The World According To Kate
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So how was everyone’s long 4th of July weekend? Mine was pretty great… Lots of grilling, hanging out with friends, baseball and drinking lots of beer!
Now, how was everyone’s Tuesday, July 5th? ::Groans:: That’s what I thought… it’s going to be a long 4 day week!
To celebrate this weekend, I made my famous black bean quinoa burgers. Kevin and I pretty much live on these during the Summer. You can get 6 to 8 good size burgers out of the recipe and they make a great quick meal during the week – especially weeks like this one, where you know you’re not going to feel like cooking after you get home from work!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Quinoa, cooked per instructions
1 can Black Beans
1 cup Bread Crumbs
1/4 cup Tahini
1 Large Carrot, grated
1 chopped Jalapeno
1/2 cup chopped Red Onion
1 Tsp Adobo Seasoning
1. Cook quinoa per instructions on box and set aside.
2. Mash black beans with a fork – or, if you have a food processor, a couple pulses in the food processor will make this a really quick process. Mix in quinoa, bread crumbs, tahini, carrot, jalapenos, red onion and Adobo. I usually do the veggies through the food processor too! Form the mixture into patties. I normally get between 6 and 8.
3. Grill those bad boys!
Here’s mine, served with my Southwest Quinoa Salad, Vegetarian Ranch Beans with faux meat crumbles and pickle!
Have a great week, everyone! The weekend’s just a few more days away!
I know it’s a week late, but hey, I’ve been busy… and lazy! I was out running a few errands with my mom yesterday afternoon and she subtly reminded me that I hadn’t yet posted about Easter. Thanks Mom.
This Easter was just like any other holiday spent with my family. The amount of food was fairly ridiculous – especially considering that we’d all been told by the hostess, my Aunt Debbie, NOT to bring any extra food (especially desserts) this year, because she wanted to cut down and we always have way too much left over Blah, blah, blah… And that’s exactly what I heard, and apparently what everyone else heard – specifically the “blah, blah, blah” part. We all brought dessert – lots and lots of dessert. This is just what we do. If you tell us we can’t bring anything, we’ll probably show up with a dessert. If you also tell us we can’t bring a dessert, we’re just going to be very confused. We are Polish, after all :p
The Dessert Table
As always, it was a really fun day, with lots of food and wine shared and enjoyed with the family. I took a lot of photos, playing with the new lens I recently bought for my camera. These are just a few of my favorite shots from the day.
It ended up being a beautiful day even though storms were predicted (and did eventually hit us in the late afternoon). Here’s my dad out enjoying the sun!
Dad on the Deck
This is my Aunt Annie sitting with Alyssa in the living room before the big holiday meal. Not sure what they’re looking at here, but it looks like I caught a nice moment.
Aunt Annie and Alyssa
My cousin Kim had a baby in November and I got a lot of pictures of him on Easter. This is my favorite of Peyton with his mommy. And yes, she always looks this good. It’s actually kind of sickening 
Kimmie with Peyton
Of course, I also got a bunch of pictures of my dad with the baby. My dad is a baby magnet. Babies always love him – and, really, what’s not to love?
Peyton with my dad
It just wouldn’t be my blog if I didn’t include a picture of a cat. Aunt Debbie’s cat was crazy friendly and I was really tempted to stuff him in my bag and take him home with me. Next time I’m coming with a bigger purse.
Oliver? Aunt Debbie has had a few cats over the years that all look similar. I can never remember which one’s which. I think this is Oliver.
Oh, and it looks like someone had far too much wine! And for once, it wasn’t me!
Drunken Lamb!
So overall, it was a great day with the family. I’ll be posting the recipe for my dessert table contribution later this week, so stay tuned!
About Kate
A 29 year old blogger from New Britain, CT. Follow Kate in her adventures in food, drink and life!
