Sunday, May 5, 2013

Red Beans & Rice Burgers - Meat Free May meal

Red Beans & Rice Burgers

Perfect for my #MeatFreeMay Challenge, this recipe is a Fit & Healthy Mommy original recipe!  There is no need to buy expensive Meatless burgers - especially those frozen ones.  Make them fresh, friends.  It's SO easy!!

This simple recipe can be tweaked in so many ways based on ingredients in your house.  It's one of those "let's just use a bunch of staples and make something yummy" kind of recipes.


Red Beans & Rice Burgers

Last night I was scrounging around for dinner - hungry but lacking the energy to be creative.  I didn't plan my weekly menu to include a Saturday night dinner.  After working during the day and doing LAX, then soccer with my biggest girl, I was exhausted and not looking to make anything fancy.

While rummaging in the pantry, I found a can of organic, salt-free  kidney beans and a package of portioned pre-cooked brown rice.  I built the recipe from there and created these awesome burgers.  I am totally making these again.  Soon.

Here's the thing - and some of you already know this.  When I make up stuff in the kitchen, I rarely measure.  A lot of the ingredients below have estimated amounts, so please eyeball yours as you go and tweak as needed.

Ingredients:
1 - 15oz can organic, no salt kidney beans
1 cup cooked brown rice
1/3 cup yellow or white corn
3 or 4 baby carrots, diced
3T chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach
1 tsp Trader Joe's Taco Seasoning
up to 1 cup gluten free breadcrumbs or panko
sprinkle of cumin
sprinkle of garlic sea salt
sprinkle of white pepper
coconut oil, for cooking

Rinse kidney beans very well under warm water.  In food processor, add kidney beans and cooked brown rice.  Add cumin, taco seasoning, garlic salt and pepper.  Pulse until crumbled and incorporated. Remove mixture from food processor and place in a large metal mixing bowl (I should have used a bigger one than the one pictured).  Add cooked corn, red onion, spinach and carrots (I left my carrots raw).  Remove any rings and mix with your hands.  Finally, add the bread crumbs starting with about half of a cup.  Mix well and add more if needed.  I didn't measure my bread crumbs, but I estimate it was close to one full cup.  Form mixture into patties.  I made three large patties, but you can probably make 4 medium patties depending on the measurements of your ingredients.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and add 1T coconut oil.  Add your patties and cook about 5 minutes on each side.  Because my patties were large, I placed them in the oven after pan-cooking in order to make sure they were heated through.  I cooked them in the oven for about ten minutes at 425.

These burgers can be served so many ways.  Use your imagination, or use what you have on hand.  I sauteed chard & spinach from my garden in coconut oil and added some baby bok choy.  I placed the burger on top of my cooked greens and added mashed avocado and a little Chipotle Veganaise (my FAVE two toppings!)

As always, if you make a recipe that you have found on my blog, even if it's not my original recipe, please comment and let me know how you made it, what you altered or changed, and what you thought about it.

Eden Organic Kidney Beans - No Salt Added
Precooked Brown Rice - Single Serve by Annie Chung

Rice, Beans & Spices before processing
Spinach, fresh picked from my garden - HUGE leaves!

Beans & Rice with veggies & spinach added
Gluten Free panko - it's becoming more easy to find in many stores

Three patties - before cooking

Pan-frying the patties in coconut oil

Burger served over cooked greens, with mashed avocado and Chipotle Vegenaise

YUM!!!!

Perfect texture & consistency





No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts with Thumbnails