Have you ever wanted to get rid of excess food in your pantry before you buy more? That’s what I like to do from time to time, especially if I know I’m going to have a crazy week where I can’t get any grocery shopping done, or if I’m about to leave for a trip. This past Sunday, I had a feeling we had a can of black beans so I was going to make some black bean burgers since I hadn’t had those in a while. It would also be a good way to get rid of the can that was sitting there for a while.

As I reached into the pantry, I realized that I didn’t have black beans on hand, but rather kidney beans. My husband thought the burgers would taste funny with this substitution but I went for it. Yes, the taste would be different, that’s a no brainer but it’s nothing a little spice could take care of.

So there I was with my Betty Crocker cookbook opened to the California Black Bean Burger recipe with all the ingredients, except for the red headed stepchild, the kidney bean. I admit I was slightly apprehensive about making this dish. Maybe my husband was right. Maybe it would taste funny and we’d have to go get food elsewhere. I headed to the big bad internet for some encouragement. Lo & behold there were recipes for the unsung kidney bean burger. They were also rated highly to boot.

With a little more confidence I headed back to the kitchen to prepare my meal. Rather than using the breadcrumbs like the recipe calls for, I instead used Panko breadcrumbs as one of the reviewers suggested since it holds the mixture together better. They were right. After 20 mins at 350, the burgers turned out just as good as the black bean burgers. This proves that substitutes can work in a pinch & we need to think out of the box sometimes. After all, someone has to be the first to try a recipe, right?