Cooking... Homemade black bean burgers

I put together a few recipes for this one and wanted to document my final compiled recipe.

1 can black beans (rinsed and dried)
1/2 can corn (or frozen corn rinsed and dried)
1/2 green bell pepper
1/2 onion
3 cloves garlic
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1 slice of toasted wheat bread
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup (maybe more depending on moisture) of cooked brown rice
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Blend the onions, bell pepper, and garlic in the food processor.  Add 1/4 cup oats and shred the toast and add.  Blend.  Add the 2 eggs, 1/2 of the cilantro, and spices.  Blend.  Add 3/4 of the beans and blend.  Put the blended mixture into a bowl and add the corn, remainder of beans, cilantro, remainder of oatmeal and rice.  Mix.  This should be kinda gooey and runny, but you shouldn't be able to pour it.  Spray a pan with oil and form patties (~5/6).  Put in 350-400 degree oven and bake ~10 min on each side until they are cooked all the way through.  There is a balance between cooking them and drying them out.

#13 Making cheese

I was really in the mood for saag paneer, however, I found out that I couldn't buy paneer (an Indian cheese) at the local grocery store or even at Whole Foods - and it might cost ~$12 if I did find it.  I decided to go ahead and make it myself.

I looked at several recipes online and decided on this one.   

1/2 gallon whole milk
2 TBSP lemon juice
 1. In a heavy saucepan, bring milk to a boil. (When it has reached full boil, it will look very foamy and quickly - QUICKLY, I say - rise in the pot. To avoid the ensuing mess, remove it from the heat right away.) Add lemon juice and stir until small curds separate from the whey, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Let sit 10 minutes so curds can develop, then drain into a collander lined with 2 layers of cheesecloth. When cool enough to handle, tie up opposite ends of the cheese cloth and squeeze out remaining liquid.
3. Place paneer, still in cheese cloth, on a plate. Flatten to 1/2" thick and top with another plate. Rest something heavy on top (such as several cans or the Joy of Cooking) and let sit 20 minutes.
4. Pour off any liquid that remains and cut into cubes or refridgerate overnight.

It was pretty good and easy!

#12 NC Art Museum

On February 9th Elizabeth, my friend Lisa, and I went to the NC Museum of Art.  They just added a brand new wing (see the building behind Elizabeth) and there is free admission everyday!  We started off in the old wing which housed their visiting collection.  We really liked the photograph by Sangbin Im called Western Paintings.

Elizabeth enjoyed the 3D wooden art forms by Bob Trotman called Inverted Utopias.

We then went to the new wing.  Unfortunately, Elizabeth voiced her opinion that she was done with art.  All in all we spent ~1.5 hours there, which was a pretty good attention span for a 14 month old.  We will probably go back soon to check out the part we didn't get to see.

Bathtime Comedy

Elizabeth has started to figure out what comedy is all about. She hides her dog in the bath water, asks us where it is, then finds it to make us laugh. She did this for more than 5 minutes tonight. Our little comedian.

Sheldon

Sheldon is Elizabeth's lovey. Elizabeth's grandpa, Kevin, wrote a song dedicated to Elizabeth and Sheldon and put together this video.

Sheldon is very special to Elizabeth. She sleeps with him every night and every nap. He comes all the way from New Zealand. We bought him there when we visited in 2009. In fact, when we realized that Elizabeth had become attached to him, Amanda went online and bought a second Sheldon. Just in case.

Our friend, DeeDee, named Sheldon. We just called him "Elizabeth's sheep" early on and one evening when DeeDee babysat she came up with his name and it stuck.

Another fun fact: every night, we play another one of Kevin's songs (Dear Little One) as a goodnight lullaby. You can actually hear a snippet of the song on Kevin's cdbaby page.