Tell me if you’ve ever had this experience: it’s a weeknight and you’ve planned to make dinner. All best intentions–you grocery shopped, you got ingredients, you know more or less what you’re planning to make and how. But somehow you got home late from errands or got stuck on a phone call with the teacher or had to discipline whoever hit whom with a badminton racquet, and it’s suddenly 5:45 and you haven’t started a darn thing. The kids are starting to get hungry and so are you, and you think, Oh, forget it. There’s no way I can get dinner on the table in a reasonable amount of time. Let’s go out to eat.

You pile everyone in the car. You drive to some fast-casual restaurant you think won’t take too long and won’t break the bank….and 40 bucks and 90 minutes later you’re finally home, and NOW it’s almost bedtime and no one has started their homework. You heave a sigh and roll your eyes because, really, when all is said and done, there’s a nagging voice in your head going, “Wouldn’t it have just been faster and cheaper to eat at home?”

I’ve been there many, many nights. And finally, after years, I’m starting to actually learn from the experience. So when I meal plan, if I can build in at least one dinner that’s guaranteed to come together easily and fast, I can breathe easy knowing that the nights we dip into our restaurant budget (and our limited time) will get fewer and further between. These Double Bean Burgers with Chipotle Mayo are one of my secret weapons.

I love this recipe because it doesn’t require anything to thaw or marinade or any do other activity that eats up chunks of time and requires pre-planning. Plus, most of its ingredients are things you just might have on hand at any given time. Two cans of beans? Check. Bread crumbs and spices? Check. As for the chipotle pepper in the spicy mayo, in a real dinner emergency, you could even do without it and use chili powder instead. (And if you do use the real pepper, you can always adjust the spice by cutting back to half a pepper instead of a whole.) And did I mention these burgers are a heckuva lot healthier than that In-N-Out calorie bomb you’re likely to pick up eating out? Just sayin’.

So from one busy weeknight meal maker to another, I pass the baton of these secret weapon bean burgers. Use it wisely for the triumvirate victory of time, cost, and health!

Print Recipe

Double Bean Burgers with Chipotle Mayo

Course: Main Dish, vegetarian

Servings: 6 burgers

Ingredients

For the burgers:

• 1 15-oz. can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15-oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp. fresh cilantro (or 1 Tbsp. dried)
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 large egg white
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 3/4 c. panko bread crumbs
• 3 c. lettuce, spinach, or spring mix
• 6 whole wheat burger buns

For the chipotle mayo

• 3/4 c. mayonnaise
• 1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo, seeded
• 1 tsp. adobo sauce from the can
• juice of 1/2 a lime
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano

Instructions

• In a large bowl, mash the cannellini and black beans until smooth with some chunks. Add garlic, cilantro, paprika, onion powder, salt, and pepper and stir to combine.
• In a small bowl, combine egg, egg white, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, and panko bread crumbs. Stir into bean mixture until well combined.
• With your hands, form mixture into six patties.
• In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil over medium-high heat. Add patties and cook 4-5 minutes per side or until browned.
• Meanwhile, make the chipotle mayo: using an immersion blender, combine all ingredients.
• Assemble burgers topped with lettuce/spring mix and chipotle mayo.

Notes

Bean Burgers adapted from How Sweet Eats; Chipotle Mayo A Love Letter to Food Original.

Before I knew how to cook–back in what I call my “Omelet/Sandwich/Ramen Period”–enchiladas were a food shrouded in mystery. I would order them every chance I got at restaurants, but I was convinced that between the filling, the sauce on top, and whatever magical Abuelita technique was used to roll the tortillas perfectly, enchiladas were WAY out of my league as a home cook. (Then again, so was making rice, so that’s not saying a lot.) It was quite a revelation, then, when I eventually realized that enchiladas are among the easiest, most forgiving foods in the Latin American catalog. Sure, they involve a multi-step process–making the filling, putting it in tortillas, and baking the whole thing–but the steps are really so simple that I’m not sure why I ever considered them intimidating.

These days, enchiladas are a staple in our household. For one, with as crazy as life with three school-aged kids, hobbies, church, friends, and a nutrition internship can get, I get dreamy-eyed at the thought of any meal that is relatively simple AND can be made ahead. And enchiladas happen to be a make-ahead superstar. Plus, they are so dang appealing, no matter what you put in them. You could put rat meat and human hair in enchiladas and I’d be like, “Fork, please.” I mean, warm, spicy filling in a soft tortilla is like if they made one of those body pillows into a food….

I demand someone make this in full-body length. Hashtag #FoodieChristmasPresent. (From FineArtAmerica.com. Hint, hint.)

At any rate, these edible body pillows roasted vegetable enchiladas might not have the classic Mexican filling you’d expect (chicken, beef, or cheese), but they DO represent the simple beauty of enchiladas mentioned earlier: namely, that you can fill them with just about anything and they come out tasting great. This particular iteration uses roasted broccoli, carrots, and red onion mixed with 3 cups of prepared mashed potatoes, making it perfect for an easy dinner post-Thanksgiving–or any other time you happen to have extra mashed potatoes on hand. Or even if you don’t (and don’t have the time to whip up a batch on the spot) there are some high quality frozen mashed potato options on the market I highly recommend, like Trader Joe’s.

So…what do you like to fill your enchiladas with? (Don’t say rat meat and human hair.) Let me know what you think of this hearty vegetarian version!

Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas
A Love Letter to Food Original Recipe

Ingredients:

4 carrots, sliced into 1/2-inch matchsticks
1 large head broccoli, chopped into florets
1 red onion, sliced medium-thin
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. taco seasoning (I like to make my own–it’s super simple!)
3 c. prepared mashed potatoes
6 flour tortillas
1 10-oz. can enchilada sauce
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss carrots, broccoli, and red onion with olive oil and taco seasoning and spread on a large baking sheet.
2. Bake 30 minutes, stirring once about halfway through for even roasting.
3. When vegetables are done, reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
4. In a large bowl, mix roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes.
5. Pour a small amount of enchilada sauce into one 9 x 13 baking dish to evenly coat the bottom of the dish. Spread 1/6th of the vegetable mixture into each tortilla, roll and place seam-side down in the dish.
6. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the tortillas and sprinkle with cheese.
7. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.

Makes 6 enchiladas.