Black Bean Burgers and Pajamas

We have officially not left the apartment the entire day (minus taking the pups for a walk) & it was glorious!  I had planned on running some errands and doing a pilates video but it was nice to sleep in, watch the Penn State game and lay around.  In case you were wondering, Penn State WON!  It was definitely a good game (which meant that I was on the edge of my seat screaming the whole game) and it was nice to get a W after everything that has happened the past few weeks. 

 

Now we play Wisconsin next week to determine who goes to the Big Ten Championship game.  I'm nervous but excited!  Next week is a BIG game and I hope the PSU can go out this season on a high note.

After the game (& cursing at the TV for 3 hours), I decided to make black bean burgers for dinner.  It took longer than planned because I had dry black beans but the result was delicious.  Brent ate 3!

Yum!  I highly recommend making these....especially because the recipe made 18 burgers so Brent and I have 3 easy meals next week.  Here is the recipe:

Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients:

1 (16 oz) bag of dry black beans

1 green bell pepper, diced

1 red onion, diced

1 1/4 cup corn

3 TB minced garlic

2 eggs

2 TB red chili powder

2 tsp Sriracha

2 tsp garlic powder

1 cup Panko bread crumbs

1/2 cup cooked whole wheat couscous

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1.  Cook beans.  (I rinsed the beans, put them in a pot and covered with about 8 cups of water.  I let it boil, stirring occasionally for about 2 minutes then took off range and let sit for about an hour.  The beans were still kind of hard so I put them back on the stove and let them simmer for about 20 minutes until they were cooked thoroughly.  This whole step could be alleviated if you use two cans of precooked beans.  Haha)

2.  Drain and rinse beans.  Dry thoroughly.

3.  Preheat oven to 375 F.

4.  Saute peppers, onions and garlic in saucepan for 5 minutes and then drain all liquid.

5.  In small bowl, mix eggs, garlic powder, chili powder, and sriracha.

6.  In a large bowl, mix together everything but couscous and bread crumbs.

7.  In batches, process the mixture in a high quality blender or food processor.

8.  Once everything is blended, add couscous and bread crumbs to mixture.

9.  Grease baking sheet and divide mixture into 18 burgers.  (I baked 6 at a time and put a little olive oil on my hands so it was easier to form the burgers)

10.  Bake 10 minutes on each side.

11.  Enjoy!

On the first batch, I put cheese on 4 of the burgers and put them back in the oven for another 2 minutes or so.  As for the rest of the burgers, I individually wrapped each one in saran wrap and put 4 in each baggie for separate meals.  Then into the freezer they went!  You will see them again this week!

 

IT'S SONG SATURDAY!

Don't think I forgot!  So for some reason I woke up thinking about a song that I was obsessed with in college.  I heard it once on an episode of the OC (yes...THAT long ago!) and I probably listened to it every day for a year.  It's kinda dark but excellent for running & it will be added to my playlist this week!  Please click for your enjoyment - Running up that Hill - Placebo 

WHAT I AM THANKFUL FOR:

I am thankful for lazy saturday filled with football, beer, cooking and puppies. <3