Buffalo Veggie Burgers

So I have been experimenting with veggie burgers for a long time. The biggest problem with many vegetarian burger recipes is that when you're eating them it can be hard to tell what part is the burger and what part is the bun. Finally I have found a veggie burger that is packed with flavor and, if you love buffalo wings like I do, simply delicious.

BUFFALO VEGGIE BURGERS
adapted from this veggie burger recipe. 

Makes 5 burgers

Ingredients

For the patties:

• 1/4 cup quinoa
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 1/4 cup minced yellow bell pepper
• 2 tablespoons minced onion
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (such as Frank's RedHot®)
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 ounces mild blue cheese
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

To make the burgers:

• 5 burger buns
• lettuce
• tomato slices
• red onion slices
• generous amount of hot pepper sauce (such as Frank's RedHot)

Instructions:

1. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.
2. While that is happening, roughly mash the black beans with a fork leaving some whole black beans in a paste-like mixture.
3. Mix the cooked quinoa, bread crumbs, bell pepper, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, hot pepper sauce, and egg into the black beans using your hands. If the mixture is too wet add in breadcrumbs until it gets to a moldable consistency.
4. Form the black bean mixture into 5 equal-size portions.
5. Now, take each burger portion and divide it into 2. You want to make 2 really thin patties the size of the final burger you want to make. I do this by putting each burger half between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and carefully pressing them thin. 
6. For each burger, take one really thin patty, sprinkle it with about 1/2 ounce of blue cheese, then lay the other thin patty on top and seal them together. You may need to re-form the patty a bit to make it look burger-like. Do this for all 5 burgers.   
7. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
8. Cook the patties in the hot oil until browned and heated through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. 
9. Lightly toast each hamburger bun. Layer: bottom bun, lettuce, onions, tomato, salt and pepper, cooked burger patty, and then liberally coat the patty with hot pepper sauce. Remember hot wings are basically dipped in red hot sauce, and that's the flavor we're going after, so don't be afraid to be generous! 
10. Put on the top bun and enjoy!