Yesterday I had the great pleasure of entertaining an old friend from college who has since gotten married to a football coach, moved to Maine, recently landed a job as the Director of Development at Chabad at Princeton University…and also writes profusely for the Daily Muse and her blog, Grab a  Latte.  Clearly, a tough lady to pin down, but she is in DC for work and was able to come by my house for lunch with me – double win!

Neither of us is a vegetarian, but I’ve been getting inquiries about veggie burgers recently and decided to try see what I could do with some good old-fashioned blind experimentation.  I had cooked up a bunch of barley, which by itself is bland, but loaded with soluble fiber…found a can of black beans on my shelf that I’d forgotten about, and I was off to a protein and fiber-filled veggie burger!  With possibly the best alliterative name a veggie burger has ever had, plus some cilantro and lime for seasonings, this one delicious and satisfying (is it wrong that I think it’d be awesome topped with some avocado…and a piece of bacon?).

I served it bunless (there’s already plenty of good carbs from the beans, barley, and bread crumbs!) on a kale salad with lemon and parmesan, and a few spoonfuls of my Simplest Avocado Bean dip.  We had a pumpkin mousse for dessert – that one needs some more tweaking, will share the recipe in the future!  I’m always on the lookout for more veggie/meatless burger recipes – what’s your favorite?

Black Bean Barley Burger
Ingredients

• 2 c black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1.5 c cooked barley
• 1 egg
• 1 lime’s juice
• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 c bread crumbs
• 2 Tbsp cooking oil

Directions:
In a large bowl, mash the black beans and barley together with a potato masher until sticky.  Add the egg and lime juice; mash more.  Stir in cilantro.  Put bread crumbs on a plate or large bowl and form 6 patties, covering each with crumbs.  Heat oil in a pan and sautee each patty, flipping once, until golden on each side.