Open Face Black Bean Burger Sandwich: An Old Post But A Great Post

Note: With the Morning Star Chipotle Black Bean Burgers on sale this month, I felt that a repeat of this post was in order. My lovely wife and I just love these burgers and you can serve them up very quickly and easily.                 

Recently we bought some of the black bean burgers from Morningstar Farms at Costco.  They are frozen and are less than $14 per box of 12. That makes them convenient and reasonably priced.

We buy some delicious black pepper bread from our local farmer's market and toast it for the base of the sandwich. Meanwhile, we grill the burgers on our Griddler.

After the toasting and grilling, we put the burger on the toast, top it with some of the Jack's Special Medium Salsa and some cheddar cheese and we are good to go.

We love this meal.  The burgers have just the right amount of zing and they are filling and certainly healthier than a beef burger. The toasted bread compliments the spicy flavor of the burger and give a chewy bread in contrast to the "meatiness" of the burger.  The salsa and cheese provide a vegetable and dairy balance to the meal and a sense of completeness.

I can't say enough about how tasty this meal is.  I could certainly see something like this on the menu at a restaurant by someone like Bobby Flay.  Yes, it is that good.  And the time, effort and money involved are very reasonable.

And the meal is just plain fun, too.

Open Face Black Bean Burger Sandwich-A Favorite

Recently we bought some of the black bean burgers from Morningstar Farms at Costco.  They are frozen and are less than $14 per box of 12. That makes them convenient and reasonably priced.

We buy some delicious black pepper bread from our local farmer's market and toast it for the base of the sandwich. Meanwhile, we grill the burgers on our Griddler.

After the toasting and grilling, we put the burger on the toast, top it with some of the Jack's Special Medium Salsa and some cheddar cheese and we are good to go.

We love this meal.  The burgers have just the right amount of zing and they are filling and certainly healthier than a beef burger. The toasted bread compliments the spicy flavor of the burger and give a chewy bread in contrast to the "meatiness" of the burger.  The salsa and cheese provide a vegetable and dairy balance to the meal and a sense of completeness.

I can't say enough about how tasty this meal is.  I could certainly see something like this on the menu at a restaurant by someone like Bobby Flay.  Yes, it is that good.  And the time, effort and money involved are very reasonable.

And the meal is just plain fun, too.

Caprese Salad Burger

We love Caprese Salad over the summer with farm fresh tomatoes and that means occasionally we have some leftovers. Recently, we were making mini-meatloafs and the idea came up that we should set aside some of the meat to make hamburgers and use the left over salad with the burgers.

This idea worked very well. It was a juicy burger with some fun and different toppings with very little effort involved. This was a great success and the burger looked so good that I rushed photographing it and just got straight to eating it!

This Labor Day Weekend, I highly recommend experimenting with a Caprese Salad Burger.

Been Gone And Now I Am Back With: Peroggies With Spinach & Crumbled Black Bean Burger

It has been a long time since I posted and a lot has happened. The Holidays came and went and I got a great gift for Christmas:  A New Job!  That and a few other things have been a distraction but it is time to return to blogging.


As time goes buy, I will probably be posting a few things that I have not gotten around to over the past few months but I do hope to keep more current with what we are cooking and eating.


As for this dish: my wife and I are very fond of those lovely  black bean burgers we get from Costco.   They are great being served as burgers, but for a long time, I have wondered how they would work as an ingredient in a recipe.  One night, I came home from work and my wonderful wife answered the question for me.


She took some of that wonderful spinach we get from Costco and mixed it with some of the crumbled black bean burgers.  Then, she tossed them with some pierogies.  She was thinking the dish would either be a disaster or a big success and guess what, we both thought it was a big success. And it was interesting to look at too.

The flavors really worked well together.  The black bean burger gave a bit of zing without being heat for the sake of heat. The spinach gave a lively, fresh vegetable flavor to the dish. Finally, the pierogies added some nice heartiness to the meal. And all this came from what we had on hand, so the dish went together in minutes.

I am sure we will do more with the black bean burgers and we will probably do this particular variation again.

Summary of Food and Related Items on Sale at Costco From 8/5 to 8/30

 Costco has a number of food, beverage, pet food and related items on sale this month.  Here is a summary:

FoodSaver Multi-Use Food Preservation System $50 off, $99.99 after discount, Limit 5

FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing Combo Pack, $10 off, $29.99 after discount, Limit 5

Snapware Platic Food Storage Set, 38 piece, $4 off, $15.99 after discount, Limit 5

Pyrex Mixing Mixing Bowl Set, 8 piece (4 bowls with matching lids), $3 off, $11.99 after discount, limit 5. This is a favorite of ours. We love them.  They are functional, affordable, attractive and they store easily stacked inside of each other. Aside from mixing, these are also nice serving bowls for casual use.  We also use one of these bowls for making our weekly batch of oatmeal.

Keurig K-Duo Plus Coffee Maker, $40 off, Limit 5

NutriBullet Blender Combo, $20 off, $79.99 after discount, Limit 5

Kirkland Signature K-Cup Pods, 120 count, $5 off, $31.99 after discount, Limit 5

Red Bull Energy Drink, 24 count / 8.4 fl oz, Save $7, Limit 2

Folgers Ground Coffee Classic Roast, 51 oz, $2 off, Limit 5

Sambazon Organi Acai Superfruit Juice, 64 fl oz, Save $3, Limit 3

S. Pellegrino Essenza Sparkling Water Variety Pack, 24 count / 11 fl oz, $4 off, Limit 5

Perrier Sparkling Water, 24 count / 16.9 fl oz, $4.50 off, Limit 5

Perfect Hydration Water, 24 count / 20 fl oz, $4 off, Limit 10

Hint Flavored Water Variety Pack, 15 count  16 fl oz, Limit 5

GoGo SqueeZ Organic Blastz Fruit Pouches Variety Pack, 16 count / 3.9 ox, $3.50 off, Limit 10

Capri Sun 100% Juice Variety Pack, 40 count / 6 fl oz, $4 off, Limit 5

Starbucks Pike Place K-Cup Pods Medium Roast, 72 count, $7 off, $29.99 after discount, Limit 5

Skinny Pop Popcorn, 28 count / 0.65 oz, $4 off, Limit 5

Sensible Portions Sea Salt Garden Veggie Straws, 25 oz, $2 off, Limit 10

Black Forest Organic Gummy Bears, 65 count, $4 off, limit 4

Meiji Hello Panda Chocolate Creme Filled Cookies, 32 count, $2.50 off, Limit 5

Oberto or Pacific Gold Original Beef Jerky, 16 oz, $4.20 off, Limit 4

Edward Marc Coconut Almonds with Dark Chocolate, 32 oz, $3.90 off, Limit 10

WildRoots Trail Mix Coastal Berry, 26 oz, $2.70 off, Limit 10. While we enjoy making our own trail mix this certainly looks like a tasty alternative.

Pepperige Farm Goldfish Crackers, 45 count / 1 oz package, $3 off, Limit 5.  Where I work we bring in treats for our birthday and I brought these in last year. They were very popular.  Now with Covid-19 they make even more sense for a safe and tasty indulgence.

Nature Valley Granola Bars Oats 'N Honey, 49 count, $3.80  off, Limit 10

Kellogg's Rice Krispie Treats Original Flavor, 60 count, $3.50 off, Limit 6.  A few years ago I had to provide refreshments for a training session for Toastmasters and I used these are desert. They worked  well since they were safe for people with food allergies and they are individually packed.

Pure Protein Bar Variety Pack, 21 count, $5 off, Limit 10

Premier 30g Protein Shakes 18 count / 11 fl oz, $7 off, Limit 2 each of four different flavors

RXBAR, 16 count / 1.83 oz, $5.50 off, Limit 4

Frito-Lay Classic Mix Variety Pack, 54 Count, $3.60 off, Limit 5. While these aren't the baked versions that I wrote about some years ago, the cost savings for buying these over the vending machine are real and have only gotten more substantial where I work. And now with Covid-19 they have shut down our break room  so we can only bring in our own snacks.

Kellog Eggo Waffles Homestyle, 72 Count, $3 off, Limit 6.  While we prefer homemade waffles these are definitely convenient for school/workday breakfast.

Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats, 2/35 oz boxes, $3 off, Limit 10.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch, 2/ 24.75 oz boxes, $2.10 off, Limit 5

Chobani Non-Fat Greek Yogurt Variety Pack, 20 count/ 5.3 oz, $4 off, Limit 8

Hellmann's or Best Foods Mayonnaise, 64 fl oz, $2 off, Limit 6

Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, 2 / 40 fl oz bottles, $3 off, Limit 2

Marinara Sauce, White Linen and/or Organic, 2 / 40 oz jars, $3 off, Limit 10

Hillshire Farm Lunch Meat Variety Pack 3 packages / 1 pound each, $4 off, Limit 1

Columbus Antibiotic Free Seasoned Sliced Chicken Breast Nitrate Free, $4 off, Limit 3

Season Skinless & Boneless Sardines in Olive Oil, 6 count / 4.375 oz, $3 off, Limit 10. These are an easy way to add fish to your diet.

Sandwich Brothers Chicken Melts Flatbread Pocket Sandwiches, 15 count, $3 off, Limit 3

Don Lee Farms Organic Chipotle Black Bean Burger, 12 count, Save $5, Limit 3. We have previously enjoyed other brands of black bean burgers at Costco and I have full confidence that these are also a quality product. 

Don Lee Farms Organic Veggie Bites 28 oz, $3 off, Limit 3. I would think these would be good to dip in the Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing that is on sale this month. They are also an easy way to add a healthy fish to your diet. 

CJ Bibigo Steamed Dumplings Chicken and Vegetable, 36 count, $3.50 off, Limit 3.  These come in 6 trays of 6 each along with 6 sauce packs.  They make a great quick and easy lunch. I am very fond of these.

Snapdragon Vietnamese Pho Bowls, 9 count/ 2.1 oz, $3 off, Limit 10.  My lovely wife is particularly fond of these and this will be another item we purchase this month.

Rana Gnocchi Skillet Kit 23.6 oz, $2.50 off, Limit 3. I love gnocchi and I will definitely be buying this and hopefully doing a review before the sale is over.

And for our four legged friends, we have three Costco Canine Cuisine Items:

Jerky Treats Dog Snacks Beef Flavor 60 oz, $5 off, Limit 5

Nylabone Edible Dog Chews Grain Free with Real Bison, 48 count, $5.50 off, Limit 10

Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Adult Dog Food, Chicken & Brown Rice, 38 lbs, $13 off, Limit 10.  

I recommend checking with your local human society or animal rescue to see if they take donations of pet food and other products. It is a great way to help out homeless animals. There are also pet food pantries that help out by providing food to owners that are in financial need. Given the current unemployment rate I would certainly think there are plenty of pet owners that could use a helping hand.

Take care everyone and be safe and be well.

Sacrilegious Black Bean Burger With Bacon And Pepper Jack Cheese

We are huge fans of the Morningstar Farms Chipotle Black Bean Burgers.  They are delicious, easy to cook and nutritious.  One day I suggested to my wonderful wife that they would be great with bacon and cheese and she was a bit taken aback.  While we are definitely meat eaters, she thought the idea of putting meat and cheese on a vegan product was blasphemous.  I, however, thought it sounded pretty yummy and we went ahead and did it.

The bacon and spicy cheese went very well with these burgers.  The flavors and textures all complimented each other very nicely and it was an exceptionally satisfying combination.

My wife made the comment to me that this was a great way to serve these burgers and I am sure we will do something like this again.

If you like meat, this is a great way to have some serious fun with these black bean burgers

Costco In Warehouse Hot Buys for 6/13 to 6/20

Costco is again running a weeklong Hot Buy Sale.  Below is a summary of food, beverage and cooking related items.

Kerrygold Salted or Unsalted Butter, $4 off, Limit 3.  Here is a link to various posts involving Kerrygold Butter.

Beyond Meat The Beyond Burger, 8/4oz patties, $3 off, Limit 3. While I have not had these burgers yet, we have enjoyed meatless burgers and burgers in general.

Trident Alaska Salmon Burgers, 12 count, $4 off, limit 3

San Pellegrino 24/15.9 fl oz bottles, $4.50 off, Limit 5

Cheetos Crunchy, 28.8 oz bag, $1.50 off, Limit 4

Mini Watermelon, Organic or Conventional, $1 off, Limit 10

Sonoma Creamery Bacon Cheddar Crisps, 10 oz, $2.90 off, No Limit

Kind Bars Nuts and Spices Variety Pack, 20 count, $5 off, Limit 5

Sabatier 10 Piece Cutlery Set with Acacia Wood Block, $15 off, Limit 5

GoGurt, 32/2.25oz, $3.20 off, Limit 10

Mini Chocolate Chip Cookie, 60 count, $1.50 off, No Limit

Raisin Bran Crunch, 2/28.3 oz bags, $2.40 off, Limit 10

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Keurig K-Cup Pods, Hazelnut Flavored, 54 count, $19.99, Limit 5