Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I'll be glad to give you feedback. My current batch of BBB's will run out tomorrow so I'll be making some new ones on thursday or Friday. What I would like to do is try each of the recommendations and see how it goes. I am pretty sure I can't do 2 eggs to a can of beans - sorry bitchincamero. I bet egg lovers would think that was a great idea - Thank you for offering your help. and I do love cilantro so that will be an excellent addition.

These are all such great suggestions. I had to laugh at the Elgin's sausage - Elgin is 2 hours from me, It is so easy to forget something simple and local like that good sausage.

I also overlooked doing something simple like baking cookies or perhaps sending coffee and biscotti - and I have a great biscotti recipe.

I had never heard of the Lobsta Gram - I have to admit that one really looks interesting.

I am going to look through the sites and see what makes sense.

Whatever I pick this time, I now have some really cool resources for future food gifting - and I so appreciate you all taking the time to give me suggestions.

New Mexican chili :(

I grew up on it, and could eat it every day - but now when I visit Santa Fe and load up on food from The Shed or Pasqual's, my poor belly aches like it is raw on the inside.

I still eat it, every delicious spicy bite, but my body doesn't tolerate it. That is truly sad.

I do a lot of research on which restaurants are praised and which ones people dislike - chowhound is good and serious eats is great. I generally plan my travels around the food - so I am more likely to stay someplace les expensive so I can eat more or eat at better places.

travel + good food is a joy, but can be expensive. We try to save up for trips so we have the cash to spend.

OK - the SJ's were delightful! I used the above recipe but changed ingredients to:

4 T mustard
4 T sweet relish
4 T Pace
pinch of red pepper flakes
paprika
1 T Monterrey seasoning
salt
pepper

I forgot to buy buns at the store so we just ate the mix out of a bowl - it was great.

BTW - I think a soy protein version would be good. I'll probably make a venison version in the next few weeks.

wow - do the sweet potatoes cook in the few minutes it takes to cook the BBBs?

I am making a pot of beans now and today's test is the BB cakes with masa harina.

Yeah - it acts mostly as a binder. They'll just be a bit more crumbly. Good luck :)

Not really a "burger" nor "patty" rather a "cake" but I love them (and since I'm making them tomorrow they're on my mind so get included here):

BLACK BEAN CAKES

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked black beans
1 Tbls oil (give or take)
1 Tbls minced onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 cup masa de harina (corn flour)

Directions:
Heat some oil over medium heat in a small pan. Cook onion and salt until onions are translucent, add garlic then cumin till fragrant and toasted. Combine beans and onion mix in a bowl then mash (potato masher works well here) until well combined (but still some bean chunks). Add masa slowly, letting beans absorb it before adding more. Roll dough in the palm of your hand to test and add more masa if dough sticks till it keeps a ball shape. Make 8 balls then flatten into cakes. Heat large skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil or so. Fry cakes till lightly browned on each side, maybe 3 to 5 minutes a side. Top with diced tomatoes, onions, red pepper, avocado, and/or jalepeno, perhaps a dollop of sour cream to your taste. Add a lime slice to each plate.

For a black bean patty sans eggs try this:

SPICY BLACK BEAN BURGER

Ingredients:
2 cups black beans
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 red or yellow bell pepper, diced
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 serving Ener-G egg replacer (can find in a lot of stores these days)
1 cup bread crumbs or cooked brown rice
oil

Directions:
Mash beans in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and combine well. Make patties and fry in oil till lightly brown. Can be grilled at medium heat. Spice as wanted with salt, pepper, cumin, etc while mixing or before or after cooking.

I like the texture of the rice much more. I'd add a lime/cumin mayo, or roasted red pepper rouille, with a lot of onions, and don't discount the value of a great bun.

There's also this recipe for Black Lentil Burgers (with a twist) at 101 cookbooks that looks really good and has a lot of suggestions for punching it up. Again, I'd probably substitute rice or bulgar for the breadcrumbs. As one of the commentors points out, use mayo (or soy mayo) or tahini as an egg substitute. Another mentions flax which I've used successfully in baking but never tried with patties (the bonus is both the tahini and flax would add fiber and a bunch of nutrients).

Would love to hear how this all shakes out for you. :)

Zingermans in Ann Arbor has some delicious things grouped in theme baskets, or you could put your own selection together. www.zingermans.com

Well, I found a great timer today at a hardware store. It's by West Bend and counts down in seconds, minutes, hours...has a stop watch, a strong magnetic backing, large digital display and a loud alarm.

Wish me luck with this one and thanks for all your great suggestions. I'll let you know how it works out.