Black Bean Burgers Recipe

**Update: I was able to get the pictures back on my phone so I'm posting them along with the corresponding steps. Note: this is not the prettiest looking recipe as you make it, but it tastes good

I was really interested in making these black bean burgers I had seen on Pinterest, so I gave it a whirl. 

{via} I have no idea how they got them so perfectly shaped

I should say a more apt name for them would be Black Bean Blobs, but they still tasted good, so as long as the looks of the end product don't bother you, give this one a go!

What You Need:

-1 small onion, diced

-olive oil

-2 tsp minced garlic

-2 cans of black beans, drained and rinsed

-2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

-1 egg, slightly beaten

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp ground black pepper

-1/2 tsp ground cumin

-2 tsp hot sauce

-1/2 Cup flour

-2 Tbsp Creole (or blackening) seasoning

*the original recipe calls for 1/2 tsp ground coriander but I only had seeds and no grinder so I left it out

**Additional ingredients for garnish/taste: sour cream, guacamole, salsa if you desire

What You Do:

1. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet and add in onion until it's cooked through. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Set aside to cool.

2. In a bowl, mash the black beans (I used a meat mallet and just smooshed it rather than using a fork). 

You can enlist your strong man to do the mashing like I did here :)

Add in the cooled onion mixture. Also add in the beaten egg, cumin, salt, pepper, cilantro, and hot sauce. Mix well (this next picture is gross looking, and I apologize)

*This next step differs from the original recipe but is my idea for how to make these more into patties. I also couldn't take pictures here because my hands were covered in bean-y goo*

3. Make sure the mixture is cool and try to shape into patties (if it works, dust the patties with the flour). 

If this does not work, mix in some of the flour to the bean mixture. THEN try and shape into patties. 

4. Sprinkle patties with the Creole seasoning.

5. Add more olive oil to a skillet and let the skillet heat up for a moment before adding the 4 patties onto the skillet. Cook until "golden" on both sides (or until you can tell they are cooked).

(Like I said, these were pretty messy)

5. Plate it up with guac, sour cream and/or salsa:

Like I said, they don't look super appetizing, but they were really good--tasted kinda like the filling for nachos, but without the chips. And not bad for you!

Next time I'll try to be smarter about my photos! Grrr.

Weekend Update

It's time for another Monday. Drat! But, this is the second to last Monday of the school year for me, so that's something to celebrate!! Unfortunately today was supposed to be our school's Field Day, but since it's raining out, it's all been cancelled. Boo!

Anyway, I thought I'd fill you in on the weekend since some BIG things came together!

Friday MG and I went back to the Marriott that we had seen the previous Friday to do a "tasting" just to see if we liked the food (aka, to see if it was edible) haha. We arrived right after work, sat and chatted with our sales chick (who is super awesome), and she answered some lingering questions we had, and then we went into the dining room where the head chef came out to talk to us, and then we were allowed to order anything on the menu!

We had been deciding between three dishes for our two entrees so they just brought us all three, along with salads and a bottle of wine. For dessert, we had a yummy pineapple upside-down cake that had a topping that was similar to creme brule, followed by chocolate covered strawberries and coffee. It was HEAVENLY!

And today, we will get the contract for our venue! SOOOO excited!!

Saturday I took Cooper to get groomed, and the woman basically sheared him down to the skin, but left a big poof on his head. Aka, Cooper looks like a dork. I still love him, but this is not his finest haircut of his life, that's for sure.

This picture doesn't even do the awkward haircut justice...

I had lunch with an old roommate/friend of mine and we shared engagement excitement (she is getting married in October), wedding planning stories and caught up in general. Super fun and yummy lunch! Which was followed up by several hours at the pool with MG, before going out to dinner with a couple friend of ours who wanted to take us out for our engagement. They happened to choose the place that MG and I went for our first date (total coincidence), which was really fun and felt kind of "full circle"

Sunday we ran some errands, and then went to see the new Star Trek movie. It was REALLY good. We saw it in 3D since that was the only option for the time we could go, and it was worth it! Really enjoyed it, and I'd recommend it if you like action movies.

After that we went to dinner with my parents and my dad got to see my ring for the first time since the engagement. We had dinner at the same place that MG had had lunch with my dad to ask his permission to marry me. It was nice to spend some quality time with my parents, and my fiance (still feels weird to say that haha).

The rest of the night consisted of some reading and Game of Thrones season finale and sleep! And here we are today! Rainy rainy Monday. Boo!

Today will be spent packing up my office as much as possible, and then a trip to the dentist (fingers crossed no cavities!!) Nothing but fun over here! *note: sarcasm!*

Have a good start to the week!!

I Confess...

It's been over a month since I've done a confession, so I figured, why not throw one out there?

I confess that....

.....I'm a million kinds of excited that today, MG and I are going back to the venue we went to last Friday to have a tasting to make sure that the food is yummy and that this is the place that we want! Contract time???

.....it ticks me off when people can't share happiness with others, and instead try to rob them of it, because they are selfish. Buttheads.

.....I might need to get my engagement ring sized down a smidge. But, I haven't gone in because I don't want to give it up. (Yes, you can totally rolls your eyes at me here. I'm aware at how ridiculous that sounds. And, I'm completely ok with it :)

....I'm slightly regretting signing up to work summer school. I just found out that we're required to do some extra training that will cut into my end of the year time at my school (with my coworkers, time to clean/pack up my office, etc). Annoying.

.....even though I wish I wasn't working summer school, that extra money will go a long way towards paying for our wedding. So, I'll suck it up, rather than sit at home on my butt doing nothing all summer (even though I'd MUCH rather be doing that). Feel sorry for me. :)

.....I'm nervous I'm not going to get my office packed up in the next week, and get everything together in time for the last day of school and my check out with my supervisor. I know it'll all get done eventually, but I'm stressing a bit now that it's winding down!

.....I just realized that in exactly a week I'll be going to the Package Tour with my friend/coworker. I'll be jamming to some of my old school songs from Boyz II Men, 98 degrees and NKOTB. Can. Not. Wait. #throwback  

.....I'm glad it's Friday! I need some pool time this weekend and some relaxation!

Happy Friday!!

Funny things kids say

It's been a while since I've shared some of the funny things I've heard at school from the kids, so I figured since the school year is winding down, it's a great time for another doe of kid funnies!



Heard from a student as they were rushing out of the building at the end of the school day:

"I don't know what country we're in. It's either Hawaii or Thailand."

I think someone needs to pay a little closer attention in History!

(I dunno about you, but these look nothing alike...)

~.~.~.~
One of my super cute, sweet first graders was asking how old I was. I asked her how old she thought I was and she said 20 (oh, bless her...). Then the other little boy, who's also a little peach, goes "I think you're 35. My mom is 35." Then he asked how old the girl's mom was and she said, "My mom is 47"
His response: "Wow! That's a lot of inches!"
hahah

~.~.~.~
Two 3rd grade students were outside of my office at the end of the day, emptying things into

{via}

the big recycling bin. The girl is saying to the boy, "And next week, I'm not going to help you. You're going to do it. All by yourself."
It kind of trails off and I can't hear what she's saying, and then I hear her say,
"And on Monday, what will your desk be like?"
Boy: "Clean"
Girl: "And on Tuesday, what will your desk be like?"
Boy: "Clean."
Girl: "And on Wednesday, what will your desk be like?"
Boy: "Clean"
And so on...
Girl: "And on Friday, will your desk be heinous, or will it be clean?"
Boy, smirking: "Clean?"
And yes, a 3rd grader used the word 'heinous'...and used it correctly!


Just a few snap shots into the funny things I come across and hear on a regular basis. One of the many perks about working with the kiddos!

WILW and Oh How Pinteresting

It's the middle of the week--what whatttt! And you know what that means it's time for.....

I'm loving that the weather has felt more Spring-like this week, and not Middle-of-the-Summer-Oh-My-Goodness-I'm-Sweating-To-Death Hot!

I'm loving that I was able to go to my Speech end of the year luncheon on Monday, show off my ring-bling, and spend some time with my awesome Speech friends! 

I'm loving that we are finally in the single digits for how many school days are left. 9, people...NINE! Wooohooo (and yet, SO much to do in the meantime!)

I'm loving that I have a guy who is willing to stand up for me (and for us), even when it's not the most fun situation or easy thing to do.

I'm loving also, that I have a guy who probably did about 75% of the research for wedding venues (maybe even more), AND spearheaded making our guest list--all of which was all on his own! I have a winner, I tell you :)

As always, I'm loving Pinterest for all of its inspiration.

This week I've been pinning....

Love the colors, looks cute and comfy, I want it!

Amen!

Creamy Tomato Crockpot Chicken
Me and my carb-loving self are salivating right now

For serious. Reality strikes when you realize how much $$$ this ish costs!
And then you realize why people have destination weddings haha

They ALWAYS know!

I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have found the guy who is my kind of crazy
and my girls who are DEFINITELY my kind of crazy....SO incredibly lucky

 Check out what else I've been pinning!

Happy Wednesday! Hope it's extra hump-tastic!

Book Review: The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

In between some book club books, I downloaded The Art of Hearing Heartbeats based on some recommendations on Amazon. I kind of fell in love with the title of the book.

Amazon's synopsis is:

 A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present.  When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.

I really liked how this book went back and forth from present day, and the past to let the story unfold. It started off a little bit slowly for me, but once I got into the story, I really wanted to know the truth behind everything, and to see how it all ended up.

The ending had a big surprise in it, too!

I'd say you should add this to your summer pool reading list! :)

Weekend Recap

Hey party people!

How's the weather where you are, cuz it's rainy and gross in the DC area. Blah! Not to mention it took me double the normal amount of time to get to work today because something was up with traffic (I'm still not sure what). Double boo!

But, let's talk about this weekend, shall we? 

It was slightly less eventful than last weekend (you know, getting engaged and all) but still a lot of fun!

Friday MG and I went to go look at a wedding venue (we have a date in mind and want to make sure we can jump on it). Annnnnd, we LOVED it! It might be the one!! We're still gonna look at a few more, but this place had everything we could want, was within our budget, and we don't feel like we're sacrificing anything.

 In. Love. 

That night we went out with a few couple friends of ours and got to share our excitement with them, and then Saturday night we had dinner with a new couple,--I met the girl through bookclub--which was a lot of fun (and I needed it after getting some not-so-pleasant news about someone wanting us to change our wedding date because it's "too close" to theirs....it's 3 weeks difference, btw). Then we met up with MG's big group of friends since a few people were in town for a bridal shower on Sunday. It was nice to see everyone (and get to share my ring and engagement story over and over...it never gets old!)...but we were pretty tired from the night before so we headed home around midnight.

Sunday MG and I did some cleaning, and then I headed to that bridal shower for one of our friends who is getting married in July. It was really nice, very intimate and fun. I came home and MG and I ordered pizza for dinner, face timed with one of MG's best friends and his wife, asked them if their little 3 year old cutie of a son would be our ring bearer (they said yes!!), and then we watched Game of Thrones which was an Oh-My-Goodness episode! The Red Wedding. Wow! I feel like I'm traumatized.

And now, it's another Monday. Only two more to go after this one and then it's the end of the school year!

What'd you do this weekend?
I'm off to get through today, head to my end of the year speech luncheon....and try not to let that wedding "request" rub me the wrong way...too much, anyway.