Trying for normalcy

Hello! It's been awhile but I have been busy with classes starting and all the randoms that come along with that. But my boyfriend did come up the other weekend and I made wonderful dinners for him. He is the new person I cook for. He is a full meat, dairy and gluten eater so I really have to impress. But he's a good sport, eats what I make and says it's wonderful. The way it should be of course. I know he loves burgers, I was going to actually make real burgers with real meat. (Local of course) But I saw this great recipe in the Whole Foods Market Magazine- Local Edition. (I swear I don't live there) Surprisingly, most the recipes in that edition were gluten free. It was a nice surprise. But anyways, back to the dinner. First of all, it took FOREVER. Somehow I labored over these burgers for 2+ hours! I think it was just the rice cooking (but I was cutting up veggies), mixing in the different steps, letting it cool, then refrigerating the burgers after I made them before grilling them. It was kind of lame. Should have had a glass of wine because I was frantic. But the burgers turned out very well. Had a little kick to them. I put in more sauce then it called for I think. But it was a different flavored mexican dish so that was nice. The guacamole on top was the icing on the cake. And I added Alexia Gourmet Sweet Potato Julienne Fries which are amazing! I had extra burgers of course so they are sitting in my freezer, waiting to be grilled on a busy day.

Hot Tamale Burgers (Makes 8 burgers)

1 cup short-grain brown rice

1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 red pepper, finely chopped

3/4 cup corn kernels

1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, minced, plus 2 tsp. sauce (I bought a can in the mexican section)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. salt

1/3 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup chopped cilantro (I despise this stuff so I left it out)

1 1/2 Tbs. lime juice

3/4 tsp. lime zest

1. Boil rice and 3 cups of water. Simmer after until soft, about 45 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, pepper, corn, chipotle, adobo sauce, garlic, cumin and salt. Saute 2 minutes, reduce to low heat. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.

3. Whisk 1/2 cup water with cornmeal in a bowl. Add to skillet mix. Stir in and let cook for 10 minutes.

4. Remove from heat, stir in rice, cilantro lime juice and zest. Cool 20 minutes. Shape into burgers. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

5. Grill!

Guacamole

2 avocados

1/2 onion, finely chopped

2 TBS lime juice

1 tomato, finely chopped

1. Smash avocados in bowl.

2. Mix in other ingredients.

3. Eat with everything!