Healthy Junk Food

Burgers have always been one of my favorite foods and something that I've missed since adopting a (mostly) vegan diet. There's just something perfect about the blend of flavors and the way they're just so easy to eat. Fries are another one of my favorite foods. When I saw this post from Thug Kitchen, I basically rushed home and started cooking immediately (to discover that I didn't have any spinach, but kale worked out well). It was awesome that these were made mostly from pantry staples, they're nut-free and they were so easy!

Original recipe for Smokey Bean and Spinach Sliders: Thug Kitchen

My (very similar) version:
- 2 cups raw kale leaves
- 1 cup roughly chopped onion
- 3 cups cooked red beans
- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
- 5 cloves of garlic, cut in half
- 2 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons oregano
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I toasted a hamburger bun until there was no moisture left and used that. Lost one in the process by burning it but it worked out in the end)

Preheat oven to 375. Put all ingredients except breadcrumbs in food processor or blender and pulse until everything in in tiny pieces and all mixed up. Dump into a bowl, add breadcrumbs and mix together. The mixture was easily able to be formed into patties and I made 6 full-size burgers with this mixture. I used foil on a baking sheet and sprayed with a coconut oil spray. They still stuck a little bit so definitely don't forget to grease the pan somehow. Bake for 15 minutes, flip and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes. I served these as regular burgers as shown and also broke one up and mixed it into a tomato basil pasta sauce which was also delicious!

The sweet potato fries were really easy, just sweet potato sliced into fry-sized pieces, tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika and cayenne pepper. Baked at 450 for 20 minutes, flipping once. Inspiration from here: http://cookieandkate.com/2010/baked-sweet-potato-fries/