black bean patties with pineapple guacamole

Must. Start. Blogging. Again.
I've gotten so out of the habit of blogging since I've not had the greatest luck with computers this year that I can't seem to get myself to actually sit down and do it.  I have sat down twice in the last 2 days to blog and ended up getting up and heading off somewhere with the kiddos - trying to squeeze out the last bit of summer before school starts on Monday.  However, the downside of not blogging --- I'd LOVE to make those pecan balls I made before vacation, but I didn't blog them and have absolutely no idea where I got the recipe.  Boo!
I'm starting with tonight's dinner.  Although 3/4 boys didn't like it, I really did -- and so did 1 boy who had seconds.  I will warn that this is quite a time consuming dish, but I expected that with a homemade guacamole.
Typing the recipe followed by my commentary this time around so you can skip it if you like.  However, it really helps me know what to do for next time.    I'd rate this 4-5 stars.  My younger 3 boys would rate it 0 I'm sure.  Oldest would give it a 5 and DH was out of town.

Guacamole

Ingredients

• 1 cup diced fresh pineapple (I actually used frozen that I let thaw)
• 1 cup peeled and diced jicama
• 2 baby sweet bell peppers, diced
• 1/2 jalapeno, seeded and diced (feel free to use a whole mine was just kind of big so I only used 1/2 here and 1/2 in the burger.)
• 2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and diced (save pits)
• 1/2 red onion, minced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 Tablespoons lime juice
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.  (I felt like having my avocado a bit more smashed so I took a potato masher to the side were I put the avocado in.  I still had some chunks of avocado, but it looked more like guacamole that way than salsa with avocado.)  Place pits on top of guacamole to keep avocados from browning.  Cover and refrigerate to allow flavors to develop.

Black bean patties

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon ground golden flax seeds (see commentary)
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/2 jalapeno, seeded (again I used a half, but feel free to use a whole)
• 1/4 onion, peeled (I used a sweet onion)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin (1/2 Tablespoon)
• 4 cups cooked black beans (if using canned you'll need 3 cans minus about 1/2 cup.)
• 2/3 cup cornmeal
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil for frying (although see my commentary)

Directions

1. Soak flax in a bowl with 3 Tablespoons water for 20 minutes.  (I did this while preparing the rest of the burgers and was fine.)
2. In a food processor, finely chop garlic, jalapeno and onion, stopping to scrape the sides down if necessary.  Add the cilantro and cumin and pulse to combine.  
3. Add 2 cups black beans and cornmeal and process just until combined.  Pour into a large bowl.  Fold in soaked flax seed and remaining 2 cups black beans and season to taste with salt and pepper.  (see commentary below)
4. Heat skillet over medium high head.  Add 2 Tablespoons oil.  Form bean mixture into 8 patties.  Fry 3-4 minutes on each side adding more oil as needed.  
5. Serve topped with guacamole.

Commentary

• flax seeds - I ground my 1 Tablespoon of seeds in a coffee grinder.  That made 2 Tablespoons of flax seed meal.  I used only 1 Tablespoon of that but think I could have/should have used it all.  The gel it made was a bit watery on top and I didn't really want to add that to the beans because it would make them a more mushy texture.  I added them anyway today, but next time would just go ahead and toss in all of the ground flaxseed.
• black beans - I have a small food processor so only 2 cups of black beans fit in it.  I chopped that with 1/3 cup cornmeal, dumped it into a bowl, then did the other 2 cups black beans with the other 1/3 cup cornmeal.  I know the recipe says fold them in, but I know my youngest won't try beans if they look at all like beans and he will spit them out if he feels something in his mouth that feels like a bean.  Knowing that, I wanted to chop all of my black beans.  That worked out just fine. After I chopped the second batch of beans, I put them in the bowl and mixed the 2 batches together.
• Oil for frying - I actually preferred the way these cooked on the second side - the side that didn't have much oil.  (because it had absorbed into the first side as it cooked.)   They seemed to hold together better and crisp up a bit better without the oil.  I almost wish I would have tried my second batch without oil.  I cooked these in a ridged pan that makes them look like they have grill marks - mostly I like that is is square and fit 4 patties nicely.  But the oil seemed to do something to the cornmeal that made it crumbly or something - just on the outside layer -I just didn't have this problem on the second side when the pan didn't have much oil left in it.