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One of my favorite ways to spend a spring morning is sitting outside on the deck with a mug of coffee, maybe a bowl of oatmeal or stack of pancakes, and read in the early morning quiet.
Only for the last 6 weeks, prime spring-time, our deck has been out of commission. {And our neighbors look at me funny if I sit on the front steps in my PJs.} I’ve been missing those few minutes of solitude before the day starts, but it’s been for a good reason.
We’re building a screen porch!
Sort of. We’re screening in our deck and calling it a screened in porch. That’s pretty much the same thing, right?
It’s been a long process. Though we’re not quite finished, the end is in sight!
Before:
During:
Demo was by far the best part of the project.
Walls and rafters going up.
Lots of measuring, re-measuring, and cutting. {We only cut one board upside down. And by we I don’t mean me.}
We worked hard getting the ceiling up, and almost as hard pulling it down when we realized it was indoor only material. But ceiling v2 {the wood looking one} was far better than ceiling v1 {the white one}.
Finally it was time for painting. And the best part…screening!
After {so far}:
We’ve trimmed the outside of the screen since this picture, but still need to put up a new door {it broke during painting}, work on the patio at the bottom of the stairs, and finish the flooring. I vote keeping it wood and putting down a rug. The husband wants indoor/outdoor carpet. Any guesses whose gonna win that battle?
{Hint: it likely won’t be me. I already lost the “paint the house yellow battle” and “paint the ceiling blue like Charleston porches battle”.
Recipe
To me, the day time changes is much more indicative of spring than the actual first day of spring. It didn’t hurt that it attempted to hit 80 degrees here yesterday.
We celebrated with burgers- traditional cookout fare.
Only we also spent the weekend knocking down our deck, so our grill isn’t exactly available for use.
So the burgers were baked. And they weren’t really burgers- they were bean burgers.
{But they were good enough for the husband to say he’d gotten his burger fix… so that counts, right?}
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by with a Side of Sneakers
- 1 can (15 oz) kidney beans
- 2 chipotle peppers (canned in adobo sauce)
- 1 small onion (1/2 a normal sized onion)
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup oatmeal
- roasted cumin + paprika; to taste
Chop onion and garlic in food processor.
Add beans and peppers and pulse, but don’t completely pulverize- you want to still be able to see some beans.
Stir in oatmeal and seasonings.
Divide mixture into four; form patties and place on greased baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes at 450, flipping half way through.
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I had a teeny tiny baby onion, so you might not want to use the whole thing if yours is bigger.
Add beans and peppers and pulse, but don’t completely pulverize- you want to still be able to see some beans.
Stir in oatmeal and seasonings.
Divide mixture into four; form patties and place on greased baking sheet. Bake 20 minutes at 450, flipping half way through.
Since bean burgers tend to be a little doughy and starchy in texture, I served them with toasted sandwich thins to cut down on the squishiness. {And with baked potato wedges tossed in olive oil and rosemary.}
Later smothered with ketchup, Dijon mustard, and lettuce.
I can now say I’m officially obsessed with chipotle peppers in adobo. I usually ignore that ingredient in a recipe because it seemed like too much work to buy a can for just one pepper. But I had some on hand and tried them- it was totally worth it.
What’s your favorite thing about spring?
