Homemade burgers and Fries

Well dinner last night went effortlessly, almost. :)

We had homemade hamburgers, sweet potato fries, and Caesar salad. I was surprised it turned out so great. I myself am not a big burger fan. I don't know what it is. Maybe its the fact that the majority of burger recipes include large amounts of chopped onions. Blugh. I hate biting into something and getting a chunk of onion. The recipe I concocted up however, had no onions. I did grill some for the hubby to put on top though.

Homemade Burgers
1 lb. ground beef
2 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs- I prefer the Italian style as it already has some spices in it. That way I am not too concerned with adding spices.
1/3 cup of your favourite BBQ sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. of pepper

Throw it all in a bowl, mix it good, and make patties. I used a 1/4 c. measuring spoon to help create even burger patties. I did a heaping 1/4c though, not leveled. This made about 6 burgers for me.
I suppose at some point we'll need to purchase a grill. Right now we've been using a panini grill, which works awesome by the way! Definitely a great alternative. I've never truly barbecued before, so I haven't a clue how to do it.

Sweet potato fries went great too!! I just peeled and sliced up some sweet potatoes into wedges coated a pan with cooking spray  throw the potatoes on there with some cinnamon and bake. I think I did 450 for 20 minutes or so. Till they were tender. Of course smaller wedges will cook faster..
Ellee really enjoyed some of her burger and of course loved the fries!

This is definitely a recipe I'll have to try again. Maybe next time I'll try making my own Italian bread crumbs! Matt came home from his regular Tuesday night basketball and I made him another burger :)

My Gardening Days Begin

As the spring is upon us, I've decided to try my hand at gardening. So it seems that Ellee wants to get her fingers into it all too.

I have planted some sprouts of cucumber, broccoli, parsley and rosemary in some indoor pods first. Then I plan on transferring them into pots outside and eventually into the ground. I've never gardened before and my inexperience I am sure will show through very quickly!
I currently have the seedlings in a small greenhouse in the living room on the floor, this is the best natural light source in the house. Ellee's toys are near by, but she has yet to venture into the world of crawling so I was not concerned she could reach the 4 feet or so over to the pods of dirt and seed. Well, she managed. I come back after washing dishes to find dirt smeared into the tan carpet and the remnants of the pod squeezed together. In her chubby dimpled hands, dirt. At the corners of her mouth, dirt. Gross.
It was the first time in her 8 months I had shown true exasperation for misbehavior. As I groaned her full name along with the words 'that's bad' she turned her pretty little eyes up at me, pouted her lip and whined.
I was shocked that she even understood any inkling of the fact that what she had done was misbehavior. It was probably more the tone of my voice and the disgruntled look on my face.

Well we all survived the predicament, well, maybe not the seeds in that particular pod....

Prior to the dirt episode, and bath time, was dinnertime!
As I have been the past couple of weeks I tried a new recipe. Monday has sort of turned into soup Monday. Last weeks soup was completely unsuccessful, tonight however was quite delicious. Cream of chicken with white and wild rice. Turned out well, except it seemed to lack a little something said the hubby. He helped it out with a large dosing of coarse ground pepper.
 It was inexpensive though which is definitely key! Probably around 5 dollars :) My kind of meal!
I will post the recipe too...

First Day

Well lets see how this turns out.
My first time blogging but hopefully its not the last!!