Homemade Garden Burgers & Sir Kensington's Gourmet Scooping Ketchup

My husband is a fan of protein.
"Babe, how about some protein with that?"
"Babe, we need more protein."
"I need protein."

This translates to "add meat to everything you cook please".

But I am the daughter of granola parents.  And I don't think we need meat all the time.  I think we can have hearty meals without meat.  So the other night I made us homemade garden burgers.


The Cyclist was very skeptical.

And then he ate them.

And I got the seal of approval on a no-meat (but protein filled!) meal.

Yipee!

And additionally, I have a double Yipee!

Sir Kensington's sent me some of their tasty Gourmet Scooping Ketchup to try out and it really made these garden burgers extra delicious.  Even better, Sir Kensington's uses real tomatoes and real sugars (instead of high fructose corn syrup).  In my humble opinion, it is much tastier than other ketchup I have had.  Also, I think the branding of this product is fabulous.  I totally recommend clicking the link and perusing their site.


Now the double Yipee(!!) - I'll be partnering with Sir Kensington's to give you some of their fabulous ketchup and sharing some other ketchup recipe ideas I have.  More to follow, so stay tuned!

And last but not least - here is how to make those tasty garden burgers....

{inspired by Jessica's BBQ Cheddar Chickpea Burgers}

Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 teaspoon olive oil + 1 tablespoon
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 medium peeled carrot, chopped
1 cup cilantro, chopped
1 medium zucchini, grated
2 tablespoons Sir Kensington's Spicy Ketchup
2 tablespoons Sir Kensington's Plain Ketchup
30 oz. of garbanzo beans (aka chick peas), drained and rinsed (I used dry beans, but you can also use 2 15 oz. cans)
3 tablespoons whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
salt & pepper to taste

Saute red onions and 1 teaspoon olive oil over medium heat, add a pinch of salt, let cook & caramelize for a few minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Add brocolli, carrots, zucchini & cilantro to your food processor and pulse until finely chopped.  Add garbanzo beans, ketchup, whole wheat pastry flour, smoked paprika, salt & pepper and process until all ingredients are combined.  Remove from food processor and form into patties (I got 5 patties out of this recipe).  Heat a large skillet & add remaining olive oil.  Cook over medium high heat until crispy on the outside.  Be careful flipping to avoid burger breakage.

We ate these on onion buns with jack cheese, spinach, onion and tomato (plus extra Sir Kensington's) and had fries and beers on the side.

Hopefully your protein loving loved one will enjoy these too!

I shared this recipe on the following sites, click the links for more tasty eats!
The Healthy Home Economist
New Life on a Homestead
Make Ahead Meals for Busy Mom's
My Sweet & Savory
Delightfully Dowling
Simply Sugar & Gluten Free
All the Small Stuff
Real Food Forager
Growing Home
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
The Tasty Alternative
The Kings Court IV
The Gluten Free Homemaker
This Chick Cooks
Lady Behind the Curtain
It's a Keeper
Frugal Follies
Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
Miz Helen's Country Kitchen
The Nourishing Gourmet



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Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

One of my favorite things about summer is the BBQ.  And another spring/summer favorite is fresh herbs.
I seriously ♥ the herb ladies at our farmer's market.  I mean, 3 bunches of cilantro for $1?!
Heck yeah I say.
Plus, I think having fresh herbs in the house makes me a better cook.  Just sayin.

So let's get to those herbs I was talking about....


I had some herbs.  Thyme, mint, cilantro and basil (not pictured).


So I blended those herbs up with some other good stuff and poured them into a ziploc bag with my pork tenderloin and stuck in the fridge for about 4 hours or so.


And then The Cyclist BBQ'd it.


And then we ate it.  And it was good.
It was so good that we wished we had more of the herb mixture to use as an aioli, so for you, I've doubled the original recipe here so you can do just that.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. thyme (chopped)
2/3 cup mint, roughly chopped and packed into measuring cup
1 cup cilantro (chopped)
6 tbsp. olive oil
Juice of 1 whole lemon
1 cup chopped red onion
2 tsp. sea salt
4 tsp. garlic pepper
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 tbsp. sun dried tomato (I bought the bag of sun dried's at Trader Joe's)

How to:

Put everything in your blender and puree.  Pour half over your meat of choice (we used pork tenderloin) and save half to use as an aioli after cooking.

Enjoy!

Recipe is also at Tasty Kitchen.

I shared this recipe on the following sites, click the links for more tasty grub!
Everyday Tastes
Frugal Follies
Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
Miz Helen's Country Kitchen
The Nourishing Gourmet
Beyer Beware


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Come Sail Away With Me {Sailing on Lake Michigan}

Hi Friends!  It feels good to be back in the blogosphere.  :)  Want to go sailing with me?


As part of our trip to Chicago (including Lake Bluff and Glencoe) we had the opportunity to go sailing with the "Skipper" as he's known around town.  Wow!  I'm so glad we got to do this.



I wish we were both as relaxed now as we look in that picture.  Jeez.


This was my first visit to a Great Lake.  Born and raised in Northern California, I was thoroughly amazed by the size of Lake Michigan!  I mean...wow!


Really?  This is a lake?  Like seriously?


I just couldn't fathom it.  If someone had dropped me on the shoreline I would swear I was at the ocean.


It wasn't until the end of the day that it hit me.  We got back to the dock and I realized, no ocean smell!  The salty sea smell was nowhere to be found.  Other than that, I was convinced I was at sea.  For realz.


If you ever get the chance to go sailing....anywhere...you should go.  It was really beautiful.


Have a lovely day friends! 
♥TCW


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Bad Blogger Gets an Award

My friend Amber over at The Tasty Alternative sent me a nice little surprise Wednesday....


The rules for the Addictive Blog Award are: Thank the person who nominated you and link them back.  Share a little bit about why you started blogging.  Copy and paste the award onto your blog.  Nominate up to 10 other bloggers you think are addictive enough to deserve the award. This is a fun award to pass on to other bloggers.  It's a nice way to expand your blogging community, introduce your readers to new blogs, and of course, spread some love.  No pressure to continue on and nominate other bloggers.  But it's fun and always awesome to make someone smile.  

I hope my little bloggy is addictive as of late!  Is it just me or do all you ladies wish you were (and try to be) Superwoman?  I have a whole bunch of posts in the queue but my blogging creativity has been put on hold by vacation (darn.), work (darn.  really.) and the mad dash planning for The Munchkin's 3rd birthday party.  That said, I've managed to knock at least 3 items off of my Summer Bucket List, so  I have lot's of good stuff coming soon as soon as I can get it posted!!

Until then, let us get back to that awesome award!

Blogging always seemed fun to me but I never really jumped in until after our wedding.  (Blogging and wedding planning really don't match).  I was hooked pretty immediately, mostly because of the secret friend blogging community that exists out on these there internets.  This was followed by a real influx of creativity I felt that really came about after I started writing regularly.  It's a little blogging renaissance for me really and I love it.

So here are some of my favorite blogs....and yes, some of them are "big" bloggy's that probably everyone has heard of, but they continue to inspire me.  So there.  Others are less known and I hope you check them out.  Additionally, these are in no particular order other than how they fell out of my brain.  And, P.S.  if you didn't already click that link above for the person who nominated me, her blog is great.  I continue to be amazed at how she makes "regular" things out of totally non-regular ingredients and I'm inspired by her green-ness.  You go Amber.

1. How Sweet It Is - Awesome photos, great recipes, funny posts.
2. Iowa Girl Eats - Food, travel & sometimes exercise, excellent combo.
3. Delighted Momma - I ♥ her skincare DIY's.
4. I think Shutterbean & Joy the Baker go without saying.
5. The Beeroness - I need to cook with beer more often.
6. Live Love DIY - Sometimes I think I'm crafty, then I read this and wish I was.
7. Better After - I'm addicted.
8. The Hunted Interior - Again, sometimes I think I'm crafty.....
9. Yes, I want Cake - I want to pinch her babies cheeks.  Wait.  Does that sound weird?  
10.  Mr. Taylor & His Lady - TJ's blog is totally unique.  I love it, I can't wait to read when she puts a new post up.

I hope you find a new favorite here!

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Marinara #4 - Light & Saucy

It's summer.
Sometimes eating a big steaming bowl of pasta in the summer doesn't sound so good.
Especially when it's 106°.
Like it is here.

But what if you could have some swuass that's light?
Just enough to cover your weirdly shaped pasta but not overly-hearty?
That's the ticket I say!



Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 tbsp. chopped garlic (I used two large cloves)
2 tbsp. olive oil
6 cups of chopped tomatoes (or fill up your 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup 3 times)
1 tsp. of salt

How to:

Heat up a large stock pot and add olive oil.  Add chopped onions and garlic, and saute until the onions start to become translucent.  Add tomatoes and cook at a low to medium temperature, stirring frequently until the tomatoes cook down (I also use my wooden spoon to smash the tomatoes against the sides of the pot, speeding up the process).  Once the tomatoes are cooked down, pour everything into the blender and blend until smooth.  Stir in salt to taste.  Eat now or freeze for later.

Enjoy!

P.S.  I'll have to share the recipe for those there turkey zucchini meatballs someday too!

**I shared this recipe on the following sites, click the links for more tasty recipes!
The Healthy Home Economist
New Life on a Homestead
Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms
My Sweet & Savory
Beyer Beware
Delightfully Dowling
Simply Sugar & Gluten Free
All the Small Stuff
Real Food Forager
Growing Home
Kelly the Kitchen Kop
The Tasty Alternative
The Kings Court IV
Gluten Free Homemaker
This Chick Cooks
Lady Behind the Curtain
It's a Keeper
Frugal Follies
Diary of a Stay at Home Mom
Miz Helen's Country Kitchen
Pennywise Platter

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Glencoe Grand Prix...and a house tour

It's been a bit since this race happened, but a beautiful day with bikes is always worth sharing.


Glencoe, IL is north of Chicago and was the site for day 2 of the USA crit series (day one being the Lake Bluff Twilight Crit).  We arrived at the start/finish to watch the kids race and who was there but Matthew Modine!

He spent a lot of time passing out foam fingers and smiling for pictures with kids.


He was a little upstaged by Mr. Incredible though, just sayin'.




A little birdie we know took the kids race title again! Woot-woot!




The course was closer to a circuit than a crit being more than a mile around.


The Cyclist & his fanclub
We spent the race walking the course which allowed me plenty of time too drool over daydream about these beautiful old homes with giant lots.




Someday.  
Or maybe a smaller version of the house but with the big lot, someday.




I also occasionally caught some cycling shots.



The Cyclist did a great job racing smart, staying tucked in near the front and not chasing any breaks (a no-no when you are sans teammates).


It must have been that pre-race deep thought.


We walked the course and enjoyed the scenery...





Oops.  Oh yeah, there's a race going on...


Ohhh....look at that one!


Stop!  Corner ahead!  I am glad the over-zealous block captain made sure we stood 30 feet away from the curb.

I guess that's better than letting people cross the street in front of the bikes.  Because they will.


Return to daydream....



Hey!  When did those guys get away?!


Oh crapola!  The race is about to finish...


I don't know who won.  

But The Cyclist ended up somewhere near 13th, which put him in the money, but not enough to buy our dream house.  More like entry fee returned + $5.  But hey, I'll take $5 to spend a day at the races.

What does your dream house look like?


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June Favorites

 Adventures of an almost 40 year old intern via Better After - DIY Painted Striped Rug - This is cute, but looks cumbersome!

 Design Sponge - Bike Picnic - Would you expect anything less from moi?

Hello awesome bike trolley thing!  
And the wall stencil just looks neat-o.  
But this Chobani Chart, hello!

Picture She Makes & Bakes - Salted Caramel Brownies - I think I already discussed my love for salted caramel.  I still love it.

Chalkboard backsplash.  The Hunted Interior - Chalkboard Love - There is some chalkboard awesomeness in this post, but I especially love this backsplash.

window seat from ikea cabinets Centsational Girl - Window Seat from Ikea Cabinets - Just more proof of Ikea's awesomeness.
Post image for Crushing On > Interview with Brian Samuels of A Thought for Food Foodie Crush - Interview with Brian Samuels of A Thought for Food - This guy just seemed like a nice dude.


 Simply Scratch - Chocolate Chip Bacon Cookies - Um.  Is it possible for me to reach into the screen and eat one?  Now?

LemonMeltaways1finalforsite Lemon Meltaways Dessert for Two - Lemon Meltaways - My Step-Mom used to buy these in a box - do you remember Lemon Coolers?  I loved those things.



Cheddar Bacon Bread Heather Christo Cooks - Cheddar Bacon Bread - Speaking of Bacon, first Heather Christo did this....
BLT Sandwich "all dressed up" Heather Christo Cooks - BLT Sandwich All Dressed Up - ...and then she went and did this.

Have a nice day, I'm off to the store to buy bacon!


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