Pork and Beans

Hey y'all. Up again this week. Shrugging my shoulders and changing the subject at this point. My mind ain't right. I hope you all had a nice weekend and that Monday is treating you OK. I had a lot of fun over the weekend and took a day trip to see my family in Chattanooga yesterday so I'm a little tired today but overall satisfied with the friends and family I got to see.

When I say I'm talking about pork and beans, I don't mean that in the sense that you are probably used to. I know it makes me incredibly un-Southern but I hate baked beans. My version of a post about "pork and beans" is to tell you about a black bean burger and pork chops. The two aren't really related at all. First, my mom shared Morning Star's Chipotle Black Bean Burger with me. I've had my share of veggie burgers in the past but she provided a rave review. I tried it and at 190 calories, it's pretty dang good. It's not the most beautiful "patty" in the world but I dressed it up. I added a "fried" egg, barbecue sauce and skinny ranch and then I used an Everything Bagel Thin as the bun. It tasted great. I will say that an extra lean burger made with actual beef is about 170 calories so typically, I'd prefer that but the added bonus to the black bean burger is that it doesn't shrink down the way beef does. It's filling and has good flavor. I recommend it especially if you are trying to reduce the amount of red meant you consume.

I also whipped up this collage to show how far I stretched some pork chops I grilled up the other week. I marinated them with Asian flavors (soy sauce, honey, W sauce, garlic) and had them with mashed potatoes. Later in the week, I put them on a simple bed of greens and they tasted great. As always, making things ahead on the grill has been a really great way to save time during the week.

Hang in there, y'all. It's only Monday!