Black bean & rice burgers with roasted peppers, onion mushroom & garlic

I woke this morning thinking about my health & what I do to improve it. That spurred me to get up and start cooking.

Last night I had some store bought vegan sausages - yes they are tasty but with a whacking 11 gr of fat they are not healthy. We need some fats in our diet but it must come from whole sources such as adding a few nuts or seeds to a meal or some avocado; even an occasional few olives. But when it is an added ingredient it does s no favours and potentially it can do us some harm, increasing insulin resistance or adding to the stickiness of our arteries. So up I got to make some burgers for my lunch and the rest can be frozen or turned into a loaf and frozen or used for supper tomorrow.

Black Bean & Rice Burgers

1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 2 1/2 tablespoons of water

1 1/2 cups cooked black beans or 1 (15 ounce) can no-salt-added or low sodium black beans, drained

1/2 ripe avocado

3/4 cup oats

3/4 cup cooked rice - I use a mix of black, red, brown & wild, there are lots of brands such as Nuworld and Lindburgs

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1/2 finely diced onion

1/2  finely diced red pepper

2 mushrooms finely chopped

1 clove garlic finely chopped

2 tablespoons low sodium organic ketchup

1 tsp tamari

couple of grinds of black pepper

good sprinkle of Montreal steak spice

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Put flax seeds and water in bowl with water & let sit for at least 5 mins.

Mash beans & avocado with a fork, leaving some beans whole. Add all the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. Taste to see if seasoning is right & adjust if needed. I sometimes leave the mushrooms out and use this mix as a pate.

Form into 6-8 burgers.

Roasted veg:

1 & 1/2 onion cut into thin wedges

1 & 1/2 red pepper cut into slices

1 head of garlic peeled

6-8 mushrooms (that is 1 per burger but you can add as many as you want per burger)

Either line a baking sheet with a non stick sheet, parchment paper or very lightly oil it. Place as many burgers as you want to cook on the sheet. Fill the rest of the baking sheet with veg. 

Cook in oven on middle shelf for 15 min. stir veg  & very carefully flip burgers. put sheet back in with what was front edge now at back. Cook for another 15 mins. You may need a few more minutes depending on your oven. If everything looks cooked serve with salad, a bun and favourite burger fixings or with roasted root veg such as sweet potato, parsnip, beet and butternut squash.

Enjoy