Quinoa Black Bean & Mushroom Burger

 Quinoa is one of my favorite ancient grains.  It is quite versatile, filling and nutritious.  I came up with this savory burger recipe for our meatless dinner nights. 

You will be pleasantly surprised at how filling and delicious these burgers are.  Feel free to experiment with toppings by adding cheese, tomato, lettuce, etc.  I added smoked cheddar cheese and a very simple avocado sauce as toppings and served it on toasted garlic naan bread, along with a side of sweet potato fries. 

 It was absolutely delicious!!!

By the way, these burgers can be made a day in advance and they freeze amazingly well. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dry (uncooked) Quinoa
1 tablespoon olive oil
½  red onion (finely chopped)
3 garlic cloves (chopped)
½ yellow or red pepper
½ cup chopped mushrooms
2/3 cup cooked organic corn
1 can organic black beans
2 tablespoons of tomato paste
1 large egg
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
½ cup rolled oats
¼ cup oat flour (I simply grounded some rolled oats in Vitamix)

Avocado garnish:

1 avocado
Juice of one lime
2 tablespoons cilantro
½ teaspoon honey
Salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons of plain yogurt
Process and set aside in refrigerator to use as topping for burgers.
*We are avocado freaks so I opted to keep my avocado sauce on the "chunky" side.  Feel free to adjust the consistency of the sauce to suit your preference.*

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1 – Cook Quinoa in 1 ½ cup of filtered water at medium heat for 10-15 minutes or until all of the water is completely evaporated and Quinoa is fluffy.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Step 2 – In a separate pan on medium heat, add olive oil, garlic, onion and sea salt. Cook until onion is translucent.  Next add mushrooms, pepper, cumin, chili powder,  and red pepper flakes.  Cook for an additional  5 minutes.   Place in a large bowl and add black beans.  Mash up the beans with a potato ricer or fork until everything has a mushy texture.

Step 3 – Add tomato paste, egg, corn and cilantro.  Stir in cooked Quinoa, rolled oats and oat flour until it is all blended.  Shape the paste into burgers.  This recipe yielded 9 patties. 

Step 4 – Slightly oil a cast iron pan and cook each burger for 10-12 minutes on each side or until golden brown.

Serve by itself or on toasted hamburger bun or naan bread.  Add Avocado sauce as topping, along with your favorite trimmings.

Enjoy!

Honey Nut Butter Candy (Sugar Free!) - Recipe

For some time now I have been contemplating making my children some homemade candy.  In my search, I was able to find a few appealing recipes on Pintrest and had filed them away for "later".  

Since time is a commodity for me, I have this rule with recipes...if they do not involve three ingredients or less, I tend to either ignore them or put them in the back (waaay back) burner.   Well, a few days ago, my very cool neighbor mentioned that she recently made some good candy for her daughters using honey, peanut butter and vanilla.  My interested was piqued at the short ingredients list and I quickly asked her to send me the recipe.  Fast forward and in short order I had some really happy children in my home.  It was super easy, delicious and so gratifying to know it had REAL wholesome ingredients.  With candy this good you don't mind them having a treat once in a while.

I am certain this recipe can be tweeked in so many ways.  In fact, I will be making more soon and I am already thinking of how I can make this taste like salt water toffee (which I love!).  Hmmm.

Below is the recipe as it was emailed to me.  I am not sure what blog my neighbor got the recipe from as I received it from her in text form .  Once I find out I will include it on this post.  For now, it should be noted that the cookbook Grain Free Gourmet is mentioned as inspiration for the recipe.  

I altered a few things which are noted in red.  I sure hope you try it for your little ones or yourself and let me know how you like it.