Going meatless...

No, we're not going vegetarian, but my husband and I decided to try to eat at least one meatless supper a week. Mostly, this is for economical reasons, but also, it keeps things interesting and I love trying new things! First on the menu was the Spicy Black Bean Burgers, from Skinny Taste. They were pretty easy to make, but you have to make them in advance because they absolutely have to be frozen when you cook them, otherwise they will not stick together and it would be really messy.

I forgot the hot sauce, which was unfortunate, but the chipotle mayo did add some kick, so it worked out ok. I also couldn't find chipotle peppers, so I bought a chipotle salsa and made the mayo that way, which was also great! Plus, it was so much easier because I didn't have to cut up the peppers or anything.

Don't be alarmed when the "burgers" are really sloppy before freezing. There is no way you could cook them without freezing first, they don't stick together at all. Again, you must freeze BEFORE cooking!!!!! Don't say I didn't warn you :P To freeze, line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Let them freeze this way for 2 hours, then move them to containers.

When BBQ'ing, put the burgers on a sheet of oiled aluminum foil. I used Pam to oil the foil (wow, that was an amazing rhyme - lol). I cooked them for about 6 minutes on each side and they were perfect. We topped them with 1/4 of an avocado and about a tablespoon of the chipotle mayo.

The other awesome thing about our supper tonight? We had tomatoes from our garden in our salad!! We had a few ripe yellow and red cherry tomatoes. They were absolutely delicious!! Wow. So much better than store bought tomatoes. I can't wait to get some more ripe ones.

So, overall this meal was amazing. My husband was a huge fan too. According to Skinny Taste, this is about 9 WW points, plus the salad was 2, so a total of 11 points for supper. That's pretty comparable to what I normally allot for supper, so I was happy. We'll definitely be making more of these in the future!

Has anyone tried any meatless recipes lately? I'd love some recommendations!

Tuesday photo of the day...

As a way to beat the Tuesday blahs, I'm going to start these posts. This is the kind of thing that makes me smile even when I'm having the worst day. I know I'm biased but he's just so damn cute! Happy Tuesday everyone!

We have veggies!

It's so exciting, look what's growing in our garden! I took the photos with my iPhone, so they're not the best quality, but I did get to use my favorite photo editor ap (BeFunky) to make them all look like I took them with an instant camera!

Yummy cherry tomatoes, there are red and yellow ones!

Banana peppers! There are 4 or 5 growing on the one plant

And lastly, the green pepper was being a bit shy, since it's growing in the very back of our garden and I couldn't really get a clear shot! There is one big one, which you see here, and about 3 tiny ones growing on the other plants. There are 6 plants total, so we'll see how many we get!

Has anyone else been growing anything this summer? What do you plan to do with your goodies? We are going to be overloaded with tomatoes so I am searching for lots of yummy tomato recipes. I'm thinking homemade fresh salsa, bruschetta, and tomato and basil salad. They are not pictured, but we also have parsley, basil, oregano, and chives, all growing quite nicely :)

Blargh...

Why, hello there, morning. I can't say I am happy to see you again. You always seem to sneak up on me when I least expect it and am completely unprepared. Sometimes you aren't so bad, especially in the summer, when the sun has already risen by the time I face you, but typically, you just make me really cranky. How do you take over my body and make me act like a completely irrational bitch? It's creepy. My husband doesn't appreciate it one bit. Please go away.

Sincerely,

Sarah

Bow down to the vacuum gods...

Leroy worships the vacuum. He must know how awesome Dyson is.

My two greatest loves...

Well, excluding my husband. My two greatest loves are chocolate and peanut butter, and what's better than your two greatest loves together in one great concoction? Not much I say!

Last year I had some of my coworkers over to our house for a barbecue, and I made a chocolate peanut butter cake, with Reese's peanut butter cups and everything. When I planned another barbecue for this year, I had many requests for a repeat! Not one to make the same thing twice, I went searching for a similar but different option. This is what I came up with: Peanut Butter Chocolate PIE.

The crust is oreo cookie crumbs, which I bought pre-crushed. You prepare them according to the directions on the box, and press it into a 9 inch pie plate. The set it aside and prepare the filling.

Peanut butter filling:

8 ounces of cream cheese (1 block)
1 cup of peanut putter (I used No Name and it was great!)
1 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 cup of heavy cream (I used whipping cream)

In a large bowl, use a hand held mixer to beat cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. In a second bowl, whip the whipping cream until firm (firmer than if you wanted whipped cream). Mix the cream with the cream cheese and peanut butter mixture. Spoon the filling into the crust. Put this in the fridge, uncovered, for an hour.

Chocolate Ganache Topping:

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup of heavy cream
1/2 cup of chopped peanuts

Put the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high in 15 second increments until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour mixture over the peanut butter layer, and then sprinkle the peanuts all over the top. Refrigerate uncovered for about 3 hours.

Voila! Pretty easy and impressive dessert. Enjoy!

Canada Day cupcakes!

We went to our friends' place for a Canada Day barbecue on Saturday, and I offered to bring dessert. I think it's becoming pretty clear to everyone that I absolutely LOVE to bake. I decided to try something I've never made before, Red Velvet cake. Well, cupcakes rather. I used a recipe from Martha Stewart, figuring there's no way she'd put her name on something bad, right?

I was mostly right. The cupcakes were good, the icing was delicious, but if I am being really critical, I'd have to say they could have been a bit more moist. They weren't saw dust dry or anything, but definitely could have been better. Half of them are sitting in my freezer right now, and my mom tells me they might be moist once they are defrosted. We shall see!

Anyway, you can find the recipe here. I couldn't believe how much food colouring was required! If using regular food colouring you needed a whole bottle. I used the gel type colouring, and used a 1/2 teaspoon. Look at how bright it is!

I then topped them with cream cheese frosting, piped on using an icing bag and tip 1M. It's so simple and really makes a big difference in the presentation :) I also used some red sprinkles to really up to festive factor.  Sadly, I didn't take a picture with the sprinkles for some reason... They were really yummy!

How did you spend your long weekend?