As a parent of young children I really rate letting them choose and put their food together once in a while. So for this ‘build your own burger’ meal I set out the buns, burgers, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced cheese, ketchup, mayo and sweet chilli sauce on the table. Then we chose what we wanted and built our burgers ourselves! I didn’t pressure the kids to include the vegetables, as they are more likely to enjoy vegetables in the long-term if it is not a battle.
I made some tasty and quick bean burgers, which can be prepared in advance of frying (simple recipe below). The idea is that this is a fun meal and the kids are getting involved, so if you don’t have time to make burgers then using shop-bought burgers is fine too! Everyone enjoyed filing their buns and squirting the sauces on. And 3 out of 4 of us liked the bean burgers. Only thing that was missing was the gherkins!
Thank you to the highly recommended Tiny Budget Cooking free online cookbook (www.tinybudgetcooking.com) for the bean burger recipe inspiration! Their book is full of delicious and cheap recipes.
Bean burgers (makes approx 8 medium sized burgers)
2 tins black eyed beans, drained, rinsed and shaken dry
1/2 onion, chopped small
1 clove garlic, crushed/chopped small
Small handful olives, chopped small
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
2 tsp plain flour
Put the beans in a big bowl. Add the onion, garlic, olives, herbs, flour and a pinch of salt and pepper. Thoroughly mix and mash the ingredients together using your clean hands to break up most of the beans (this works really well) and form in to approx 8 patties.
Carefully fry the burgers in a little oil in a pan in batches of 3 or 4, for around 4 minutes per side, until browned. Eat in a burger bun with lettuce, tomato, cheese slices and ketchup or mayo. Sweet chilli sauce works great too!
katielovescooking 