4th of July

Happy belated 4th of July everyone! I went home for the weekend and made some lovely terribly easy veggie burgers for a BBQ. It is a fun recipe to improvise based on what you have. See below.

Today was my FIRST class on the farm! We had 50 kids between 5 and 12 come to spend the day on the farm, learn about gardening, visit with the chickens, harvest some vegetables, and cook some delicious food fresh from the farm! It was exhilarating to see the children so excited to be cooking. I had a great time and am still in disbelief that I get paid to do this. We made a whole wheat pasta salad with balsamic dressing that had 6 items from the children's garden (various kinds of squash, kale, basil, parsley, scallions, and tomatoes) , a oil and vinegar coleslaw with caraflex and napa cabbage, and strawberry lemonade.

It was great to see so many kids trying new vegetables and go up for seconds. When Hilary asked why they thought the food was so good, a kid yelled out "Because we made it!" A 12 year old boy tried the coleslaw and said, "That is SO good!"

How rewarding!

Black Bean Vegetable Burger

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained, rinsed, and dried very well
  
• 1 carrot, shredded
  
• 1/2 onion, small dice or minced
• 1/4 cup cilantro, minced
  
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

1. If grilling, preheat an outdoor grill for high heat, and lightly oil a sheet of aluminum foil. If baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C), and lightly oil a baking sheet.
2. In a medium bowl, mash black beans with a fork until thick and pasty.
3. Add minced onion, cilantro, garlic, shredded carrot and any other vegetable you'd like. Stir into mashed beans.
   
4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder and cumin.
5. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Add more if needed. Divide mixture into four patties.
6. Refrigerate patties for 15 minutes before cooking.
   
7. If grilling, place patties on foil, and grill about 8 minutes on each side. If baking, place patties on baking sheet, and bake about 10 minutes on each side.