Black Bean Burgers

2 – 15 oz cans of Black Beans, rinsed and drained (separated)

1/2 Cup Flour

1/4 Cup Cornmeal

1/2 Cup Salsa

2 t Ground Cumin

1 t Garlic Powder

1 T Nutritional Yeast

1 T Italian Seasoning

1/4 Cup Water

In the food processor add 1 can black beans and all the rest of the ingredients.  Blend until a nice and thick paste (kind of like bean dip).  Add the second can of black beans to the mixture in a bowl.  Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator for 1-4 hours before cooking.

You can cook individual patties and refrigerate the rest for up to about four days.  I like to prepare the ingredients one day, cook up a few burgers for lunch or dinner and then cook up all the burgers the next day.  The burgers cooked the second day seem to be a bit stronger in flavor (similar to spaghetti sauce) since the flavors have melded.

Another way to enjoy these burgers is to cook or grill them all up and freeze.  Wrap each burger individually and place them all in a container to freeze.  When you want to eat one, remove it and treat it as a burger you purchased frozen from the store.

This recipe yields 6-8 good-sized burgers.

The important seasonings in this burger are really the cumin and salsa.  The other seasonings can be altered.  Maybe use barbecue sauce instead of the salsa or add fresh onions in place of the garlic powder.  If you don’t have the nutritional yeast or Italian seasoning, it’s OK.