A New Recipe/Tradition is Born!

A little background:

I leave on Wednesday morning for a brief Texas tour. (It's gonna be awesome. I even planned a stopover at Degray Lake on my way there for a little self-reflection.) If you're remotely near Texas, you should come!

August 18, 2011 (Thursday)
Johnny Cace's Restaurant, Longview, TX, 7:00pm

August 19, 2011 (Friday)
Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse, Dallas, TX
8pm, www.unclecalvins.org

August 20, 2011 (Saturday)
Hummingbird House Concerts, Austin, TX. 8pm, www.hummingbirdconcerts.org 

Anyway, I showed some restraint and decided to NOT go out to dinner tonight, but rather use up some of the food in my fridge. Specifically, anything that would go bad while I'm on the road. And with that, I give you this recipe. And by recipe, I mean a series of questions that leads to food. (Confession: I did consult a couple recipes for some guidance. But then threw most of that out the window)

Kate's Pre-tour Everything in the Fridge Black Bean Burgers

• One can of black beans? Definitely
• Leftover brown rice? Yup.
• Strawberries? No. Gross. Eat those on the side.
• Most of a bag of clementines? Also, no. Eat those with the strawberries.
• Shredded carrots? Hmmm. Yeah. Why not. But just a handful because a carrot burger sounds gross.
• Some of your roommates onion? Yes. Sauté it. Fancy girl.
• Bag of pre-peeled garlic cloves that says "Best used by August 11th"? Also, yes. Two cloves. Sauté that too.
• Sweet and Spicy Korean Sauce? Live dangerously! Shit just got interesting!
• Now squeeze/mix it all together with your right hand (which is going to be covered in this stuff) while randomly throwing spices in with your left hand. BONUS: This has no meat so you can taste as you go to make sure this doesn't taste like poison. I used cumin, chili pepper, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

...AND IT WAS AWESOME. I made the patty and pan fried it in the leftover oil from the onions and garlic. (Healthy fats, right?) I also managed to use 2 of my last 3 slices of bread and top it with the remnants of a bagged salad, as well as some more of that Korean Sauce which turned out to be a brilliant decision.  

A tradition is born, my friends. Who knows what the next tour will bring? Kate's Pre-Tour Everything Perishable Pasta salad? A girl can dream. See you in Texas. :)

P.S. - Yes, I should have taken a picture but I was very hungry.