hootin N hollerin

BEAN BURGERS
1 can or 2 c. cooked dried beans, drained (white beans, black beans, chick peas, etc.)
1 cup rolled oats
1 egg
2 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
salt & pepper

Mash beans with fork (you can leave them kind of chunky). Mix all ingredients. Form into burger size patties. Pan fry in a little vegetable or olive oil. For cheese burgers, melt slice of cheese on top while cooking the second side. (I used pepper jack today.)

Serve without buns or on buns with lettuce, tomato, condiments.

I bought some "Nova Scotia Fisherman's Beans" at the Hillsboro Farmer Market last season; they are brown beans. I cooked them up and made bean patties out of some of them and froze the patties (uncooked) on a parchment paper lined sheet. When frozen, I put them in a freezer bag. To cook, I placed the patties, still frozen, in a skillet in which I heated a little oil.

VARIATION:
BEAN MEATBALLS
Mix above mixture, adding 1 tsp basil & 1 minced garlic clove. Form into 1.5 inch "meatballs" - pan fry in olive oil, brown on all sides. Serve with tomato sauce and spaghetti (or in crusty Italian rolls). Grate on some fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese with a micro plane.

TODAYS'S SLAW
savoy cabbage
carrot
green apple
mayo-honey-cider vinegar

TOMATO-LEMON SALAD
2 lbs. Roma tomatoes, sliced
zest and juice of 2 lemons
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 T sugar
1 sweet onion or red onion, sliced
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley, (or basil)
fresh ground pepper
salt

Remove the zest of the lemons with a micro-plane or a zester. Squeeze out the lemon juice and mix it with the sugar, the zest, parsley, olive oil and S & P. Stir in the tomatoes and onion.

Option: I added a few VERY thin slices of lemon.

If you can buy the plum tomatoes ahead of time & leave them out on the counter a day or two it will improve their flavor. But if you're buying them to eat the same day, look for the ripest ones. DO NOT PUT THEM IN THE FRIDGE! Refrigerating tomatoes ruins their texture and flavor.