I thought long and hard about an entry I wanted to make for a recipe contest I saw on Food Network. I Googled, I asked coworkers and I pursued the grocery store.
After stopping at the grocery store on my way home and picking up 3 free bottles of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce and all the ingredients for black bean burgers I was ready to go. I spent 20 minutes trying to figure out the &$%*#&@^ flip cam so you could see me and the ingredients
I finally somewhat figured it out and got cooking.
Ingredients
10 ounces of mushrooms, I used portobello, cremini, oyster and shitake
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 jalapeno
3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp ancho chili Powder
1 tsp cumin
3/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 egg
Salt/Pepper
Whole Wheat Buns
Corn Salsa
Directions
- Add beans, chopped mushrooms, jalapeno, Worcestershire, chili powder, cumin and salt/pepper until combined.
- Add breadcrumbs and eggs and process
- Form 4-5 patties and cook for 5 minutes on each side over medium high heat.
- Top with a bit of corn salsa

I really liked this burger, very filling and it would also make a good veggies dip since none of the ingredients need to be cooked.
One of the best trips we have taken so far! What is not to love about food, wine, historic sites and gelato
When we arrived in Florence we headed for the hotel and to meet up with friends and start our amazing Italian vacation, wedding week and honeymoon.
We used hotel points to splurge on an amazing room at The Grand Hotel and enjoyed every minutes of it! Beautiful flowers, the most amazing view and having great friends staying in the same place!





We spent 2 days and discovered the city, we had gelato, saw all of the great sights and rubbed some pig nose for good luck





My favorite part of Florence by far was the wine and food. What’s not to love about fresh local flavors and some of the best wine in the world








An easy 2 day itinerary if you can see museums relatively fast-
Day 1
Accademia (reserve in advance)
Markets (buy a purse)
Santa Maria Novella Church
Lunch and Supper at a great local place
Day 2
Uffizi
Duomo
People watching!





Don’t forget to stop and relax!
Favorite Part: Gelato and amazing food
Not So Favorite Part: Leaving. Honestly, I could move to Florence
Past Travel Thursday’s:
Madison, WI
Costa Rica
Luxor, Egypt
Hurghada, Egypt
Cairo
Paris Food
Paris Sights
Barcelona
Peru
Mexico City
Nicaragua
Coming up next week: Tuscany!