I accomplished another one of my June goals, guys. Look at me go! That’s my second in a week.

This time, I decided to try out a new recipe. Now, I’ve always liked black bean burgers. They’re a nice alternative to meat if you’re not into that kinda thing (which I am, but I do like my options). I had a really delicious black bean burger at a local cafe last week, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind.

So I went searching for a recipe. I wanted needed to make my own.

I used this recipe from The Foodie Physician blog for inspiration, but ended up changing quite a few of the measurements and dropping some of the ingredients. Here’s my version:

Black Bean Burgers
1/2 cup quinoa
1 teasespoon olive oil
4 cloves garlic
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 egg
2/3 cup cooked corn (I used canned)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 1/2 teasespoon cumin
1 cup rolled oats, ground up

Bring one cup of water to a boil, and then add the quinoa. Let it cook and absorb all of the water and then take it off of the burner. While that’s happening, pour one and a half cans of black beans into a bowl and mash it all up into a paste (that’s an arm workout, FYI).

Sautee the garlic in the olive oil (I used extra virgin), and then dump that into the black bean paste. Mash that up some more, for good measure. Then throw in the remaining half can of black beans. Mash again. Then add in the tomato paste, egg, corn, cilantro, and cumin.

Then guess what? You’re going to stir it up. The next two things to go in the bowl are the cooked quinoa and the ground up oats. Then stir some more, and shape the concoction into six (monstrous) patties.

I stuck them in the fridge for two hours, and then baked them in the oven at 400 degrees F. Since I made 6 large burgers instead of 8 or 10 smaller ones, these needed more time than I originally planned. But I ended up baking them for 15 minutes, flipped them, and went for another 15. They turned out well … and really held together better than any other burger I’ve attemped. I recommend giving this recipe I try

After I made them, I realized I didn’t have any hamburger buns/english muffins to put the patties in (whoops!), so I compromised.

I put a poached egg on one:

And I crumbled leftovers into a tortilla with jalapeno Greek yogurt dip and cheese (this was SO GOOD):

Yayyyyy for accomplishing goals! I’m kicking June’s butt Have a wonderful Thursday!