Vegetarian BBQ Sliders & "Scandal" Rituals!

Where my Gladiators at?! So today is “Scandal Thursday”!! This just simply means that there is an all day excitement that slowly builds up as day turns into night, because one of my all time favorite shows, “Scandal”, comes on!! If you have not seen this show, you are absolutely depriving yourself of a wonderfully written show, where the actors execute their roles in such a manner that you feel as though you know them personally! And you find yourself getting so emotionally involved with the storyline from week to week. I’m telling you, it’s must-watch TV.

“Scandal” is one of those shows where you have to give it your undivided attention. The characters sometimes talk so five that I’m like “wait, what??”, so I have to rewind it. So because undivided attention is needed, I watch when the kids are asleep. This used to work well when the show came on at 9 pm (Central time), but this season the network pushed the time up to 8pm, which is around the time my kids go to bed. So I make sure to DVR it, and once they’re asleep, I watch it then.

Also on Thursdays, I do everything just a tad bit earlier than usual. Dinner is cooked earlier, kids are bathed earlier, house is cleaned sooner, etc. This is to ensure that the kids go to bed on time, and I can relax with my cocktail and watch my show lol. I’ll tell you guys a quick story regarding this show: Last year, March 21st, 2013, I woke up with mild contractions, as I was 9 month pregnant, and due to give birth to Vito at any moment. I called my doctor and told her that I was having very mild contractions. She told me when they became unbearable, or whenever I wanted to go to the hospital, to go ahead and go. Chris and I had already made plans to have my sister, Tamika, on standby to come and take care of Ze when it was time to go to the hospital. Anyway, as the day progressed, my contractions became more and more intense. By now it was nighttime, and “Scandal” was about to come on. Tamika was at my house by now, and I told Chris in between PAINFUL contractions: “Just get everything ready, and after Scandal goes off, we can go to the hospital”. So there I sat on the end of the couch, watching my show, because guess what! I’m a gladiator, and Olivia Pope would have done the same thing!
As soon as “Scandal” went off, Chris and I went to the hospital. We arrived there at about 10:30 pm, and Vito Christopher was born an hour and a half later at 12:04 am, on March 22nd, at 8 pounds, 9 ounces:

Hey Vito! He was like 35 minutes old in this picture.  And would have probably been born sooner if I didn’t stay home to watch “Scandal” lol!

Also for Scandal nights, I like to cook something fun and easy for dinner. For tonight, I decided to try a new recipe! I had bookmarked several recipes from the new site I’m obsessed with, www.budgetbytes.com, and decided to make some BBQ Bean Sliders, with coleslaw, vegetarian style. It’s easy and SO, SO GOOD!

• 1 15 ounce can of black beans
• 1, 15 ounce can of pinto beans
• 1 cup of BBQ sauce
• 1 small onion (diced)
• 1 garlic clove (I typically just buy minced garlic)
• a sprinkle of paprika
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• Hamburger buns

For the coleslaw you will need:

• A bag of coleslaw mix (typically found in the section with bags of salad and spinach mix)
• 1/3 cup of mayonnaise
• Green onions, diced
• 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (I didn’t have any on hand, so I just used some spicy and sweet mustard that I had)
• black pepper (to your liking)
• salt (I rarely cook with salt, but when I do, I use sea salt)

In a medium pot, cook the diced onion and garlic in the olive oil for about 5-7 minutes over medium heat.  While that’s cooking, drain the 2 cans of beans, then rinse. Add the beans, sprinkle of paprika,  1 cup of BBQ sauce to the onion and garlic mix. Stir occasionally.

While the beans are warming, prepare the coleslaw!

You’ll need to separate bowls. In one bowl, pour the coleslaw mix in a medium-sized bowl. Add the diced green onions

In a separate small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, honey, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper until smooth. Add the dressing to the coleslaw mix and green onions, then stir to combine.

Now make your burger! Grab the hamburger buns, add lots of the BBQ beans the bun, then top with coleslaw!

 

 

Mayo mix for the coleslaw

 

 

Beans and bbq mix. (Kind of looks like chili here lol)

 

 

 

Once again this recipe was a huge hit with me and the kids.  And you know kids are always a tough crowd in general right? So easy! And so perfect for Scandal Thursday! I also made a side of green beans so we could have some veggies as well.

So with this easy meal and a nice bottle of wine, your night will be made!