Happy Thursday! After a stressful week, I am so relieved that it's finally Thursday! It's time to kick back, push my worries aside, and try to have a bit of fun. I have been feeling a bit homesick lately, so I thought that I would bring a bit of home to me through cooking. My mom is pretty fantastic at the grill. Each time I go home during the summer I'm pretty much guaranteed to have nearly all of my meals prepared on the grill. So this Thursday we'll be grilling a bit of a feast complete with grilled corn, tomato salad, burgers, and brownies.
For the craft, I'm working on our guest 4th of July post for Casa Sugar. I'm just about finished with my festive tassel garland. I promise to post a complete photo and directions when they are complete, but in the meantime here is a little preview.
xo.
stephania
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Can't Get Enough of Your Tomato Salad
by Stephania
What you need:
- 4 medium sized ripe tomatoes (or 2 large tomatoes)
- 1/3 onion sliced into 1/8 inch slivers 2 slices
- French baguette (or bread of choosing)
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
What to do:
First toast your slices of bread until they are golden brown and then set them aside. Next take your scrummy looking tomatoes and put them into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the onion, olive oil, and balsamic vinaigrette and gently mix it up with a large spoon. Be careful not to mush the tomatoes up. Now take your toasted bread and cut it up into pieces a little larger than the size of a dice. Toss them into the mixing bowl and add the red pepper flakes. Take your large spoon and gently mix it altogether and you are all set!
Story:
I made this salad for the first time about a year ago. Colleen, Caitlin, and I make it a habit to go to the farmer’s market every Saturday morning. Each week I looked forward to all of the wonderful crispy tomatoes. I think that I ate them with every single meal and always felt a little heart broken when I was on my last one. -Stephania
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F the Meat, I Want a Veggie Burger
What you need:
- ½ onion, diced
- 1 can black beans, drained
- 4 slices of cheddar cheese (or whatever kind of cheese tickles your fancy)
- ½ cup flour
- 2 slices bread of your choosing, crumbled
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- ½ tsp seasoned salt
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp olive oil
What to do:
In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil on medium high heat. After a few minutes, add the diced onion for three to five minutes. While your onions are sautéing, grab a large mixing bowl out of the cabinet. Dump the drained black beans into the bowl and using a fork or meat hammer mash the beans until they are almost smooth. Next, add the diced onions into the mixing bowl and stir with spatula so that the onions are mixed in evenly with the mashed beans. After they are mixed, add the remaining ingredients (except cheese slices) and use the spatula until all ingredients are well blended.
Now comes the messy part! Take out a medium sized cutting board (wood or plastic) and sprinkle the all-purpose flour over it. Depending on the size of your cutting board, you may need to add or subtract a little bit of flour. With your hands, take a good size of the bean mixture (about the size of a tennis ball) and form a patty on the cutting board. Once the patty is formed flip it over and get a little flour on the other side. Make as many patties as you would like with your bean mixture; we typically get about four.
Take out a large frying and heat the remaining two tablespoons of your olive oil over medium high heat. Place the patties in the pan and cover the pan with a lid. Flip the burgers after about five minutes or until they seem to be slightly crispy. Cover the pan again and after 3 minutes, take the lid off and place one slice of the cheese over each patty. After two minutes check on the patties and if the cheese is melted, they should be ready. To make sure, cut into the middle of one of them and make sure that they are cooked all of the way through. If they still need a bit of time, turn the heat down to medium low heat and cover the pan with the lid again. Check every two to three minutes so that they don’t burn. After the patties are cooked to your desire, take them off the pan and dress them up however you prefer.
Serves 4.
Story:
We made these burgers for the first time as part of a huge Valentine’s Day Thursdays feast when we were all single and (slightly) angsty about it. There’s nothing so satisfying as getting your hands a little dirty when you’re feeling irritated with a particular holiday.
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Blondies for Thursdays
What You Need:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 stick of butter, melted
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut
- 1 cup diced walnuts, toasted
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ¼ tsp salt
What to do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine sugar and butter into a medium sized mixing bowl. Mix until smooth. Next add vanilla and the egg yolks, one at a time. Mix until blended. Add flour at about ½ cup at a time. Add the coconut, walnuts, salt, and chocolate chips. Stir to mix. Pour batter into a 13”x9” baking pan and make for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
