The Guinea Pigs...

I have spent all day planning for the farmers market. I'm probably over doing it. But that's fine with me, I'm enjoying it, probably more than I should.

Last night I made a batch of cinnamon rolls so that Gabe could take them to work. I am trying to perfect my recipes before the farmers market. I have officially decided that his co-workers will be my guinea pigs. Not that they are complaining. The verdict of the cinnamon rolls.... drum roll please.....


They loved them!!!!

Not a single complaint. Which of course made me smile all day. I probably looked like a huge dork with a big cheesy grin all day. Since I have perfected my cinnamon rolls I decided to work on cookies. They didn't turn out as good as I had hoped, but tonight was the first attempt, so I'm not complaining. I'm trying to decide if customers would rather buy one large cookie or a few small ones. It would be the same amount of cookie though... any thoughts? Which would you be more inclined to purchase?


My day was also spent at 4 different grocery stores. If I'm going to be using a ton of flour I might as well buy it from the cheapest place. So I went into each store with my notebook and wrote down the prices for everything baking related. Not such an easy task with a toddler. As funny as it sounds, I was terrified standing in the aisles writing down prices. I thought a manager was going to come up to me and kick me out thinking I was the competition trying to have lower prices. But this is also the girl who is afraid to put her hands in her pocket while in any store. I have this fear that if I put my hands in my pocket someone is going to see me and think that I am stealing merchandise. I have never stolen anything in my life, so I'm not sure how this fear developed... I'm rambling, sorry....

But if you've spoken to me you would know its just what I do. 

But this is my blog so I can type how I speak if I want, right? 

Right!

Well, back to farmers market planning. I have already purchased a few supplies for my 'booth'. If you can call it that, its just a side walk. I purchased an outdoor canopy (for shade), a table, and a cash box. Now we just have to hope I make at least enough to pay for everything I've bought. It still depends on how much I price the cinnamon rolls at, but I figure I have to sell at least one cinnamon roll every hour the whole season in order to come out even. Which isn't too bad. It's just 4 hours each Saturday. Hopefully I can do it!!! If not, its going to be a great experience. It is going to be quite awful standing outside in July for 4 hours though. Time to stock up on sunscreen!!

  I'm going to leave you with some pictures that I LOVE!!!

I may just have a blog of all pictures one of these days. There are soooo many adorable pictures that I would just love to share.

Black Bean Burgers with homemade buns!

 I can't stop thinking about it. I even have a hard time falling asleep. I am just SO excited to participate in the farmers market this year. I never realized how much planning would go into this. Can you just imagine how stressful it is for those selling produce? I'm just making something in an oven they're growing stuff! Sorry, got off track. This post is about burgers... black bean burgers. The entire time my husband eats these he says "This is by far my favorite meal." Well, the are pretty much amazing.

This meal is quite time consuming. It doesn't have to be but I guess I like when its more difficult. I could easily buy canned beans, shredded carrots, hamburger buns, and french fries. But I like to be difficult.

Black Bean Burgers
1 cup dry black beans
2 carrots
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup diced onion
1/2 cup bread crumbs

Soak beans and cook according to package. I usually cook them for about 2.5 hours, the softer the better. Peel carrots, then grate them. Mince garlic and onion. Add cooked beans, carrots, garlic, onion and bread crumbs to bowl. Mash together. I doubled the recipe so we could have leftovers.

Once beans are all mashed form into patties.

Put a little bit of olive oil in a pan. Place patties in pan and brown on both sides.


Hamburger Buns
Adapted from here.

1 cup warm water
1/3 cup oil
2 tbsp oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
about 4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast

Add water, oil, sugar, salt, 2 cups flour, and yeast into bread machine. Then add 1/2 cup of flour at a time until it forms a ball and is only slightly sticky. Once bread machine is done separate dough into 12 balls.   Turn balls in hands folding edge under to make circle. Press flat between hands. Place on greased cookie sheet. Let buns rise for about 30 minutes. I can't ever get them to rise very much so you may not see them rise much. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

I also like to make french fries with this meal. Peel the russet potatoes, slice into strips. Soak for about 30 minutes. Lay flat on greased cookie sheet, let dry. Sprinkle with olive oil and salt. Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.

This is the only picture I took of the fries.

Then enjoy the meal!