Monday night we went to Chili's for dinner. I was sorely disappointed in Chili's. I ordered a small shrimp salad. Their small salad is fairly large and their large salad is fairly massive. So I ordered a small only to discover that ::gasp:: it's actually small! There were four measly shrimp on the whole salad. Three tiny chunks of pineapple. Washed out green tinted lettuce. Not green lettuce, mind you, white lettuce with green tint. Disgusting. I kindly, politely sent it back, explaining that if I pay $10 for a salad, I should receive $10 worth of salad. At least $7 worth of salad, I think. I ate the chicken off of Jason's salad. By the way, his salad cost less than mine, had more meat, lettuce, and veggies. Why? I don't know. Thank you waitress, for being kind about it.
Tuesday night I made Black Bean Burgers! They were amazing! I gotta brag on this. They were the best black bean burgers I have ever tasted. Notice I said burgers because Mrs H made black bean patties last week that were pretty stupendous. We had cheesy grits over her patties. I made actual burgers. Sort of. I couldn't bring myself to spend $15 on a package of burger buns (The same people that make Genesis bread make these buns) and I wasn't about to buy white or wheat which are mostly bleached flour. Side note: If you're going to switch to whole wheat or whole grain breads, read up and do your research first. It may not be worth it. Producers know how to trick consumers with words and stamps like "organic" or "whole grain." My preference is Genesis bread. It's a very meaty bread, if that makes any sense at all. So I went ahead and toasted Genesis bread and called it a hamburger bun. Here's the recipe:
Black Bean Burgers
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 small onion (coarsely chopped)
1 medium red pepper (chopped)
4 medium cloves of garlic (minced)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 can black beans (drained)
1 cup cooked brown basmati rice
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 small onion (coarsely chopped)
1 medium red pepper (chopped)
4 medium cloves of garlic (minced)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 can black beans (drained)
1 cup cooked brown basmati rice
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Celtic Sea Salt
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, red pepper, and garlic. Cook while stirring frequently until soft and onions are translucent. Stir in cumin, turmeric, and cook for an additional minute. In a food processor, combine beans, rice and onion/pepper/garlic mixture. Transfer to a large bowl. Add breadcrumbs and mix well. Season with salt and hot pepper if desired. Flatten 1/4 cup amounts of mix into patties and they are ready for the grill. Cook about 3-5 minutes each side. Save some of the mix (enough for two patties) for the next recipe. If you've got plenty of mouths to feed and you're not worried about left overs, go ahead and make the last two patties :) Sidenote: My mama always told me that cooking's messy. When you're adding in the breadcrumbs, dig those hands in and mix that way then just make your patties from there :)
Wednesday was spent at the H home as usual but I made enchiladas for lunch for Jason with leftovers from the burgers.
Black Bean Enchiladas
2 patties worth of black bean mix
4 flour tortillas
1 small can enchilada sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar
Warm enchilada sauce slowly. Meanwhile, toast the tortillas until slightly brown. Once sauce is warm and slowly boiling, add black bean mix and stir. Season to taste. Spoon mix into the center of the tortilla in a line. Top with cheese and roll up. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas. Place in oven safe bowl and pour remaining mix on top. Top with the rest of the cheese. Cover with tin foil and warm at 325 for 10 minutes. Send him to work with a fork, the dish, and lots of napkins.
For lunch on Wednesday, I have no idea what I ate. All I can remember is the Rhubarb Crisp. The H family is from up north and they eat northern things on occasion. Typically, I am one to not eat northern foods but this stuff is spec-tac-ular! I am going to keep my eyes peeled for some rhubarb.
Dinner was Mrs H's pizza. She made one meat lovers, one veggie lovers, and one cheese. I had several slices of the veggie and it was pretty fantastic. I can't make crust like that :/ I've tried several times now to make some sort of crust and it just never turns out quite right. You'll read more about that in a minute.
Thursday for lunch, I had a grilled chicken sandwich. Bread, garlic mayonnaise (it was organic and had actual garlic in it!), left over chicken that Sharon made Wednesday, Roma tomato, mozzarella, spring lettuce. It was pretty tasty.
For dinner, it was Dad's birthday so Jason and I cooked dinner for him. I made pesto salad and warm apple pie. Jason grilled steak. I juiced some orange carrot apple juice and Sharon made tea. It was a very lovely dinner. Jason is a fantastic steak cooker! I didn't save the recipe that I used but that's alright because I'm planning to use a different one next time. The pie crust I made wasn't too fantastic either so I'm not even going to bother posting that recipe either.
Friday was a pretty good day as well. I made pesto tacos which are basically pesto sandwiches except in a tortilla instead of bread slices. I baby sat and drank lots and lots of water as well as a glass of tea. For dinner, Jason, Ethan, and I went to Jason's Deli and ate soup and salad. I only had one helping of pudding! Woo!
Tomorrow, we are celebrating several birthdays. Me, Jason, Dad, Sharon, and Casi all have January/February/March birthdays so we are celebrating all together for the second year in a row. I do believe this is a new family tradition. I am making ceasar dressing to go on a salad.
I'll try to get back on that picture taking part for my next post. I'll also try to keep the posts more frequent so that they're not super duper long like this one.
Til later!!
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