The Everything Beans e-Book (recipe: Black Bean Burgers)
Beans are a staple in our home and I’m fortunate that both Danny and the boys enjoy them any way I serve them. While they insist they don’t get tired of bean & cheese burritos or Frijoles rancheros, I sometimes feel like I want to mix things up in the bean department.
Enter a new e-book from Katie Kimball, The Everything Beans Book: 30 Frugal, Nutrient-Packed Recipes for Every Eater.
Perfect! Back in January, Katie of Kitchen Stewardship and I shared a drink at Blissdom where she told me about the exciting new project she was working on. If I wasn’t already convinced that a bean cookbook sounded right up my alley, a sample of Katie’s Black Bean Brownies was the clincher. They were moist, rich, and totally credible, – and yes, the recipe is in the book (as Grain-Free Fudgy Brownies).
The Everything Beans Book
Since my time with Katie, all the recipes have been tested, the writing completed, and The Everything Beans Book is now available. I have to tell you, I’m eating up my copy.
Hit the jump to read more about the bean cookbook, get a recipe for a healthy burger, and enter to win your very own copy of Katie’s e-book. (Sorry! this giveaway has ended)
In-depth Introduction
A comprehensive twenty-four page introduction details everything one needs to know about cooking with beans including:
- Nutritional benefits of beans.
- How to prepare beans, both canned and dried.
- How to store beans.
- How (and why) to sprout beans.
- Menu planning featuring beans.
- Why you should incorporate beans into your diet.
- Special diet tips, Gluten-Free, kosher, etc.
Recipes that Rock!
The Everything Beans Book contains thirty well-written and thoroughly researched recipes featuring lentils, chickpeas, and of course, many varieties of beans.
The recipes are family friendly, hunger-inducing, and will leave you wanting to cook the book from cover to cover. And I intend to.
Click here to view more details and to scroll through the recipe titles in the Table of Contents.
Recipe: Mexican Black Bean Burgers
One of our favorite recipes from the cookbook were these hearty bean burgers. What a fantastic way to make beans the star of the meal!
I’ve adapted the recipe to suit our family. The legumes are canned (that’s all I had around), and the vegetables are sautéed, as the kids and Danny don’t love raw onion/garlic. I also grilled them on our Breville Smart Grill
, which we use for winter grilling, but a cast iron pan works just fine, too.
Guess what? My boys (3 & 5, remember?) ate these faster than they do a regular hamburger. Yay! Another meatless meal to add to the menu plan.
Black Bean Burgers
Ingredients
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1/2 red pepper chopped
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
- 2 jalapenos optional, seeded
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 1/2 cup cooked green lentils I used canned
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup bread crumbs
Instructions
- Open cans of black beans and brown or green lentils, rinse them well with cold water, and drain them in a small sieve.
- Heat olive oil in a small sauté pan. Roughly chop onion and red pepper; peel garlic. Sauté vegetables in the oil until they have softened, about five minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Pulse the sautéed onion, pepper, garlic in a food processor, along with the fresh cilantro and optional jalepeno, until finely chopped. Add the beans and lentils and process until pasty. If your food processor is a bit weak, you may want to tackle this in two batches. (I only have a mini food processor, but I did it in three batches and was fine.)
- When mostly smooth, add salt, pepper, and the eggs. Process until combined and then add 3/4 of cup of bread crumbs and process briefly until incorporated. Give a little stir around the very center for anything your blade may have missed. If your food processor is on the small side, you may wish to remove the legume/vegetable mixture to a bowl and simply stir in the rest of the ingredients. (this is what I did!)
- Add more bread crumbs bit by bit until the mixture starts sticking together. It is now ready to form patties.
- Put some flour in a salad bowl to use in flouring your hands and the outside of the patties. Form 1/2- to 3/4-inch thick patties. The patties might seem a little fragile, but you don't want them too stiff or they might dry out and get crumbly once cooked.
- Cook in a well-greased skillet over medium to medium-high heat, or an indoor grill, for about 5-8 minutes on each side, turning at least once for even doneness. You can add oil in between sides, especially if you want a nice even browning look, or if you're using a cast iron skillet.
- Serve between two buns with an assortment of condiments and favourite toppings. Keep with the Mexican theme and offer fresh peppers, pickled jalapenos, avocado slices and salsa.
Notes
Nutrition
Giveaway
**This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winners, Gwen, Amy A, and Coutney!**
Katie has kindly offered three copies of The Everything Beans Book to giveaway to Simple Bites readers!
To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below and tell me something YOU like to make with beans or other legumes. Falafel? Chili? Quesedillas? I’d love to hear how you serve them.
Good luck to all!
Comments close at 11:46 EST on Saturday, March 19. Winners will be notified via email and announced Sunday in the link love (and look for a coupon code, too!).
We like beans in our soups, stews, and burritos – would love more ideas on including beans in our diet!
The normal stuff; chilis, soups, and of course, Boston style. Would love to expand that — without scaring spouse too badly! Will try the burgers.
Recently made rice and bean soup with turkey sausage. Used dried beans, soaked overnight and cooked but you could use canned beans, no problem. Served with a slice of whole wheat bread.
The book sounds ideal!
Here’s the recipe:
http://eatlittleeatbig.blogspot.com/2011/03/recipe-for-turkey-sausage-rice-and.html
I love making soups, quesadillas, burgers but love to learn how to make falafels one day 🙂
Sounds good! My favorite bean recipe other than refried black beans is the 5 minute black bean burger from “Vegan Unplugged”. It uses canned potatoes, canned black beans, dried onion, bread crumbs and a salt and pepper. You mash them together, form patties, and brown in a pan. The recipe is ingenious because it’s designed for power outages, emergency situations, camping, hotel room cooking and other instances where you have to make do with portable and fast cooking methods, but it’s all really GOOD. I use the cookbook for last minute dinner ideas. 🙂
Fantastic! I’d love to be in a power outage with you around.
This makes me soooooooooo excited! I like to make a variety of food with beans – cookies, chocolate cake, pie pastry, and the usual lentils, soup, chili, hummas. Soooooo yummy!
The only thing I really know how to make well with beans is chili. I would love to learn how to use them more in my cooking, so this little book would be great!
We eat lots of beans and my family never tires of bean burritos.
We always make taco salads with beans while camping. It’s so easy to prep and cleanup. The beans can be thrown in to warm just as the taco meat is done, saving a pan. Then, everyone can customize their own taco salad and are always pleased. Never any leftovers. I would love to try out this bean burger recipe to get their reactions at home. If I put a fried egg on top, the oldest will be a willing participant.
I love to make white bean garlic dip with pita chips! It is second only to a family recipe for chili that uses kidneys! Love them both!
I used black beans the other night in a quesadilla with sweet potato hash – very yummy!
Our family loves black beans and rice with all the fixins and black bean burritos. I love black bean burgers but have never made them. This book would be awesome! Thanks for the giveaway!!
I love a good basic bean and cheese burrito. 🙂
My family is Lebanese so we use chickpeas and lentils in all sorts of things, hummus, falafel, mujadra. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. I am excited at the prospect of using beans to make “burgers” as my Boyfriend is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, and we need to start eating healthier.
We love chickpea burgers, and I love to make a cheesy pinto bean soup (think refried beans all cheesy and soupy-like, yum!). We eat beans regularly, so are always looking for fun new ways to use them!
Burritos
Being vegetarian, we eat a ton of beans from burritos to pasta and everything in between. I frequently freak my husband out because I like to eat hummus by the spoonful!
i’m definitely miss chili girl, specially in winter, but i think tonight i’m making those burgers!
Would love to expand my bean recipe repertoire! One of my favorite recipes so far is a black bean brownie (any way to justify a desert 🙂 and scrambling eggs with black beans and a lot of different veggies. Need some recipe ideas for other kinds of beans! Thanks for the opportunity!
Tangy salmon quesedillas with black beans are a must!
Every Tuesday night is our burrito night – homemade cooked pinto beans and cheese. Not fancy but tasty and cheap! We would love to win the ebook – but I’ll be buying it if we don’t!
Those black bean burgers look awesome. I love to make white bean dip with rosemary, also cuban black beans to eat over rice and soup with black-eyed peas and collards. I love beans but I have not been brave enough to try the black bean brownie recipe that my Uncle gave me 🙂 Thank you for having the giveaway.
Sounds like a great resource!
We love homemade falafel. Was it you that introduced me to that recipe? I can’t remember. We also love hummus and we just discovered an amazing saucy chickpea recipe with smoked paprika.
We also love chili and bean salads. And I have an awesome recipe for cuban black beans with a smoked ham hock.
My kids just love beans, they clap and jump up and down when I tell them we’re having anything with beans.
Oh, and last night we had Beans n’ Bones using my grandmothers recipe. Kidney beans with beef short ribs in a sweet and tart sauce.
Beans n’ Bones. Ha ha!
Tonight we are having tostadas! Always with corn tortillas warmed in the oven, then cheese pinto beans slightly mashed and pico de gallo. Yum. Oh, and cheese.
Rajma (Kidney Beans with tomatoes, onions and spices) and chawal (white rice) is my all time favorite dish with beans. 🙂 Next come a burritos and refried beans. yumm.
Siri
We’ve been on a beans and rice kick here. A can of black beans and some leftover rice heated with a bit of taco seasoning. Served with salsa, cheese, sour cream, green onions, etc.. Its currently my 2 year olds favorite meal! Would love to win this book and add a bit more variety to our bean consumption.
Can’t wait to try these! I like adding black beans to a salad of mixed greens, tomato, corn and red onions =)
I just love this idea and can’t wait to try them! I’m pretty sure I need that cookbook too. I love beans! 🙂
I love that second photo – that’s awesome!
Chili with a mix of beans.
We use beans occasionally, but I’d like to find out how to use them more.
My husband & I tried beanballs (as in “spaghetti w/ beanballs”) a few weeks ago from _Veganomicon_. They were really delicious!
I like to make big batches of beans to freeze and add to soups 🙂
We love taco soup in our house – super yummy with black beans or pinto beans!
I never ate beans growing up, but then I married a Mexican… I’m learning more everyday. 🙂 This would totally help me in my quest!
I LOVE beans! I use them to replace meat in recipes all the time (especially when I’m in a rush…) One of my favorite recipes involves chickpeas, cucumber, kidney beans, peppers, onion and balsamic dressing….I can’t wait to try the burgers!!!
These look so tasty! I love making Brazilian black bean soup (and making a thickened version to put on burritos).
I love to make Black Bean Tacos…I just heat up black beans, salsa, green bell pepper, corn, cumin, onions on the stove and then put it in tortillas, and top it with cheese, avo, sour cream, or whatever you like. Yum!
Our #1 bean dish is bean enchiladas.
i converted to being a bean-lover as an adult. i can’t believe i used to dislike beans so strongly! we have them all over the place, but our latest favorite is seasoned garbanzo beans(cayenne and sea salt is a good combo) and roasted as a delish snack. here is a good link; http://steamykitchen.com/10725-crispy-roasted-chickpeas-garbanzo-beans.html
we use them in our most frequently made meal: black bean burritos. last night i made a vegetarian chili with them. mmmmmmmm.
I sneak beans in wherever I can (cabbage rolls, salads, casseroles, pasta dishes, etc.) We always have a large bag of dried beans and a constant supply of refried beans. Yum, yum, yum…
I love beans and legumes, we eat them at least 2-3 times a week 🙂
I love making falafel, white beans puree, mujadarah with a lot of caramelized onions, curried lentil soups, homemade hummus…I can go on and on 🙂
I must admit I haven’t tried a black bean burger yet, and this one sounds great, will give it a go soon!
My favorite recent bean dinner was enchiladas – I especially love that I made prepared them the night before, doubled it, and had a pan for the freezer! The recipe I used is http://www.freezehappy.com/2009/08/vegetable-enchiladas.html and I think it’s the first meal with spinach that my 3-year-old devoured. (Usually, he wants to pick around the “green stuff”) 🙂 I’d love more tasty bean recipes!
I’d love to make those black bean burgers, and I want to get better at making homemade hummus. Thanks for the giveaway!
Can’t wait to try this recipe! We like to put black beans in rice with salsa, corn, and chicken.
I must have this cookbook! I have been trying to include more beans in our meals but most recipes that I find use canned beans and I just haven’t figured out the conversions.
We love to make hummus but I’d love to be able to make my own refried beans or a healthier version. Love the authentic type but not the canned version. 🙂
I would love to try the brownies with beans. My husband doesn’t like beans but if I could learn to make some delicious main meals it would help our grocery budget ALOT!!