Good evening. I hope you all are having a great day! As of today, I’m happy to say I’m finally all moved into my apartment and I now have Wi-Fi here! It’s been a busy, but fun few days.

Move in/ last few days recap:

Saturday: Saturday was moving day. Once all our items were put into the apartment we cleaned the kitchen and bathroom and started unpacking and arranging the place. We did take a break to check out a local pizza place, as it is Chicago after all. 😛 I got a thin crust individual red pepper and basil pizza and my boyfriend got an individual of one of their specialty pizzas with bacon, chicken, jalapeños, and some other things. In all the craziness of moving I forgot to take pictures of the pizzas. We will definitely be back there, though, as it’s not far from our apartment, reasonably priced, and delicious!

Sunday: The first order of business on Sunday was grocery shopping. Luckily, there is a decent grocery store within a half mile of our apartment. The grocery bill was a little more expensive than we were expecting, though. I’m going to try to figure out good things to make that are relatively healthy, but not super expensive. Stay tuned as healthy grocery shopping on a budget in Chicago may be a potential topic here. :P. After grocery shopping, my boyfriend and I decided to try a local coffee shop for an afternoon pick-me-up and some Wi-Fi. We both had homework and studying to do for our summer classes. The coffee shop we went to had plenty of seating, was cute, and my iced almond milk latte was divine. My only complaint is that it was a pricey coffee shop so this will definitely be an occasional treat.

After some homework I finished unpacking all my clothes and we rearranged the main room to utilize space better. We live in a studio apartment, but it is spacious as far as studios are concerned. Also, the kitchen here is actually bigger than the kitchen I had in college when I lived in a house with five people!

Monday: Monday was a pretty laid back day, especially because we were already unpacked. My boyfriend convinced me to try a short run with him despite my IT band injury. It has been almost a month since my half marathon and the discovery of my IT band injury so I was a little nervous. IT band injuries can heal in as soon as a week or two or take several months. In my two previous cases of IT band injuries I fell into the few months category. Maybe it took me longer in the past because in college, as a DI cross country/track runner, I still had to get aerobic training in and couldn’t just take some time off during my injuries.

Well, anyway, I tried a short run with my boyfriend and was fine! I was so shocked that my IT band didn’t lock up and that I was not in excruciating pain during the run! This time around I took nearly two weeks off of all forms of aerobic exercise so maybe that helped. I’m still completely shocked,  This short, slow run was basically all I could handle distance wise and I’m going to be cautiously

optimistic as later on Monday night my IT band felt tighter. And now today (Tuesday) it is a little sore. I’m going to be smart and gradually add in running every other day or every two days and keep up with my rehabilitation exercises and yoga. My fingers are crossed that I am on my way back to running healthy and can still run a second half marathon this fall! For dinner we made my favorite food- black bean burgers! My boyfriend also really likes them so that’s a bonus! I will share the recipe below.

Today: I had my summer class today. but while I was gone the guy came to our apartment and installed the cable and Internet. Yay Wi-Fi! Finally! Then after I got back from class, my boyfriend and I ran to the store and explored the area near our apartment more. It looks like we are going on a bike ride later this evening and then cooking dinner. I can’t believe it’s already evening! I guess time goes by quickly when you have class for three or four hours.

Tasty Tuesday-black bean burgers

This recipe is inspired by the Simplest Bean Burgers (pg 660) in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman and the Create-Your-Own Veggie Burger Recipe in The Teen’s Vegetarian Cookbook by Judy Krizmanic. I personally don’t add onion, but I included it here because I am guessing most people like onions in their black bean burgers.

yield: 4 black bean burgers

ingredients:

1 can of black beans (preferably lower sodium ones)

1/2 cup old fashioned oats

1 small onion diced

3/4 teaspoon garlic powder with parsley or chopped garlic

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

3/4 teaspoon oregano

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

water as needed to help form black bean burgers

vegetable oil for cooking

1. Drain and rinse the can of black beans. Mash the black beans in a bowl or using a food processor (TIP: putting the black beans in the microwave for a minute may make them easier to mash).

2. Add 1/2 cup oats, the spices, and soy sauce to the black bean mixture. Add some water and mix everything together (The amount of water needed will vary, but will probably be a few tablespoons. You just need them to be moist enough to roll into patties).

3. Add enough vegetable oil to coat the skillet and turn the heat to medium.

4. Form the black bean mixture into patties

5. Cook patties until nicely browned (about five minutes) and then flip and cook the other side until browned.

I usually serve the black bean burgers with steamed vegetables or rice. Add any extra toppings that you desire such as tomatoes or lettuce. They also taste good topped with BBQ sauce.

Besides being delicious, another bonus of black bean burgers is that they aren’t very expensive to make, but still healthy. They will definitely be a regular in our dinner rotation!

What is your favorite thing to cook with black beans?