Good evening! I hope you are having a great Thursday. :)
I finished the Healthy Living Summit Glo Bars just in the nick of time today! They are currently on their merry way to Chicago!
![IMG_5387 IMG_5387](/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/IMG_5387_thumb.jpg)
This is what 230 Glo Bars looks like in a HUGE box! Luckily my strong baking arms had no problem carrying it.
![IMG_5389 IMG_5389](/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/IMG_5389_thumb.jpg)
Actually when I was packing up the box, I put too much crinkle paper in the bottom and the Glo Bars wouldn’t fit in the box. I had to empty it all out and start over. I was a bit flustered as I was just minutes away from the deadline.
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I felt like I just dumped my Halloween Trick or treat loot. Too bad none of it was mine! ;)
Last night, I made Emily’s Vegan Black Bean Burgers that I have been eying for weeks now. They were really easy to throw together too…just the way I like it.
Emily’s Black Bean Burgers
Recipe from The Front Burner. The only changes I made were adding 1 chia egg and 1 minced garlic clove.
Ingredients:
- 2 cans black beans (rinsed and drained)
- 2 carrots, grated
- 1/2 cup dry rolled oats
- 1/4 cup pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1 chia egg (1 tbsp ground chia + 3 tbsp warm water, mixed well)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Directions: Preheat oven to 325F*. Add carrots to food processor and process until finely grated. Next, add the oats and pepitas to your food processor and grind until coarsely chopped (they will still be a little chunky). Let it run for roughly 10 seconds. Add 3/4 of the beans, all spices, and the olive oil. Process until lightly mixed. Spoon mixture into a mixing bowl and then mix in the rest of the beans. Form into 6 medium sized patties. Place patties on a lined baking pan, and bake at 325F for 40 minutes, turning once very carefully after 20 minutes (note: The patties are fragile!). Note: If you want to grill these, pre-bake them for 30 minutes at 300F, and then throw them on the grill to reheat and get a little extra browning.
*Note: I baked my burgers at 325F and not 300F as in the original recipe.
Meet the newest carrot from this week’s CSA…a little something I would like to call the TRIPOD CARROT:
I wasn’t sure if this was equal to 1 carrot, 2 carrots, or 3….so I went with 2. =)
When I flipped the burgers after 20 minutes, a couple of them broke apart. I would suggest flipping them very carefully! However, once they were done cooking they held together pretty good.
![IMG_5302 IMG_5302](/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/IMG_5302_thumb.jpg)
When Eric got home from work, I had the cooked burgers sitting on the baking sheet. Shortly after, I asked Eric if he was ready to eat dinner, and he said:
“Oh is that what you made? I thought those were COOKIES!”
I laughed, “Really? Didn’t you think they smelled unusual for cookies?”
“I don’t know, but I didn’t think they looked like GOOD cookies.”
If I ever write a cookbook, I shall title it ‘Delicious Vegan Recipes…and $hit My Husband Says About Them’ ;)
He’s right, they do look like cookies though…!
Dinner tonight was a Black Bean Burger Ezekiel wrap…
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Inside the wrap: 1 black bean burger, 1/2 avocado, 2 tomato slices, carrot slices, curly lettuce, spicy hummus, and freshly ground black pepper.
![IMG_5432 IMG_5432](/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/IMG_5432_thumb.jpg)
It was major.
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We had our wraps with a delicious and colourful salad:
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In the salad: Romaine, Tomato, Carrot, Avocado, Sesame seeds, and Better than bottled balsamic vinaigrette!
My sweet tooth is looking for a little something, so I might go raid my chocolate stash in a bit!
Ladies and gents- I finally found a salad spinner that works…
![IMG_5410 IMG_5410](/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/IMG_5410_thumb.jpg)
I have gone through SO many salad spinners over the years and all of them break. Well (*knock on wood) I found one that I love. The pump is so effortless to use! Finally a salad spinner I don’t feel like I am trying to start a lawnmower to use.
Meet the OXO 2 in 1 Salad Spinner:
It functions not only as a salad spinner, but as a beautiful steel serving bowl as well. I purchased it at William Sonoma with my gift card. Score.
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Well my friends, I must say I am feeling really good tonight. Three big work items checked off my list and tomorrow is Friday! Eric and I are really excited about having our first Saturday free since June. It should be a great weekend.
Tonight’s question: Do you have an appliance or kitchen tool that you constantly battle with? What is it?
For me, aside from salad spinners (and previously, blenders!), my kitchen tool demise has always been CAN OPENERS. I don’t know what it is but I cannot find a good can opener for the life of me. We buy a new one and within a month it is on the fritz. We try different brands to no avail. Yesterday, Eric purchased this OXO brand so here’s hoping it works good! So far it works well…(famous last words in my kitchen!)
Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow morning for a very special discussion on Happy Weights and an Operation Beautiful book giveaway!
I have a love/hate relationship with food processors. I’ve only had it work correctly on me once when I was chopping up carrots for father’s day carrot cake cupcakes and that has been it. So mostly a hate. lol.
Those burgers look great! I love black bean burgers…I bet the cinnamon gives it a nice warm flavor =)
The last time I made Emily’s vegan bean burgers my dad made the same comment! He said ” What are you making there? Chocolate chip cookies??” I just ignored him and piled them on my dinner plate. He said “You’re eating those cookies for dinner?!!!” .. ugh men….haha!
I had a plastic OXO spinner but it was accidentally melted on the stove! I miss it so. My greatest kitchen tool challenge is also OXO (unusual because I love the brand). Their julienne peeler is very difficult to work with! I poke myself with it every time I use it. I still use a manual can opener though. It’s just a few dollars to replace one when one breaks!
I have a Starfrit can opener and haven’t had any problems with it – I really like it! Blenders are a pain in the asteroid, but I don’t use it very often. I normally just use my Kitchenaid food processor, which is my favouritest thing in the kitchen! :) Tongs drive me nuts too cause they’re never even and don’t pick anything up. lol
This is the can opener I use:
http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/317vtbiI%252BgL._SL500_AA300_.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.amazon.com/Starfrit-93112-Mightican-Manual-Opener/dp/B000X9CDY4&usg=__Axbj-p5Qxu8faibKKW6M4tS7i0g=&h=300&w=300&sz=8&hl=en&start=20&itbs=1&tbnid=rNmeimehYs42PM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstarfrit%2Bcan%2Bopener%26hl%3Den%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1
We have another Starfrit one that’s white and a bit different and it doesn’t cooperate.
We ALSO had problems with can openers….I have purchased fancy ones, plain ones, electric ones and all of them lasted less than a couple of months. My husband finally got fed up and purchased an OXO brand and it’s been great! Hopefully you’ll have just as good of luck with yours!
Wow. That’s a LOT of Glo bars. :) And one interesting tripod carrot.
Can openers also drive me nuts. I guess I just never got the hang of using them. My blender hasn’t given me any problems…yet. It’s a Kitchenaid one.
Can’t wait to try those Glo Bars at the HLS!
Also, I’m with you on the can opener – probably the only kitchen tool/appliance that I’ve had break on me a million times over. The hubby and I decided to just register for a super nice one for our wedding! It works like a charm.
Maria
I’ve had terrible luck with salad spinners, too! I have a gift card to Williams Sonoma burning a hole in my pocket… so I think I know what I’m going to get now! Thanks for sharing!! :)
My old blender used to drive me BONKERS, but ever since I got my Vita-Mix I have no complaints in that department anymore!
hahaha! PERFECT name for a cookbook!! Which you should definitely write. You’d be a jack of all trades then..an author, a baker, an amazing cook, and of course half of a fantastic couple :) They do look like cookies, though..with beans as the chocolate chips. :P
http://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=8762&catId=123&parentCatId=&xPrntItmId=2758
This can opener is seriously the best in the market!!
That is a wonderful name for a cookbook. I’d buy it:)
Oh my goodness, 230 bars? Plus the ones you made yesterday?? You are a baking beast!
Oops! Sorry I meant to post a link to the “smooth edge” can opener not the jar opener. The can opener can be found under the kitchenware tab on the pampered chef website though.
I agree with you, can openers are the devil :( I seem to fight with my food processor the most, though!
My blender is a thorn in my side! It was rather pricey and doesn’t do squat! I think I may throw it out the window one of these days ;)
That carrot is disturbing, btw ;)
I always brawl with the food processor. I can never get the lid on right and when I do, then I can never get the darn thing off. It usually pricks me with the awkward blades and I hate lugging the thing out of the box, but on the turn side, I love the end results that it gives me.
It’s true, they do look like cookies. :)
I am constantly battling with my blender. I know I’ll get a Vita soon (can’t live without it anymore… I need to make my own almondmilk!!) but I keep expecting this baby to do more than it can. :( I don’t hate it, and will keep it for quick fruit smoothies, but sometimes I wish it would toughen up!
Hehehe I love when carrots are like that. Cracks me up. You can only get ’em like that from the little farms! :)
I used to have an OXO can opener, and it worked great for almost three years, at which point the gears stopped “catching” so it wouldn’t go around the edge of the lid anymore. I just got a Pyrex can opener and I LOVE it.