Grilling: Black Bean Burgers

Grilled Bean Burgers: First batch of bean burgers

Grilling is something I enjoy doing when the weather is nice. I’m an outdoor girl, so soaking up the sun while I grill a variety of dishes on the outdoor grill is tops on my list.

In my pre-veggie days, I wasn’t too fond of grilling meat. I did enjoy grilling the sides that accompanied the main meat dishes; asparagus, greens, beans, French fries, root vegetables, etc., Well… you get the idea.

Yesterday, was an incredibly warm day the flavorful veggie sandwiches played the starring role in our afternoon meal but I decided to toss some bean burgers on the grill too. Huge bonus points that some non veggie friends sampled and raved about the bean burgers.

I’ll get around to posting a recipe for these bean burgers. I admit since closing my foodie blog a little over a year ago I’ve gotten out of the habit of measuring whatever I prepare. I’m not one to follow a recipe, so toss in whatever feels ‘right’ at the time.

For the most part, I tend to stay away from the fake meats. Instead I use whole food ingredients that don’t mimic their meat counterparts but taste good anyway! Initially when I attempted to make grilled bean burgers, they would fall apart. Wendy from The Vision Quest of Life mentioned encountering this issue to. In response to her comment I said…

My bean burgers used to fall apart too, it took some tweaking before I had a burger that stayed together on the grill. I tend to chill my bean burger mix at least an hour, but usually overnight, before adding them to the grill. Adding a binding ingredient such as ground flax seeds can help also.

Since following these rules I haven’t had an issue with my vegetarian/vegan burgers crumbling. Why flax seeds? Flax seeds acts a binding agent, so it can be used in place of eggs to bind your ingredients together. Therefore giving you a firm burger that won’t crumble as easily. I’m all out of flax seeds, so didn’t use them in yesterdays grilled bean burgers but they held up their shape throughout the grilling.

Celebrate Life is a new blog. It’s less than a week old. Since that’s the case, I really don’t have a lot of readers; however, I’d urge those that have wondered to my virtual home to check out Wendy’s virtual home too. I’m enjoying reading through her posts. Check out her post on a Summer BBQ Feast. I think it’s great for those looking for veggie friendly BBQ ideas. While you’re there, you might want to read her Why not Dairy post too.

What’s in the Grilled bean burger?

• Black beans
• Carrots
• Green onions
• Collards
• Garlic
• Corn meal
• Squash
• Cumin
• Curry
• Sea Salt

With the exception of the carrots and some of the green onions, I tossed everything into my food processor and pulsed. The grated carrots and green onions were grated and folded into the mixture.

I would love to say that the grilled bean burgers are still around but they’re gone. No, my daughter and I didn’t eat them all ourselves. I had friends over, remember! Non veggie friends that gobbled them up. There was only one lowly burger left this morning and that burger was chopped up and added to the homemade home fries I prepared this morning.

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Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian, whole food