Fiber- gotta love it!! :)

I am a little late on posting this week...but this one is very different from any other post..."P" turned his nose to it! (a much expected reaction though) Lately I have had a hankering...as I pass by the frozen section every week in the grocery store I salivate looking at the veggie burgers. I used to live off of these for a while. I LOVE THEM! Although I am not a vegetarian anymore, veggie burgers could be a staple for me. I catch the drool dripping from my mouth and look down to remember that veggie burgers aren't on my list to buy, buck up, and keep going...they are just too expensive for us to get right now! :(

I have a confession to make...there is some weird complex in me (no idea where it came from?!) that when there is something in my pantry/fridge for too long (which isn't really that long at all!) I have to use it. I absolutely hate having something sit unused for too long. That's when I incorporate it to my next weeks menu plan and USE IT!! Well, there have been this bag of kidney beans I bought quite a while ago for a recipe and ended up not using them. I know your thinking what does this have to do with the first paragraph?!?!...let me get there...This bag of kidney beans have been haunting for a while, every time I look in the pantry they scream ..USE ME!!! It has been so hard to find something to make with these because the only way I can get "P" to eat beans is if I puree them in a soup. So, I decided to cook up a pot of beans last and force myself to make something real special, something only Mysti likes. BEAN BURGERS! This not only satisfies my undeniable craving for veggie burgers..it gets rid of quite a bit of those "haunting" beans!

With a love for Mexican flavors lately...I made these to suit. I could almost bet they would be better using black beans since I LOVE black beans and they have more of a Mexican flavor but since I had the K. beans on hand they are going to have to suffice. These are an experiment so try at your own risk...I personally loved them...

Experimental Kidney Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

4 cups of Kidney Beans

small bunch of cilantro

1 cup of bread crumbs (i used food processed oatmeal-something i always sub. for breadcrumbs)

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

1/4 cup salsa

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

1 egg

Directions:

Puree the beans in a food processor until all mushy (you could leave some un-processed if you like chunks of bean in your burger), I also added my cilantro to this part instead of chopping in up myself, I'm such a cheater!

In a large bowl add other ingredients to the beans! Simple as that! Separate into patties after mixing thoroughly (i made roughly 10 but it depends on how big your patties are) then pan fry with some olive oil! One thing I did was put quite a few of them between separate small squares of parchment paper and froze them for easy use during the week.

Sad to say but the "P" rating on this was - BEAN BURGERS?? UCK!! ha ha to each his own!