Sun-Dried Tomato Burgers

These are a fun twist on the traditional burger. I love sun-dried tomatoes in sandwiches, pasta and on pizza, so why not in a burger?

I made these with ground turkey, topped them with arugula on a whole-wheat burger bun. Don't be afraid to add extra sun-dried tomatoes. Very flavorful!

Adapted from Cooking Light Magazine

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 burger)

Ingredients
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed without oil
1/4 cup minced shallots
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
1 garlic clove, minced
Cooking spray
6 (2-ounce) Kaiser rolls, split
6 (1/8-inch-thick) red onion slices
6 romaine lettuce leaves

Preparation
Place tomatoes in a bowl; cover with boiling water. Let stand 30 minutes or until soft. Drain and finely chop.

Prepare grill.

Combine tomatoes, shallots, and next 7 ingredients (through garlic). Divide mixture into 6 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty.

Place patties on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 5 minutes on each side or until a thermometer registers 160°. Remove from grill; let stand 5 minutes.

Place rolls, cut sides down, on grill rack; grill 1 minute or until toasted. Place 1 patty on bottom half of each roll; top each serving with 1 onion slice, 1 lettuce leaf, and top half of roll.

The Walk

The kids, dog and Todd go on an early evening walk around the block almost nightly before dinner so I can get somewhat of a break and hopefully Samantha can burn off a fraction of the energy she has. They have a pretty consistent routine down: Say hello to John and Paul (two older men who sit outside at the old folks home), point out the bougainvillea, hibiscus flowers, succulents and cacti, (which she learned all about from her botanist Dad), and stop by to say hello to our neighbor Sofia.

I am always amazed by the things she says when I do the walk with her because she is always pointing out something new and random. I am equally amazed by how long it takes to get around the block with her. What should take less than 10 minutes can take about an hour. I try to be as patient as I can with her but when we have to stop 30 seconds into the walk for her to sit down and have a snack (she usually packs a bag for the "hike"), I start to get a little antsy. Not to mention that she insists on stumbling through the walk wearing rain boots, pushing a large bear in her doll stroller, wearing a gigantic backpack, sunglasses and a beanie on her head.

Today I smartened up and I let her ride her tricycle on the walk. We made it around the block in under 10 minutes.

Fallon Boys

Toddler Yoga

Yesterday I took Samantha to a Toddler Yoga class at Yoga Soup in Santa Barbara.

The teacher demonstrating with Sam a children's version of yoga called "Climb Time" (aka weight lifting with your kid).

Sam's new friend and yoga partner, Malia.

5 Months Old

Thatcher is 5 months old today and we celebrated by giving him his first taste of solid food. We skipped over rice cereal and went straight for a mashed up banana.

Frankly, I think he thought it sucked (that is the nicest way I could put it).

P.S. He has his first tooth! His bottom tooth just poked through.

Fiesta 2010

We tend to lay low during the annual Santa Barbara tradition of Old Spanish Days. The downtown area where we live gets packed with locals and out-of-towners and our relatively quiet and small town of Santa Barbara becomes loud and crowded. Although, we did pick a couple of Fiesta activities to participate in and they did not disappoint.

Sofia, our neighbor and "Big Sister" to Samantha, toured all around town this week with her flamenco dancing group. We went and watched one of her performances and she was amazing!

We also checked out El Mercado Del Norte, the Fiesta carnival at Mackenzie Park. Last year when we went, Samantha had her first pony ride. This year Samantha was tall enough to ride some of the rides.



We bumped into Sam's friend Ava which was nice because they got to ride most of the rides together.

Thatcher was a good sport even though he didn't meet the minimum height requirement for any of the rides (any day now Thatch).

The slide we have at our house will no longer do after Samantha rode this one, five times....

Viva La Fiesta!!

Now go home everyone so we can find parking on our street again :)

Lemony Herb-Grilled Jumbo Shrimp

Our lemon tree is ALWAYS full of lemons all year long. The tree does not stop producing (there are hundreds!). We can't use or give them away quick enough. And the kicker is, we have never watered the tree (we don't have a sprinkler system in our backyard yet). The root system must be so established on the tree that all the neighboring properties are taking care of it. Thanks neighbors :)

Here is one of my favorite seafood recipes that uses lemons, and it just so happens that my friend Holley posted about preserving lemons, which will help me in my quest to not let any of our lemons go to waste. And please stop by and pick up a bag of lemons from me or I will happily deliver them to you :)

From Food and Wine Magazine

Serves 4

Ingredients

16 jumbo shrimp (1 1/2 pounds)
3 garlic cloves
One 3/4-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 tablespoon chopped oregano
1 tablespoon chopped sage
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 lemon, zest finely grated and lemon cut in half
Kosher salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Freshly ground pepper


Directions
1.Using kitchen scissors, cut down the back of each shrimp through the shell and halfway through the meat. Remove the dark veins and transfer the shrimp in their shells to a large bowl.

2.In a mortar or food processor, crush the garlic, ginger, oregano, sage, cilantro, crushed red pepper and lemon zest with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt until a coarse paste forms. Stir in the 1/2 cup of olive oil. Pour the mixture over the shrimp and toss to coat thoroughly. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

3.Light a grill. Grill the shrimp over moderately high heat, turning once, until white throughout, about 4 minutes. Transfer the grilled shrimp to plates. Squeeze the lemon halves over the shrimp, drizzle with olive oil, season lightly with salt and pepper and serve at once.