Black Bean Burgers and Homemade Hamburger Buns

This is what we ate for dinner tonight. It does take a little more time and effort, but we LOVE this meal- it is one of Thomas' favorites. The hamburger buns are definitely WORTH the effort to make them... I will NEVER buy storebought again. Just not the same.

Black Bean Burgers

4 cups of beans per recipe (or 2 cans, rinsed and drained)
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T seasoned salt (I use Tony Chachere's creole seasoning salt)
1 egg 
1/2 cup bread crumbs (depending on the consistency of your beans)

Process onion and garlic in food processor (you can do it in a blender... but its not quite the same. That's how I used to do it before food processor nirvana was achieved). (some people recommended to strain the onion/garlic mixture here through a fine mesh strainer to get excess water out, but I didn't.) Add beans, process til mashed. (I do the rest of the steps in my food processor instead of a bowl as the original recipe intended.) Add eggs, bread crumbs, and cajun seasoning. Process (or mix by hand if you don't have a processor) until well-blended. Shape into patties (use your hands) and grill or broil. If grilling, grill 5-7 min per side. I broil mine on a greased (!) cookie sheet for about 10 min per side. (I used a broiling pan before, and it works ok but it's a little messier. Using a greased cookie sheet was WAY better/easier.) Serve on buns with your choice of burger toppings. We love fry sauce, lettuce and I like cheese too, but Thomas doesn't usually put it on. (Even Audrey ate some of the burger tonight- maybe a 1/3 of a patty! Usually can't get her to touch it, she just eats the bun and the cheese.)

Homemade Hamburger Buns (onelovelylife.com)

Audrey put her hand on my face and told me I have beautiful eyes today. She did this twice I think. She's so darn cute. She loves Emperor's New Groove, Mulan, and Wall-E is still a favorite. Ethan has started to "cruise"- where he'll walk hanging onto things for dear life. He can pull himself up to standing pretty confidently now. He's getting pretty good at moving around on his own. I have adorable children.

I love those blue eyes.

He crawls! Kind of. But he's so happy!

This is actually a mouse skeleton we found underneath the old dishwasher. When Thomas replaced it he found it and I saved it. Cuz I thought it was cool. Sorry if you get grossed out by stuff like that.

My girl cheezin' it up

Self-portrait.