Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Quinoa Burgers & A Maiden

The Jennings have a new favorite recipe...so I had to share!  It's quite a few ingredients, more than I usually like to see in a recipe, but totally worth it!  And once you have all the ingredients on hand, these burgers are super easy to whip up. 

Quinoa Burgers (adapted from The Cancer Project)
1 cup cooked quinoa (about 1/2 cup uncooked)
1 cup mashed beans of your choice
1/4 cup wild rice (or brown rice or bulgar)
1/3 cup ground flax seeds
3 teaspoons Ener-g Egg replacer mixed with 6 tablespoons water (enough for 2 "eggs")
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or 2 garlic cloves, minced)
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
2 tablespoons horseradish
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
3 tablespoons canned green chiles
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
salt/pepper to taste (I don't use any salt)

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well blended.  Form into patties.  Chill 20 minutes before cooking (you don't have to do this, but it helps keep a nice shape).  Lightly mist a skillet with cooking spray or oil.  Brown each patty for approximately 5 minutes on each side.  I haven't tried it, but apparently they freeze quite well!

By the way, each patty (not including bun, toppings, etc) has 10.6 g protein, 8.3 g fiber, 102 mg calcium, and 3.7 mg iron.  

Dinner is served!



Now, for a completely unrelated Jack moment.

Jack: Do you want to see my friend?

Me: Sure!

Jack, opening this book:


Jack:  Right here!  Her name is Jimmy M.



Me: Jimmy M??

Jack: Yep! That's it.  Jimmy M.  She's my friend. *pause* What is she?

Me: What...is she? She's a maiden. All forlorn.

Jack: Oh.....she has a nice face.



Having a 3 year old is the best.




Friday, June 17, 2011

Oh hey everybody!

After 8 days without a computer, and far longer without a healthy, smooth-running one, we're back up and ready to go.  Let's chat.

1. So our computer?  Yeah...it had 200+ viruses on it.  I think at some point we got a virus that made our computer crash when we tried to update it so we stopped updating. Fail. Needless to say, we've been disconnected from most everything for a little while.  No tv (didn't have that anyway) and no internet or even smartphones.  Just our trusty radio.  So...what'd I miss?

2.  Somebody is going to be visiting an optometrist soon and may be needing glasses.  I'll keep ya posted.


3. Lately, I've had the feeling that people are friendlier to me when I'm wearing earrings. Do they make me more approachable?
With earrings
Without

4.  In the absence of having internet, we've been catching up on old dvds.  I finally watched, for the first time, my college senior piano recital.  Jack watched it with me and said, "You should wear clothes when you play songs in the movie."  Pearls of wisdom from that boy, I tell you.

5.  Sleeping in + coffee + sunshine + more coffee = the feeling that I can do anything.  Like sell our house and buy an RV and travel the country playing piano (with clothes on) to pay for gas and food.  Or open a cafe.  Or have a successful vegetable garden.  Or form coherent sentences.  Jack must be experiencing something similar because he literally tried to jump into his book the other day...you know, to be a part of the story.  Also, he wanted to ride on his kite over to his cousin's house. Follow your dreams, man.

6.  On a slightly related note, what's it called if you're manic depressive without ever being depressed?  Just manic?  Ok, because I think that's what I have.

7.  My nephew's still in prison.  And by that I mean, he hasn't been born yet.  Still waiting to hear the news!  Also, I keep thinking about how amazing birth-mothers are.  Women that choose to give a baby a chance at life.  Allowing their mistakes and heartbreaking circumstances to be turned into something beautiful.  I keep thinking about Seth & Sonya's birth-mother, as she spends her last few days carrying the precious life growing inside her.  Wow.

8.  Finally, some more Jack quotes (from my twitter) to finish out this post:

"I'm just going to take a nap in the pool."

Jack, holding a bobby pin, "I NEED TO BREAK SOMETHING WITH THIS!" then mutters, "that impossible."

Jack hit his head.  Me: "How'd that feel?"  Jack: "Good and dangerous."

"Wellll....we had a good day this morning."

"Keep it down, my child."

"My friends gave me money to take to the bank....in Whoville.  That's where my bank is."

"I just had to burp because I'm gross."

"The airplane will suck you up when you have a bald spot."

Jack, sitting in a lawn chair, "You come and dance, Mom.  I'm going to watch you."

Me: "You're a little bit wild right now."  Jack: "Am I?  Am I?!  AM I????!"



You. Are. Welcome.