Homemade Veggie Burgers Can Be Quite Good With This Basic Recipe from Kathie

I've got quite a few projects going on at any given moment.  I also have quite a few recipes on hand.  What happens is that things get set aside, reordered in priorities, and life sometimes changes your plans.

I went for a drive one day and a seam ripped open on the roof of my Jeep.  That can be fixed since the vinyl is still supple.

I was working on a Docker project that hit a wall. 

Then the house "emptied" and I found that I was going to have room to do some of those things that needed doing when there was nobody else here but me, the parrot, and the dog.

At any rate, I found myself standing in the kitchen and remembering a conversation with my godmother Kathie.  She's vegetarian, and I am not.  Now, I will eat vegetarian meals, but they have to come up to my Foodie Standards.  After all, I was brought up on home made Lasagne and Baked Ziti.

What I wouldn't give to be in the kitchen listening to Mom and Aunt Betty bicker about what goes into the Saturday morning spaghetti sauce for that night, and Sunday night's dinner yet one more time.

Kathie and I were talking about how I would pack what the office called "Weird Food" for breakfast.  It had to be high protein, low carb, and low fat.  I was on a training diet for my skating, and it meant that I was constantly hungry and pumping food into my open gullet.  She reminded me that I could eat vegetarian foods, and I lamented that they typically are more expensive than the meat based diet that we're used to here in the US. 

Case in point were the veggie burgers that I would have with breakfast.  They were about $10 a pound where beef burgers were around $3.50 a pound, and chicken breasts can be found as low as $1.50 a pound at a restaurant warehouse store I shop.

She shared with me a recipe that she had kept for a while and I put it in my phone where it rode around until I could put it all together.

The recommended beans are black beans, and I substituted Refried Beans.  That was the trick.  The Refried Beans are a paste that are mildly seasoned, depending on the brand.  Along with the other spices, this made a burger patty that tasted mildly Mexican, and seasoned.  You would not know there isn't beef in it, although you may realize that it isn't pure beef.

Ok, I'm being generous, but these were good!

Served on the homemade bun with cheese and a slab of tomato, I actually enjoyed this and didn't miss the $10 a pound veggie burgers.

Since the can of refried beans were only $.99 at Trader Joes, the entire recipe was about $.30 a serving.  Plus a roll.  About 150 calories maximum if you are counting.

The trick is that you have to cook these until they firm up or else you end up with a rather interesting bean and oatmeal paste that breaks apart annoyingly.  The Refried beans were a bit moister than the recommended pre-cooked black beans that would be mashed.

Enough of my own blather here you go with the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound cooked Beans.  Canned, drained, and rinsed or Refried Beans - to taste.
• 1/3 cup Quick Oats
• 2 Tablespoons Ketchup
• 1 Tablespoon Yellow Mustard
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:
    Preheat oven to 400F

    To Food processor, add all ingredients and mix until almost smooth.
        Or
    Mash beans until almost smooth like I did in a mixing bowl.

    Divide into four parts and shape into patties.

    Bake for 10 minutes on Baking Parchment Paper or foil.

    Flip all patties

    Continue baking for 5 minutes more or until desired firmness. 

    Outside should be crispy.

Note that this recipe with refried beans took longer than the suggested time by a significant amount.  I cooked them for 10 minutes and flipped every 10.  Recipe was done to my taste by about 35 minutes.

Patties may be reheated in a skillet with a little oil for added flavor and texture.