Jalapenos

I absolutely love spicy food, especially jalapenos, I eat them with everything. At Taco Bell I get Mexican pizza with jalapenos, I put them in burritos, on top of pizza, on hamburgers and I eat them in ice cream! I know that not everyone is as crazy as I am about jalapenos, but if you ever want to cook with them there are a few rules you should follow!

For dinner tonight I am making Black Bean Burgers with Mango Salsa. This is a great recipe and it is very easy to make, but it can be dangerous. You see, last time I made this dish I nearly burned my eyes out! This recipe calls for 1 jalapeno, so I cut the pepper in half and scrapped out the membrane and seeds so it would not be too spicy. I then cut it up into tiny pieces and mixed it into my black bean burgers. I then went and washed my hands with hot water and soap. As we were about to sit down to our black bean burgers my nose started burning and a few minutes later my eyes were burning so badly that they felt like they were on fire. I ran to the sink and stuck my face under the spout. Apparently, all the jalapeno did not wash away from my hands and the residual was now in my nose and both eyes. It burned my eyes the whole night, it was absolutely terrible! I have now learned that every time you cut a hot pepper you MUST wear gloves!!!

Here is the Black bean burger recipe for you to try. If you are not crazy about jalapenos then you can always leave them out. Also this is a vegetarian recipe and the product taste nothing like a burger it tastes like black beans. So if your expecting a juicy burger this is not the right recipe for you. This is a flavorful, healthy black bean patty topped with mango salsa. Yummy!

Black Bean Burger with Mango Salsa

Ingredients

2 cans black beans

1/2 cup cilantro

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs

2 egg whites

3/4 cup monterey jack cheese (shredded)

1 jalapeno (membrane and seeds removed-dices into tiny pieces)

2 mangos

1 avocado

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

1 shallot chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

To make burgers:

Drain black beans and rinse in a colander. Put beans in a large bowl and mash with a potato masher. Add in the rest of the ingredients from first list and mix together.

Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with olive oil or canola oil.

Form patties from the mix- you should be able to make about 6 small burgers or 4 large burgers.

Cook in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Turn the burgers over half way through.

To make mango salsa:

Cut the avocado and mango into small cubes. To cube these- cut the fruit's flesh while it is in the skin. (picture shown below) Then use a spoon to remove the flesh.

Add lime, salt, pepper, shallot, cilantro and mix!

To put the burgers together I use whole-wheat hamburger buns and toast them in the oven. I then add lettuce, mango salsa, crunchy onions, shredded monterey jack cheese and extra jalapenos.

Happy Cooking!