success at the dinner table!

As a mom of two preschoolers, I tend to turn small milestones into huge events. Take, for example, my picky eater. She used to eat only bread, cheese, and blueberries. The cheese could not be on the bread but had to be eaten separately. The day she ate a grilled cheese, I may have wept openly. Needless to say, the peanut butter sandwich was a huge accomplishment, as was the salami sandwich earlier this summer. Imagine, salami AND cheese in between bread!

But I digress. My kids, as you may have guessed, are not vegetarian and neither is my husband. This has made dinnertime a huge hassle for me, the Maker of the Dinner. This past week, I decided to try an experiment. I said, "I am going to cook one meal for everyone, and everyone is going to eat it." And guess what? They did!

I made my delicious Black Bean Burgers, and they were a huge success. My husband and I ate them sans bun with a little salsa and guacamole, and I turned them into "cheeseburgers" for the kids. Miss Picky was skeptical after a few bites and feigned a tummy ache, but I was able to bribe her with a frozen yogurt. This went over so well that the next day she requested to try couscous - and liked it! Then the planets must have shifted because when my parents took us out to dinner last night, she refused a piece of salami in the antipasto salad... But we focus on the positive around here!

On a side note, Buddy's Pizza now has a multigrain crust that is just as great as the original, AND you can order lactose-free veggie cheese! Choirs of angels started singing when I opened my menu. Yum...

I digress again! Here is my original recipe for At-Home Vegan's Spicy Black Bean Burgers. I don't measure much when I cook, so all measurements are guesstimations.

1 sweet onion, finely chopped
A couple cloves of garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped (I like baby bellas)
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Tbsp chili powder, or to taste
1 Tbsp cumin, or to taste
A few shakes hot sauce, to taste
1+ cups oats

1. Saute onion, garlic, bell pepper and mushroom until soft
2. Meanwhile, coursely mash black beans
3. Add spices and hot sauce, to taste
4. When veggies have finished cooking, combine with black beans
5. Mix in oats until desired texture
6. Form into balls and flatten slightly
7. Wrap individually in plastic wrap and refridgerate (up to one week) until ready to cook

This makes up to 12 small burgers

To cook:
Spray a pan with cooking spray and heat on medium-high
Cook until a blackened crust begins to form, about 3-5 minutes per side
Serve hot with desired toppings

Notes about bean burgers:

• This recipe makes a great dip! Omit the oats.
• You don't need oil or water to saute the veggies - they naturally sweat while they cook.
• I use Quaker Multi Grain Hot Cereal, which is a blend of rye, barley, oats, and wheat.
• These taste best when allowed to sit a few hours or overnight so the flavors can meld and the oats can suck up some of the moisture.
• If you're hoping for a hamburger-ish substitute, keep looking. These are definitely "veggie" burgers with their own unique and crumbly properties. A lot of bean burger recipes will use eggs as a binding agent, which makes them closer in texture to "real" burgers.
• That being said, you can dress them up like burgers and no one will be able to tell the difference until they bite into the yumminess.

Happy, healthy eating!