like ground beef. Take out the mixture and put it in your mixing bowl.
Now grind up your peeled onion and garlic until nicely chopped and add to your bean mixture.
Next you add your crumbs or process some stale bread or crusts like I do to measure out your one cup. Add it in your bowl along with the shredded Cheddar cheese, two eggs, thyme, cumin powder, salt and pepper.
Shape these into eight burgers.
Fry them in a few tablespoons of olive oil or canola oil until nicely browned.
You can either serve them on a plate as your main entree or on a bun like a hamburger. These burgers are delicious and filling.
What's also wonderful about eating beans is that your stomach doesn't have that weighed down feeling you do as when you eat meat. You feel lighter inside if that makes any sense.
I can go on and on about the benefits of beans, any variety. But if you want to reduce cholesterol, save money, or even when trying to lose weight, then you should think of beans as a new friend. I hope you will try this recipe and if anyone has other interesting bean recipes send them here to me at nuts4stuff@gmail.com!
