La Casa Grande Colectiva

Tag: potluck

  • Black Bean Burgers

    We had a potluck dinner at La Casa tonight, which turned into a little fire in the garden firepit with guitar, conversation, & digestion.  The food theme?  “Americana!”  I tried out a new recipe, which came out very well, so I think I’ll share it.

    It comes from this website & goes like this:

    INGREDIENTS

    • 1 (16 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
    • 1/2 green bell pepper, cut into 2 inch pieces
    • 1/2 onion, cut into wedges
    • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
    • 1 egg
    • 1 tablespoon chili powder
    • 1 tablespoon cumin
    • 1 teaspoon Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
    • 1/2 cup 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. In a food processor, finely chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Then stir into mashed beans.
    4. In a small bowl, stir together egg, chili powder, cumin, and chili sauce.
    5. Stir the egg mixture into the mashed beans. Mix in bread crumbs until the mixture is sticky and holds together. Divide mixture into four patties.
    6. 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.

    I tripled the recipe, cooked black beans instead of messing around with cans, & (of course) used eggs from our chickens. I didn’t like how the burgers came out baking them, so I decided to fry them in sunflower oil. Yum!

    Maria, JP, & Gretchen also cooked amazing food, so maybe they’ll share their recipes, too.  & of course, our guests brought great dishes, so maybe some of them can share in the comments.

    potluck at la casa potluck at la casa

  • a day

    What did y’all do today?

    My alarm went off at 5 this morning; I got out of bed at 6 to get to work at 7.  I thoughtfully forgot to turn my alarm off when I went to walk Sophie, so housemate-friend Ronna had the pleasure of grumbling around for the snooze button.

    At work, I stocked shelves & portioned out tahini.

    After work, Ronna helped me plant seeds (!) & inspired me to start digging a new garden bed – yay!  Dog-friend Sophie roamed the yard & didn’t eat too much chicken shit.  (Just enough, I guess.)

    I took a break from digging the bed which I apparently still haven’t come back from.  Housemate-friend Jacob & I visited our neighbor-friends Vinnie & Jill, & then I took a nap.  After the nap, I biked with Jacob & Jill to Ananda Liina for a Yoga class.  The bike ride took something like a half an hour both ways, & Jacob led us in a fancy zigzag pattern on the way home.

    When we got back, Jacob & I had a bit of food (leftovers!) & chatted with our housemate-friend Maria.  She said she was going off to Murphy’s.  Jacob said he was staying in.

    I went off to a potluck at neighbor-friend Connie’s place.  After schmoozing for a while, I biked home with housemate-friend JP.

    Back at La Casa, I started typing up this blog entry when housemate-friend Heather came home with two houseguest-friends: Michael & Ben, both in town to check out the Art & Design program at the U of I.  I borrowed the house computer to finish this entry in my bedroom, & here I sit.

    So my day looked something like that.  Full of “things to do,” full of good people.  I like things, & I like people.  Now I suspect I’ll read some haikus & go to sleep.  Goodnight, internet people.  I like you too.