Black Bean Burgers

As part of our mission to become a healthier family I've decided that we need to eat out less and cook at home more. I bought a family friendly cookbook from Weight Watchers 'Eat! Move! Play! A Parent's Guide for Raising Healthy, Happy Kids' a few months back and decided I better dust the dust off of it and start using it :) For dinner last night I made Black Bean Burgers and they turned out wonderful!!

Black Beans Burgers

1 14oz can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1lb 93/7 lean ground beef
1/4 cup mild salsa
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 tsp salt
6 Arnold's Select Whole Wheat Thins

Preheat the broiler; spray the broiler pan with nonstick spray. Place the beans in a large bowl and mash them coarsely with a potato masher or large fork; some of the beans should remain whole for texture. Add the beef, salsa, parsley and salt and mix with a spoon or your hands until blended. Shape the mixture into 6 patties and place the patties on the broiler pan. Broil, turning once, until cooked through and browned, about 10 minutes. Serve on the buns.

Note: I'd skip the parsley next time, I didn't taste it what so ever. Doesn't pay for me to buy a HUGE bunch of parsley for $0.80 to use about 4-5 stalks - that's $0.80 I could spend elsewhere and now I have a HUGE bunch of leftover parsley in my fridge that will probably go to waste. Also after 5 mins of cooking I went to turn the burgers and the first one started to fall apart so I decided not to flip them. They turned out awesome and fully cooked on both sides after the 10 mins so I'll continue to skip that step myself.

Black Bean Burger topped w/muenster cheese, avocado slices, fat free sour cream and salsa with a side of corn and grapes

Nutrition Information (per burger w/ bun)
Calories 282
Calories from Fat 62.5
Total Fat 6.94g
Saturated Fat 2g
Cholesterol 43.33mg
Sodium 707.67mg
Total Carbohydrate 33.24g
Dietary Fiber 6.08g
Sugars 2.69g
Protein 20.41g

I topped my black bean burger with muenster cheese (cheese seems to be a weakness of mine LOVE IT but hate the calories - again I'd recommend a 2% cheese which once again we did not have in the house) for 80 calories, 1 TBSP fat free sour cream for 10 calories, 1 TBSP salsa for 5 calories and 3 slices of avocado for 33 calories. My burger was quite exciting and I chose to pair it with yummy but not so exciting sides. I had 40 calories worth of corn and 100 calories worth of grapes. Total for my entire plate 550 calories!! My family gave this recipe a thumbs up :)

Let me know if you decide to give this a try. I'd like to know what you thought of it and if you made any alterations