Black-Bean Veggie Burgers

*We adapted this recipe from www.thefrontburnerblog.com along with several other black bean burger recipes online.

Ingredients:

(makes 8-10 burgers)

• 4 cans black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 4 carrots, grated
• 1 cup dry rolled oats
• 1/2 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• ¼ tsp of chipotle powder
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• Whole wheat hamburger buns
• Cheese and condiments to taste

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Toast ½ cup pepitas and 1-teaspoon whole cumin seeds in a dry skillet. Next, add the oats, toasted pepitas and toasted cumin seeds to your food processor and grind until coarsely chopped. Grate the carrots; place them on a double layer of paper towels and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Add the carrots to your mixture in the food processor.  Add 3/4 of the beans, all the spices, and the olive oil.  Once all of this is in the food processor, mix it all together.

Coarsely mash the reserved beans in a large mixing bowl. Add the contents of the food processor to the crushed beans.  Stir to combine.

Oven: Form into 8-10 medium sized patties.  Place patties on a non-stick baking sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes, turning once half way through the cooking time.

Grill: If you want to grill these, pre-bake them at 300 degrees for 30 minutes and then put them on the grill to brown a little bit.