sour, bitter, sweet, salty and umami

Did you know those are the five flavor points? (YJDKIY found that wiki article a really interesting read, btw.)

Moving on, appearing recently on the dinner menu was a veggie salad and black bean cakes, which featured all of those tastetaculars. I sorta kinda followed the intended recipe as much little as I ever do, and pretty much made up the BBCs on the fly.

Chopped zucchini and red pepper. Blanched for about 3 minutes (I just couldn't do raw zuchs!).

Cooled in an ice bath to stop cooking, and combined with a can of EarthFare organic chick peas.

Mixed some EVOO with lemon juice (a REALLY nice alternative to my normal vinegar useage), cracked pepper, a tiny bit of garlic salt. And tons and tons of chopped fresh basil. Finished with about 2T of grated parm. Stir and chill.

Meanwhile, I mashed two cans of organic black beans, 1/3 of a red onion finely chopped, 3 garlic cloves, some cumin, fresh ground pepper, and about 2T egg beaters. Someone didn't drain her beans very well though, so I added some breadcrumbs to thicken it up. Next, mixed in about 1/2 c cooked quinoa. After all this is stirred together, smashed and cooled, I grated about 1/3 c sharp cheddar cheese into the mix. They were still pretty runny so I added more breadcrumbs before making into thin patties. YJDKIY needs to perfect the patty making shape and cooking technique. I didn't want to stand over a hot stove and pan fry each of these, so I cookie-sheeted them and baked at 400 for about 45 minutes until I was so starving they had to be ready or not (I TOLD you they were runny!).

Plated with a condiment topping of ketchup/agave/(local!)Texas Pete/garlic salt/cracked pepper...these are the ***icons*** of summer for dinner, don't you think?