a spicy good day!

Today for lunch I had a Spicy Chili Bean Burger.  First, I had to smash up cereal (I actually used Kashi instead of Fiber One):

Then, I mashed chili beans...

The instructions said to mash the beans with a fork, but that was kind of annoying.  There has to be a better way to mash the beans.  Suggestions anyone?  Anyway, next put the cereal, some oats, and green onions into the bowl with the beans...

Mixed them up...

And made burgers!  I was pleasantly surprised about how well these burgers stayed together!  I for SURE thought they would fall apart and I'd be beating spicy chili bean mush. 

I made two small burgers for myself since I didn't realize have any sides to serve with them.  The first one, I had in a whole wheat tortilla with some spinach.

The second one, I just served on a bed of spinach.  However, after eating the first one I realized, this dish lacks any sort of spice!  So, I added some hot sauce and chili powder to spice things up, which made it much much better. 

Overall, I'd say it's a great burger but if you want spice, some hot sauce, chili powder, etc. would definitely help.  Oh, and more green onions! Haha.

Dinner tonight was Couscous-Stuffed Peppers.  I started with a yellow bell pepper, chopped off the top, and cleaned out the inside.

Then I made the filling: ground beef, onion, tomato sauce, couscous, and spices.

Stuffed this baby full, and threw it in the slow cooker!

Four hours later, I had a delicious, tender pepper stuffed with a nice, spicy couscous mix.  The combo of spices was really spectacular in this recipe: cayenne, ground cinnamon, cumin, and garlic.

This turned out AWESOME.  I can't wait to make them again.  Good recipe to make for a party too, I think, because it's so fancy looking.  Or it would have been if my pepper hadn't fallen over in the slow cooker... but if I had 4-5 other peppers in there that wouldn't happen :-)