The Fast Spatula

Last night I pushed myself back into the kitchen. I can't live on frozen dinners and cold cereal forever, can I? That's how I convinced myself to dust off my spatula.

And, after a day of dusting, vacuuming, wood stacking and writing (see the last one?) I was hungry.

So, one of my favorite recipes. I adapted it a bit, leaving out the sour cream, parsley and applesauce. I just used ordinary jarred salsa. It was yummy and I've got leftovers! Yay!

That's good, because I could be hungry again tonight. Snow-clearing does that to a gal.

That's right. It's snowing here. I don't want to talk about it!

Hope you have a warm Thursday.

Bean Cakes with Apple Salsa

1 can black beans
3/4 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
2 T. taco flavoring
2 cups shredded apples
small bunch cilantro
vegetable oil
1 cup applesauce
½ cup prepared salsa
1/4 cup sour cream
2 T. chopped parsley

Chop onion into small pieces. Chop cilantro. Set aside.

Place beans, bread crumbs, eggs, onion, garlic and taco flavoring into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until mixture is nearly smooth. Pour bean mixture into a large bowl and add apples and cilantro and stir to mix.

In a small bowl, mix together applesauce, salsa, sour cream and parsley. Chill.

In a large skillet, heat a small quantity of vegetable oil. Using a ladle, scoop out bean mixture into skillet, flattening with back of ladle to form small cakes. Fry for 5-6 minutes on one side, then turn cakes over and fry for 4-5 minutes on the other side, until both sides are golden brown. Serve with chilled apple salsa.