Tonight I was a single lady again as Bo is away on business. This immediately made me crave a girls night filled with laughter, conversation, and a healthy dinner enjoyed in the comfort of a warm home.
Enter my lovely dinner date Rebecca. I was lucky enough to meet Rebecca, a local reader, at Jes’ Fly Wheel event on May 15th!
Our friendship started with a sweaty spin session one lovely Saturday morning.
On National Running Day we realized that we’ll be great training partners for our October half marathon as we’re a similar pace and love chatting during runs!
We did downward dogs with less than 10,000 other New Yorkers in Central Park.
Tonight we enjoyed some quality girl time over a healthy dinner and great conversation.
This morning over BBM and gmail we decided that the main course would be Black Bean Burgers compliments of Emily, The Front Burner.
Our Menu:
Black Bean Burgers
Arnold Sandwich thins and burger fixings (lettuce, tomato, salsa, bbq sauce)
Salad (lettuce and salsa)
Sparking Water
Garlic Sweet Potato Fries
After a quick post work grocery trip, I started on the prep work. First task, get the sweet potato fries in the oven.
Garlicy Sweet Potato Fries
2 small sweet potatoes
salt and pepper
Olive Oil spray or Pam
garlic and onion powder to taste
I chopped the potatoes into small slices then placed in a large bowl. After coating them with spray, I sprinkled garlic, onion powder, salt, and pepper on them to taste. Then I spread them on a non-stick cookie sheet and placed in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Place them in the broiler for 5 minutes at the end so they reach a crispy goldness!
I followed Emily’s recipe to a tea except I substituted sunflower seeds for pumpkin as my grocery store didn’t have pumpkin seeds. In addition, I added a dash of BBQ sauce as my batter seemed very dry.
Ingredients: (makes 6 burgers)
- 2 cans black beans (rinsed and drained)
- 2 carrots, grated
- 1/2 cup dry rolled oats
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp bbq sauce
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp coriander
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
To Prepare: Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Next, add the oats and sunflower seeds to your food processor and grind until coarsely chopped (they will still be a little chunky).
Let it run for roughly 10 seconds. Grate the carrots,
and then add to your mixture in the food processor. Add 3/4 of the beans, all spices, and the olive oil. Once all of this is in the food processor, give it a whir and mix it all together.
Spoon mixture into a mixing bowl and then fold in the rest of the whole, reserved beans. Wet your hands and then form into 6 medium sized patties.
Place patties on a non-stick baking sheet or into a baking pan, and bake at 300 degrees for 40 minutes, turning once in the middle.
Pair these delicious burgers with your sweet potato fries and a salad for the perfect week night dinner. The best part? You’ll have leftovers for the rest of the week and they pack/transport easily for lunches!
Thanks Emily for a great recipe and Rebecca for the great company!
stepping foot in a gym.
invited her readers to a free Fit Chick Boot Camp in Central Park this morning. The instructions were clear: bring nothing except yourself and a bottle of water, show up at 9:30, and get ready for a sweatastic workout! 
workout taking place a few steps away and the fighting ninjas filming below us. Okay, maybe the ninjas just made us laugh. But, regardless, what I loved about this workout is that the entire time we were working out we were also enjoying our surroundings. 
