Nothing beats a good burger.  Not every day, but every once in awhile, a hot off the grill, juicy burger on a nice, kaiser roll with a smear of mayo, a bit of ketchup, some jalapeño peppers…YUM, right? Well last night Roy and the boys were supposed to get that, but mom messed up.

We got home from the gym about 6:15, and Roy ran out to get the charcoal grill ready.  He came in about ten minutes later:

“Chris? Do you know where the burgers are?” Roy asked me as he was rummaging around in the fridge and freezer.

“Really? Can you not look?” I mumbled under my breath as I walked out of the office and opened the door to the garage, but as soon as I said it, I remembered that we didn’t buy the sleeve of burgers at Costco that we usually get.  Instead we bought the lean patties that are packaged with the fresh meat.

Those burgers are THICK, and I knew as soon as I opened the freezer that we couldn’t grill them like that.

“Yeah, that’s not gonna work.” Roy had come into the garage and was leaning over my shoulder.

“Crap! I forgot we bought these. Well, I guess everyone can eat my black bean burgers.”

“Really?  Do we have enough?” Roy asked.

“Sure, it’ll be fine.  The kids can try something new.”

“Ok” And he opened the box of Morningstar Farms Chopotle Black Bean Burgers. I went in to get the fries in the oven. I came out about 10 minutes later to see what was up.

“Well, how do they look?” I asked grillmaster Roy as I walked over to the grill.  AHHH… I love the smell of a charcoal grill. “Wow, they smell good.” Yes, I was kind of surprised.

“Well, this one kind of fell apart as I turned it over.” And he flipped over the offending burger again, “Look, it looks like vomit.”

I peered over and looked at what he was pointing at.  I could see beans and bits of corn… I laughed, “Well, I don’t think that is going to get the boys to eat this.”

“Yeah, well, it does.” And he went back to managing the burgers.

I walked into the house, “COREY! JOEY!” I yelled thinking they were upstairs.

“Right here, mom!” “What’s Up?” The older boys came into the kitchen from the family room. 

“Oh, sorry, thought you were upstairs. Joe, go ahead and get out the mayo, ketchup, stuff like that. Corey, go ahead and get drinks.  Addi, get all this stuff off the table.”

“”Burgers… YUM!” Joe said with a growl. He was hungry.

“Mommy! I’m hungry, when is it dinner?” The whine was starting to creep into Hayden’s voice.

I smoothed his hair down and kissed his forehead, “Soon baby. The burgers are almost ready.”

I turned back to the older boys, “I forgot to take out the regular burgers, so we are gonna try Black Bean Burgers, k?” I tried to make it sound like no big deal, but I knew they would be disappointed.

“Really?” “Are you kidding me?” “Mom, come on!” “What’s a bean burger?” (That last question was from Mr. Inquisitive, Hayden.)

“Oh stop! Try something new… they might be good.” I admonished them, and silently hoped that these burgers rocked.

“Or not.” Joe mumbled as he set the armful of condiments down on the table.

“Shush,” I told him, “You don’t know that… just try them, ok?”

Roy came into the house, “OK! Let’s do this!”

Gosh, he acts like everyone is getting a flu shot or something… we are just trying a bean burger.

The boys put on their game faces and sat down while I bustled around the kitchen grabbing a few extra things.

“Ohh… this is good! Look mom, I’m almost done!” Hayden showed me his burger, and he was indeed a good 1/3 of the way through his burger.

“Why are they crispy?” Corey asked with trepidation as he poked at his patty.

“That’s just the sear from the grill.” Roy told him, “Just eat it.”

Corey looked doubtful, but took a bite. “There are more beans in this!”

I laughed, “Umm… hello! They are black bean burgers!”

“I think I see corn.” Addi whispered, peering at the burger of which he had taken a small bite.

“I like them.” Roy shrugged off the boys’ worry and continued to eat.  Hayden was chowing down and seemed to like them.  

Joe was taking huge bites - I assume he was really hungry and needed the fortification, so he was just getting it down as quickly as possible, but he was eating it.

Addi and Corey looked confused, but they gave it a shot.

And Dean… well, there was edamame on the table, so he could care less about anything else. But he loves black beans and corn, so he should be in awe.

And me… I liked them!  I liked them a lot.  There was a nice spiciness from the chipotle peppers.  They worked for me… lower calories and lots of protein.  Oh, I won’t give up the occasional juicy burger, but we tried something new as a family… and nobody died… or threw up.