Beef Chick Pea Burger

So tonight I had hoped we could make a run to the store for some fresh groceries, as I'm getting pretty bare on just about everything. But when the boys got home from school I found out a parent needed to be at school this evening for a 'class' so the oldest boy could bring home the school-provided laptop. Considering my hubby got home about 4:30 that didn't leave a time window for grocery shopping.

Yep. Looks pretty bare (no greens, lettuce, bread other than white or anything... I told you we need to go to the store! But they were yum.

This afternoon I opened a can of chick peas (I had never had them before). I just wanted to taste them and see what they were like lol. So of course I wanted to use that tonight since it was open. I also had a pound of ground beef thawed out... one pound isn't enough for much of anything in this house, though.

So going on that, I decided to try making a beef, chick pea burger. They came out really good! They had plenty of flavor, but still tasted enough like a burger (and the same texture) that the younger boys didn't even notice. Or should I say they didn't notice anything out of the ordinary in a bad way... our 7-year-old turned around and yelled "Mom this is delicious!" I even caught him eating part of a patty all by itself off the counter. Score! :)

This afternoon I also looked up the health benefits of chick peas. I figured they were basically a source of protein like most other beans. But what I found out surprised me. Just 2-3 tablespoons of chick peas provide a full portion of a your daily servings for fruits and veggies (according to the Daily Mail)... I'll definitely be using them more often.

Of course, as I was in a big rush to get this done within like 20 minutes I didn't have time to stop and precisely measure anything I put in. So this is basically what I did with "guesstimated" measurements :) If you do decide to give this a try, please let me know what you thought of them!

(You can get a printable version of your choice with the button at the bottom of this post) Here's my not-so-great photo haha...

INGREDIENTS:
1lb ground beef (probably closer to 1 1/2 lb)
1 can of Garbanzos chick peas
1/2 small onion finely chopped
3 TBS seasoned bread crumbs
2 TBS garlic powder
1 tsp all-seasoning (what I had on hand was Colonial Kitchen Seasoning Salt (No MSG Added)
2 TBS Canola oil (only because my skillets suck)
Worcestershire sauce

INSTRUCTIONS:
Pour the peas into a large mixing bowl and crush them up finely with a fork (I don't have a food processor or anything, so if you do I'm sure would be easier)

Add the ground beef, bread crumbs, garlic powder, onions and a few good dashes of the Worcestershire sauce. Knead together by hand and form patties.

Heat oil in skillet and add patties. After I tried a bite of one, I decided I wanted more flavor, so I topped with a dash more of garlic on each with the seasoning salt.

SAUCE:
I almost forgot. I also combined about 2TBS of mayo and 1TBS of prepared mustard, threw a few dashes of dill, a very light dash of red cayenne pepper and very light dash of sugar to use on them.

NOTES:
You may want to add an egg, as if you aren't careful these will try to come apart in the pan. Of course, it may have been because I moved the first ones around too much and they weren't pattied together good enough. The second batch held together fine! Use your judgement.

I like to let mine get a bit crusty, just before you would call them burnt, because I love the flavor of it!

I'm sure these would be even yummier (and healthier) if you have other veggies that are sitting around waiting to be used. Come to think of it, I should have added carrot from the carrot we used half of for salads earlier for a snack! Oh well... maybe next time.