Black Bean Sliders with Baked Squash Chips

Beans Beans they're good for your heart, and if you cook them right they won't make you f....t! :D  Well that's not true they will make you toot and well that's just a fact of life.....TMI?

Black Bean Sliders wonderfully flavorful and so cute! Plus they are of course nutritional and cheap!!!  I'll provide the recipe for the burgers, but you'll have to get creative with whatever you have in your pantry for the toppings.

Here's what I used:

For my toppings as you can see I made some guacamole and a mixed one Chipotle Adobo pepper (remove the seeds) and a tablespoon of the sauce into about a quarter cup of mayo.  I also chopped up a sweet orange bell pepper and mixed it into some of the Spicy Mango Ginger Habanero sauce.  I had plenty of that sauce left from the Mango Ginger Habanero Drummettes I made a few weeks ago.  Lastly I sauteed up some onions and mushrooms then piled them on a burger with Swiss cheese.  So get creative and come up with your own fancy toppings. Please let me know what you created.

Along side these protein packed sliders I served Crunchy Baked Squash Chips.  Spray a oven safe baking rack into a cookie sheet and coat wtth non-stick spray.  Wash and dry two medium sized squash.  I used zucchini and yellow squash.  Slice your squash into 1/4 inch thick coins.  Whisk two egg whites until frothy.  Dip the squash in the egg then dredge it in a combination of 1 C Panko Breadcrumbs, 1/2 C flour and 1/2 C Parmesan cheese.  Place squash onto the rack coated and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.  Keep an eye on these, my first batch came out a bit darker than I would have wanted, but they were delicious just the same.

You could also serve your Black Bean Burgers with Crispy Baked Parmesan Asparagus too. These are soooo goood!

Here's how you make the Black Bean Burger:

Drain and rinse both cans of black beans, but keep them separated.  Dump one can of beans into the blender with 1 small onion chopped, a small bunch of cilantro (about 2 T). 1 egg, 2 cloves of garlic minced and S&P to taste.  Blend until very well mixed.  Scrape into a mixing bowl.

Add 1/2 C of Panko Bread Crumbs and remaining can of whole black beans.

Mix well to incorporate the bread crumbs and allow them to absorb some of the moisture.  No it's not pretty but either is ground beef really.

Heat a counter top griddle to 350 degrees or heat a skillet over medium-high heat.  Be sure to coat whichever surface you are using with non-stick spray.

With a medium size ice cream scoop drop your burgers onto the hot griddle and lightly press them to flatten with the side of the scoop. 

 Cook until brown then Carefully flip and brown the other side.  Roughly 5 minutes on each side. 

Remove burgers and toast your buns.  Stop steering at your burgers they may look funny but believe me they are tasty, lite and good for you.  Add your favorite condiments and serve them up.  The men folk in this house didn't know they weren't meat by looking at them, until I said something.  They devoured them!

 Black Bean Sliders with Crunchy Squash Chips! 

 Get after it!

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Salmon Stuffed Mushroom Caps

These warm Salmon Stuffed Mushroom Caps are overflowing with flavor and are so simple to make.  With a little help from the Gorton's Fisherman and a few fresh veggies I was able to quickly whip together this wholesome snack. 

 As always the ingredients I used for today's snack are only what was available at the time I was ready to eat.  So, take a look in your freezer and pull out whatever frozen fish or protein you happen to have.   We just so happened to have Gorton's Grilled Salmon, Lemon Butter flavor.  You'll want to cook it according to the package or heat it through in a skillet then set it aside to cool. I used both salmon fillets in the package.

We had about ten large button mushroom left in the fridge, so I cleaned them up with a damp paper towel, just to remove any dirt particles.  Never wash your mushrooms in water because they are like little sponges and will become waterlogged, which will keep them from browning.  Remove the stems and scoop out the center.  Place your cleaned mushrooms in a baking dish just big enough to hold them, the tighter the fit the better. Set aside.

Chop the stems and centers of mushrooms, 3T onion, 1 T celery, 2T red bell pepper.  Saute veggies in a large skillet with 1T butter.  Use a nice large skillet on a med-high heat.  The large skillet will allow the water to evaporate as it is released from the mushrooms and veggie.  Continue to saute and stir your veggies until they are cooked and caramelized like the image below.

I could just eat these veggies as is, but I'll hold off until the finished product.  See how they have browned and caramelized and the water has evaporated.  If you still have a lot of liquid in the bottom of your pan then you'll need to continue cooking your veggies.  Too much water will make your mushrooms a soggy mess. 

 Now that the salmon is cooled, take a fork and flake it in to small chunks.  

 We have Ritz and as y'all know~ Everything tastes better on a Ritz!  So, I was sure it would taste good in these Salmon Stuffed Mushroom Caps.  Just take 8-10 crackers and pound the heck out of them in a Ziploc baggie.  For good solid filling that is not too loose and holds up to the moisture that the mushrooms are going to give off you'll want to have at least 1/4-1/3 Cup of cracker crumbs.

Mix together in a large bowl, the flaked salmon, cracker crumbs, sauteed veggies, 1 beaten egg and 2-3T milk.  Season with salt & pepper and a few sprinkles of Cayenne Pepper.  This should yield about 3/4 to 1C of filling.   Your filling should have enough body to pile it into your mushroom caps.  If your filling does not sit-up on the spoon like in the above photo then you'll want to crush more cracker in it. 

With the cleaned caps in a baking dish fill all your caps using all of the filling.  As you can see I had ten and was able to fill them all with lots of this yummy filling.  Pile it on there!!!! 

Bake them in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes.  And look what you get.....

These Stuffed Mushroom Caps are so good and good for you! Mushrooms are one of the Top 20 Super Foods!!