Gonna make me some burgers today...

9^th July 2017

The one who falls and gets up is much stronger than the one who never fell.

Half seven and I've already done a bit of WW work, walked the dog and got a line of washing out! Not bad for a Sunday morning. I woke up just before six feeling completely refreshed, thanks to the amazing massage I had at the Chi Rooms yesterday, Karen really sorted me out, followed by an afternoon of relaxation, I walked Alfie, had a couple of hours in the garden with my colouring book and Radio 2, then we watched some tele before having an early night. I love days like that, I plan to have another one today. I can honestly say, I'm enjoying this calm quiet life of mine, even hanging the washing out this morning, I could actually hear the sparrow up the top of the garden eating, they make quite a noise firking about in the seeds to find the ones they want. Then me and my 'not my cat' had a bit of fuss, he's taken to sunbathing/lying in my herb barrel, there haven't been herbs in there for a while, so it's like a raised cat dirt bed, he's happy enough with it, until Alfie appears of course, then he runs off.

I've just checked my fridge and I have some veggies that need using up so I'm going to make the speedy Thai curry from the chicken book, I'm going to use the pack of quorn I'd bought instead of chicken though, so I'll let ya know tomorrow how that went. Today's a bit of housework, bit of cooking and a lot of chilling, hoping the sunshine gets through those clouds, but as long as there's no rain it's all good, I've already watered my flowers this morning.

I had spicy beanburgers from Aldi yesterday, think they were about £1.50 for 4, they were okay but not at nice as the ones I'd had from Waitrose but they were £2.50 for 2, so you expect them to taste better. I post all my food pics on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/bev_ww/ and they get shared on my personal Facebook page too, so you can always go looking for ideas at any time. I reckon I could make my own veggie burgers, I'm going to have a go today, just found the following recipe on the BBC website, I will buy a can of kidney beans when I go to get moms papers unless there's a tin of something in cupboard already, I have all the other ingredients, so let's have a play.

Veggie bean burgers

Ingredients

400g tin chickpeas (7sp) or beans such as borlotti (4sp), kidney (6sp) or butterbeans (5sp), drained and rinsed
300g/10½oz cooked, mashed vegetables such as carrot, squash, potato (7sp), sweet potato (10sp) or parsnip (8sp)
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tbsp sunflower (5sp), vegetable (4sp) or olive oil (5sp)
squeeze lemon juice
pinch ground cumin, coriander or paprika, mild chilli flakes, to taste
freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp tahini (3sp) (optional)
4 tbsp sesame seeds (9sp), breadcrumbs (dried = 9sp, fresh = 2sp) or crushed crackers (60g = 9sp) (optional), for coating

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.

Mash the beans or chickpeas as much as you can either with a potato masher in a bowl or with a hand mixer (supervised). Alternatively you could make the mix in a food processor if you have one.

Add the mashed vegetables and garlic and any herbs, spices or tahini that you want to use.

Mix well and the kids can taste and add lemon juice, spices or pepper to their taste.

The mixture then needs to be rolled into four burger-sized balls with wet hands, or make 12 smaller "falafels" Flatten the balls slightly. If you like, you can coat them with sesame seeds, crushed crackers or breadcrumbs for extra crunch.

Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil on a baking tray and place the "falafels" or bean burgers on top and then turn them all over so that they have a coating of a little oil on each side.
Place the baking tray in the oven and cook for 20-30 minutes, turning the burgers over midway through cooking. Allow to cool a little before serving.
Recipe Tips
You can freeze the burgers uncooked and then bake them from frozen. This will take about 45 minutes for baking at 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.

Variations to try: carrots or sweet potato with chickpeas, cumin and sesame seeds; carrot with butterbeans and chopped parsley; squash with kidney beans, chopped coriander and ground cumin; parsnips and borlotti beans with chives and paprika.

Right I'm off to start my day, actually continue my day, I've already started in a few hours ago now, here's to a good one BeYOUtiful, enjoy whatever you do, remember to smile!