Veggie Recipe: Homemade Black Bean Burgers

Homemade Black Bean Burgers

This is one of my favorite recipes ever. I love black bean burgers more than I ever loved beef burgers before adopting a vegetarian lifestyle. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained & rinsed

1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1 egg

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon cumin

1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce

1/2 cup bread crumbs

1.    If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.

2.    In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.

3.    In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.

4.    In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.

5.    Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.

6.    If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.

Making the Choice

It’s obvious that factory farm animals are not living a life that’s good, or even fair, especially for such innocent beings. If you could really imagine yourself in that situation, it would be difficult to allow that treatment to continue. 

Being a vegetarian is a great lifestyle choice because you can protect even more animals from being tossed into that scenario, while at the same time you can help immensely improve the environment and your personal health. It’s a lifestyle that isn’t nearly as difficult as people assume, because there are so many different varieties, it’s entirely open to what’s easiest for you. 

Being a vegetarian is a great decision to make. A carnivorous diet may be a difficult habit to break for some, but the long-term benefits are more than worth it.

The Nature-Approved Diet

The health detriments of eating meat can be obvious to spot when you’re eating too much. For example, you may not feel as well, you may gain wait, etc. The environmental affects of our nation’s meat intake are much less obvious when they're not directly placed in your face. For example, most people don’t know how much land is used for feeding or raising livestock, or how the industry is affecting our atmosphere, or the amount of water used in the process.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)of the United Nations (UN)  released a report in 2006 stating that, “livestock production accounts for 70 percent of all agricultural land and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet.” In other words, nearly a third of the earth is used for meat production, whether that is for raising the animals, growing feed crops, or grazing. The UN also specifies that, “Expansion of livestock production is a key factor in deforestation,” which, in turn, means that the land percentage for the industry is just getting bigger.

With temperatures and sea levels rising, and ice-caps and glaciers declining, global warming is an important environmental factor to consider when reviewing an industry. Livestock is a major contributor to climate change, and according to the FOA report, is responsible for “18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.” The organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently quoted a more current Worldwatch institute report, stating that, “a staggering 51 percent or more of global greenhouse-gas emissions are caused by animal agriculture.”

The FOA report also looked into the water usage of the industry, and discovered that the industry’s deforestation contribution also adds to the globe’s freshwater crises by unwittingly increasing runoff and reducing dry season flows. The process accounts for “over 8 percent of global human water use…” 

The livestock sector is also a huge offender of water pollution due to, “animal waste, antibiotics and hormones, chemicals from tanneries, fertilizers and pesticides used for feed crops, and sediments from eroded pastures.”

The impacts of the meat industry are surprising, and very overlooked. I try to be green as much as possible, though I know I could do better, but I feel better knowing I'm not adding to that portion of the problem. 

TOPIC RECIPE: Spinach Salad with Dried Cranberries, Walnuts and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

This salad recipe is very natural, sweet, and good for you. This is a good lunch meal, side dish, or snack. 

Live & Let Live

Health and environmental impacts are extremely important to me, but the one argument that is used time and time again is animal rights. And it's really a reason that I hold very close to my heart. I'm an animal lover, and I can't stand the thought of something so innocent being treated poorly.  

PETA has fought for years in order to promote the humane treatment of animals, and vegan and vegetarianism to prevent their unnecessary deaths. PETA describes the factory farming industry as striving “to maximize output while minimizing costs – always at the animals’ expense.” 

It’s difficult to paint a truly clear picture of the torment these animals live in with only words, but below are some examples of the treatment and living conditions of livestock animals.

When a cow is born, it is torn immediately away from its mother. Cows are very similar to humans in that they form a strong maternal bond during pregnancy, so often mother cows will cry for their calves long after they’ve been taken. After birth, calves are branded for identification purposes, and males are castrated without sedation or pain relief. Often, young cows will have their horns burned or cut off. PETA explains on their website that the cows are then sent to “dirty feedlots, where they are exposed to the elements.” The organization notes that female are used to breed over and over again, until they are physically incapable to become pregnant again. They are then sent back to the slaughterhouse.

More than “seven billion chickens” and “300 million turkeys” are slaughtered per year. The birds alike are caged in small spaces, genetically enhanced to grow faster which results in their legs becoming entirely crippled under their own weight. To keep them from pecking or scratching each other, their toes and upper beaks are cut off.

We usually consider pigs as being dirty animals. In actuality, pigs very similar to our canine companions, as they are very devoted and affectionate animals.  PETA’s website comments that pigs are “considered by animal behaviorists to be smarter than 3-year-old children.”  The pigs on farms are cramped in filthy warehouses under constant stress of intense confinement. Similar to cows, mother pigs are forced to become pregnant over and over again, only to have their piglets stripped away from them within weeks. The baby pigs are then shipped to live in pens with thousands of others. In the boredom and stress, pigs often revert to fighting or biting on each other’s tails. To avoid this, the factory farmers ensure that the pigs’ tails are chopped off, the ends of their teeth snipped off with pliers.

These are only some examples of the living conditions of these animals. It's very hard for me to imagine my sweet kitten in conditions like that, so why should a chicken, cow, or pig be any different? They're all innocent creatures, that haven't done anything to deserve that torment. 

TOPIC RECIPE: Crispy Barbequed Tofu Slices
torment Tofu is a scary word for most people. It's odd looking and doesn't contain much flavor when it's raw, but can be a remarkable substitute for meat products if cooked and flavored right. This recipe is proof of that.