The secret to great black bean burgers.

Green olives.  That's the secret.  Not lentils.  Not mushrooms.  Green olives.  This is how I make them.

Soak dry black beans in water for 8 hours or overnight.  Drain, rinse, and put in a large pot with enough water to cover them by about three inches.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tender.  Skim off the scum as it cooks, and after about 20 minutes add seasoning - salt, garlic powder, and oregano.  Lots.  Trust me.

Cook a bunch of brown rice.  I made a triple batch.  Be sure to salt your water.

Chop up a bunch of good green olives.

After the beans have cooked puree about 1/3 of them.  It doesn't need to be completely smooth.  Mix the puree with more beans, rice, olives and seasoning (salt if needed, onion or garlic powder) until they are holding together when you try to form a patty.

I use an ice cream scoop to portion them out and flatten them to about 1/2 to 3/4 of a inch thick on a baking sheet.  I refrigerate them or freeze them until ready to use.  Bake anywhere from 375 to 425 degrees, turning once so they crisp up on both sides.  No oil is needed, just use parchment paper or a silpat or something.  Or you can spray your pan with cooking spray.  They take about 20 to 30 minutes total.  We like them on sandwich thins rather than buns (way too much bread in a hamburger bun), with ketchup, mustard and pickles.  There must be pickles.

Black-Eyed Pea Cakes over braised beet greens with spicy chipotle sauce. And chocolate coconut almond pie for dessert.

Oh my.  This was such a good meal.  Dairy, egg, and oil free.  Completely delicious.  Let's start with dinner.

Some thoughts a day later:

• The chocolate pie is best the day it is made.  Don't put the coconut almond topping on until you are ready to serve.  It is still good the next day, but not amazing like the first day.  
• The black eyed pea cakes are still delicious the next day, even cold.  I just smeared them with leftover sauce and had them for lunch straight from the fridge.  Now you know.

I adapted this recipe:  http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2007/09/black-eyed-pea-cakes.html#comment-175547 which I found when I was looking for black-eyed pea ideas.  I made a few substitutions:

• I used black eyed peas that I'd cooked rather than canned
• I used leftover polenta instead of the greek yogurt that I had made with veg stock and rice milk
• I sauteed the onion and garlic with three stalks of celery, and left it whole rather than pureeing it with the beans as indicated in the recipe
• I omitted the onion powder, nutritional yeast, and liquid smoke
• I used chipotle hot sauce

I baked these in a muffin tin.  While they were baking I made this sauce, which looks like hummus but tastes amazing:

In a blender puree about 1 cup of garbanzo beans, juice from half a lime, salt, veg stock, and chipotle hot sauce or canned chipotle peppers with some of the sauce.  Adjust seasoning to your liking.  That's it.

I chopped my beet greens and braised them with some veg stock, minced garlic, fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper until tender.  Put braised greens on the plate, top with black-eyed pea cakes, top with sauce.  So good.

Now for desert.  Prepare yourself.  I am not a Paleo diet follower by any means, but this pie crust recipe is amazing.  The only substitution I used was using regular sugar, but other than that I followed the recipe as outlined here:  http://janeshealthykitchen.com/paleo-vegan-pie-crust/#.UbEiNEBOTeY.  I baked it for 25 minutes in a tart pan with a removable bottom and let it cool.

For the topping I simply made a caramel with sugar and a bit of water and added chopped almonds and unsweetened shredded coconut and stirred it until the coconut was toasted.  I did toast the almonds a bit in the oven before, but I don't think that is absolutely necessary.  Then I let it cool.

For the chocolate pudding I used a combination of light coconut milk and rice milk, although I would have used all coconut milk if I'd had enough, but I only had one can.  I used arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch because I had it for the pie crust, and unlike cornstarch arrowroot (which you dissolve in some of the milk) must be added at the end, after all of the other ingredients have been brought to a boil.  You can use more cocoa powder and fewer chocolate chips.  I was using a recipe as a guide and it only called for 3T of cocoa powder which is why I ended up using so many chocolate chips because it just wasn't chocolate-y enough. But after the addition of chocolate chips it was amazing.

3 c coconut milk (I used light)

1/4 c arrowroot powder

1/3 c sugar

4 T cocoa powder (taste and adjust, adding more sugar or cocoa powder as desired)

pinch of salt

1/2 to 1 c semi sweet chocolate chips (Trader Joe's are my favorite right now)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine arrowroot and 1 c coconut milk in a bowl, stir to dissolve and set aside.

In a saucepan combine remaining milk, sugar, cocoa powder and salt and bring to a boil.  Add arrowroot mixture and whisk constantly until thick and immediately remove from heat and add chocolate chips and vanilla.  Stir until smooth and then poor into prepared pie crust.  Let cool at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, then refrigerate until ready to serve.  Top with almond coconut mixture and prepare to be blown away.  This is like an almond joy bar times a million.  So good.  Bryant said it was his favorite chocolate dessert of all times.  That's high praise for something that is dairy, oil, egg and grain free.