The Beans Knees

Lately I have been trying to think of meals that don't focus around meat, yet still provide a good hearty substance.  I personally do not have a problem with going meatless but I know a lot of people still feel the need for a meat source in most of their meals, so I started brainstorming.  I bought some tofu thinking I would do a tofu dish but that just seemed so typical for a vegetarian meal; I thought to myself whats more meaty than a big juicy burger, so I decided a veggie burger it would be.  I have had many of these burgers in my life, everything from weird, mushy, spicy and chewy but my favorites have always been the ones based around black beans.  So here is my first attempt at black bean burgers:

-1/2 diced yellow onion
-1 diced red bell pepper (you could easily use any color)
-2  15 oz cans of black beans (you could use dried beans if you have the time or plan in advance)
-1 cup of corn (approximately 1 ears worth)
-1 tsp of each: cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, oregano, basil
-2 tablespoons salsa
-1/2 cup of bread crumbs
-a couple dashes of hot sauce (you could leave this out if you prefer)

-a couple pinches of salt and pepper

While the onions and peppers got a quick saute I mashed up the black beans, then all of the ingredients went into one bowl.  Here is the difficult part, you want to start shaping up the burgers to go in the pan.  My mix was a bit wetter than I would have preferred but I really didn't want to add more breadcrumbs and I figured (or hoped) it would still hold.  I basically took a large spoonful and plopped it into the pan, then flattened it out until it made a nice patty.  I left them to cook for a while and flipped them once, forming a nice crust on each side.  I think toppings are where the real fun is, I decided to go with avocado, tomato, salsa, and a bit of mixed green salad.

These were so good, I'm glad I  made extras for lunch tomorrow!! I'm not so sure that they were quite the bees knees so I plan to revisit the black bean burger in the future for some tweaking.  I was also thinking you could make a batch of these and freeze them and they would reheat nicely.