Hummus Habenero Burgers

My challenge this week involved creating something just for me. As a single gal who seriously loves to cook, I eat alone most nights of the week. Sometimes, that feels sad to me, and other times, it enhances my K Love. Meaning, I get to make things I know I like. What really sucks is when I make something I liked in the past, or something I think will just be delicious, and it misses the mark. That’s sin, in my book, and the sense of disappointment is a stinker. It’s hard sometimes listening to what I AM HUNGRY for. When you cook for yourself, there’s no other voices and it’s just you, and I’ve failed many times to eat what I want anyway.

I was going to whip up some vegan black bean burgers, but trying to ALLOW myself permission, I saw my homemade hummus in the fridge. This bad boy mixture had soaked chickpeas, garlic, seasame seeds and lemon, salt and pepper. I LOVE heat, and so a habenero and juice from a lime was thrown into the chunky spread (it was about 1 cup prior to the addition)….into the magic bullet for some presto blending! 

For the patties…I added one egg to thicken it up, and a quarter of a cup of panko, and a touch of olive oil. Again, telling myself I had to “grill it up” instead, I popped them in the oven while I made my salad. It was stinking hot, 425, for 10 minutes…and then flipped em over (should have waited about 5 minutes more, me thinks)…and after 10 minutes more, turned the oven off and hopped in the shower… to relax while they finished up.

I topped it with oregon blue cheese, and yogurt over whole wheat couscous & a pita. I also whipped up a Pear Vinagrette Slaw (apples, apricots, pepitas and dried cranberries) and 7-Spice  roasted carrots….the watermelon was the perfect balance to the heat! A Special K ME meal!

Interesting leftovers…that was even better than the meal: a patty wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla spread with peanut butter and honey and nutmeg!

What do you think?