Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained, divided
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 4 hamburger rolls

Optional Toppings:

• 1 tomato, sliced
• 4 small Romaine lettuce leaves, or any other type you have on hand
• 1/4 cup ketchup

Directions

Heat a grill or grill pan over medium-low heat.

In a food processor, pulse onion and garlic until finely chopped. Add 1 can black beans, cilantro, parsley, egg, and red pepper flakes and pulse to combine.

Transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl, add the remaining can of black beans and the bread crumbs. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and mix until well combined.

Reserve 1/3 of the black bean mixture for Round 2 Recipe. Divide remaining mixture into 4 portions and form into patties. Place on hot oiled grill over medium-low heat and cook about 6 minutes a side or until heated through. Toast hamburger buns on a grill. Place a burger on the bottom of each bun. Top with lettuce, tomato and ketchup. Cover the burgers with the top of the bun and serve.

Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients

• 2 sweet potatoes, washed
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
  
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a baking sheet in the oven.

On a cutting board, slice the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise. Slice each half into 6 wedges. Place wedges in a large bowl, add canola oil, season with salt and pepper, to taste, and toss to coat.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Place the fries onto the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the fries and bake for another 15 minutes until brown and crispy. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.

Going Green: Trying to be Intentional

Lately, we have been feeling the urge to go a little more greener. Well, we've always wanted to be really green, as much as we could afford, but I think our talk was a lot bigger than our walk.

Some steps we have already taken are: changing out all the light bulbs to CFL's, using reusable bags (although sometimes we forget them), and using cloth diapers. We've dabbled in composting, but have not been consistent with it.

So, this year we are going to be more intentional about Going Green. Here are just a few items that have made our Short List.

1. Start our own Square foot Garden. We've been gathering supplies as we get money, so hopefully we will get this going real soon so that we can have a late spring/early summer crop. We want to eat more locally and organically for the health and safety of our food and the carbon footprint it leaves when you are having to have produce, dairy, meat, etc., trucked in from all over the world. So what better way than to try and grow most of your food.

2. Compost. And compost for real. We were just given untreated pallets to make some compost bins out of. It's important for our garden to have good compost and a variety of materials to make that up. So, if we compost our waste and have that variety, then we will have some amazing organic fertilizer.


3. Produce Bags. We're trying to not use any kind of plastic bags. Unfortunately, when you buy produce at the grocery store, you tend to put them in those tiny plastic bags. I found these online and will be using them instead.


4. Wet Bags. I had never heard of these before, until I cam across them while browsing a website. We have been using cloth diapers since Cohen was 2 months old and I would always put the used diapers in a plastic bag when we were out in about. So this will help us even further to stop using plastic bags. They also make biodegradable diaper bags, but you are still spending money every time you purchase them. I never got that concept. But the wet bags you can wash and use over and over.


5. BirdE Cloth Towels. I again found these while browsing a website. We've been wanting to not use paper towels for some time and for the most part we don't. But when I found these I fell in love! They are made from unbleached cotton and I think they will be great!


6. We are also trying to stay away from buying any kind of plastic. The pollution they cause and the chemicals used are so unhealthy. We love wooden toys, so that is where we are headed for the kids.

That's just a short list of our main goals right now to live a more eco-conscious life. A great site I found just recently, greenbabyguide.com, has really helped show us things out there that we hadn't even heard of.

Our 2010 so far...

First off, WOW!!! I haven't blogged in forever! But I promise I have a good excuse for that.

The Monday after Christmas we found out...



that we are PREGNANT!!

We couldn't be more excited to bring into this world another baby. We thank God for blessing us with another child. I hope that means we're good parents to Cohen! haha. Cohen couldn't be more excited. He's been around babies for a good portion of his life and we think he grasps the concept.

I've just entered the 2nd trimester and the nausea and other unruly pregnancy symptoms have pretty much gone away. So, hopefully we will be more consistent in our blogging routine.