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!

My Grandma's Arepa

Oh how I miss my Abuelita!  She transitioned unexpectedly 25 years ago when I was 18 years old.  Somehow it feels like it was just yesterday.  Her transition happened at a point when I was just starting to appreciate her - our relationship was deepening.  One of the things we all looked forward to as a family was when Abuela made her Dominican arepa.  The entire house smelled like 'home' when she cooked.   As a young girl I vividly recall anxiously waiting for Abuela to finish pouring the batter into the baking dish so that I could grab the pot and eat the crusty left over batter at the bottom.  A few of us would fight for the rights to that crusty pot and somehow she often favored me.  

Now I know at this point you are likely asking 'what is arepa'?   There are many cultural variations, but Dominican arepa is a very filling and dense cake made with cornmeal and coconut milk.   It is extremely simple to prepare and is quite delicious as a snack or for breakfast when paired with warm milk or coffee.


Feeling a bit nostalgic I wanted to attempt to recreate my grandma's arepa.  It came out really good and I am not just saying that;  my mom and aunt both said so.  And since I received their stamp of approval I felt compelled to share the recipe.

Dominican Arepa Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of real butter (not margarine) - for pan
3 tablespoons of real butter
2 cups of organic non-gmo cornmeal
3 1/2 cups of real milk
2 1/2 cups of organic coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 cup of raisins (I used organic currants for a more subtle flavor)
4 cinnamon sticks broken into smaller pieces
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
1/4 vanilla extract

Steps
1. Grease your pan with butter.  (I used a spring form cheesecake pan which worked beautifully for this). 
2.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees
3.  In a large bowl mix your 3 tablespoons of butter, cornmeal, real milk, coconut milk, sea salt, raisins, cinnamon sticks, brown sugar and vanilla.  You want to stir this well so that the cornmeal is pretty much dissolved and not in clumps.
4.  Pour your mixture into a large enough pot and turn on medium heat.  You want to continuously stir so as to avoid clumping.  It will take approximately 10 minutes for your mixture to get as thick as pudding.  When mixture stars to bubble you may remove the cinnamon sticks from the pot.  You can certainly choose to leave them in, but the cinnamon sticks will prevent clean cuts when it's time to slice your cake as they will get in the way.
5. Immediately pour your hot mixture into the baking pan.  You may want to place the pan on a cookie sheet to avoid any run off.
5.  Bake for 40 minutes.  When done remove from oven and set aside to set.  Wait several hours before cutting to ensure firmness.  Allowing it to set overnight will also make for a cleaner cut.

Enjoy this wholesome cake with a glass of milk or coffee!

A Banana Bread Recipe Worth Sharing!

About two weeks ago we purchased a banana bread loaf at the local Amish store.  It was probably the best banana bread I have tasted in a very long time; it was so moist and so full of flavor which made it hard to stop at just one slice. My very picky eaters devoured the entire loaf in a matter of 3 hours.  And at $6 a loaf, I had a compelling reason to learn how to make this at home.  Upon learning from the store owner what her ingredients were, I was somewhat disappointed and set out to make my own healthy version of banana bread. 


And so I did, and it came out pretty darn good! I am an excellent cook but I am not the best in the baking department.  So the fact that my family devoured it in record time makes me feel confident enough to share it with you.

Feel free to adjust any portion to suit your family's dietary preference.
 
Banana Bread Recipe


4 ripe bananas
1.5 cup of sugar (I used organic)
1/2 cup of melted butter (I used real butter)
2 eggs
2 tablespoons of sour cream (or yogurt if sour cream is not available)
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1.5 cup unbleached flour (I used King Arthur's Organic)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp real sea salt


Step 1
Mix bananas, sugar, butter, eggs, sour cream and vanilla in a large bowl with a hand mixer at low speed until well blended.

 

 

 

Step 2
In a separate bowl, mix your dry ingredients:  Flour, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt and cinnamon.

Step 3
Incorporate dry ingredients into bowl with wet ingredients. I used a wooden spoon but you can also use the hand mixer on the low setting. Blend for about 1 minute until all ingredients are well incorporated.

Step 4
Pour mixture into a loaf pan that has been greased with butter and lightly floured.

Step 5
Bake for approximately 60 minutes at 350 degrees.

Step 6
Enjoy!

Thank you for reading and as always, many blessings to you and yours in all of your endeavors.

Spicy Lo Mein - Recipe!

I have had a few requests for this very simple Lo Mein recipe.  It has officially become our meatless meal for the week.  Actually my husband loved it so much he has requested it several times this week.  I hope you try it and love it as much as we do.

I note below the ingredients I utilized.  However, if you cannot source *organic*, use what you have available.  This recipe is enough to feed 4-5 people OR... (as in our case) two very hungry adults.  I am almost embarrassed to disclose that, but I promise you, it's THAT good. :-)

Ingredients:

Organic Spaghetti  (1/2 box)
Fresh broccoli cut into small florettes (approx. 3 cups)
Fresh Mushrooms (8 Oz container)
Coarsely chopped cabbage (approx 3 cups)
Large white onion
Three scallions
2 large carrots (julienne style or shredded)
3 tablespoons of organic soy sauce
3 tablespoons of gluten-free Szechuan sauce
7 tablespoons of filtered water
1 tablespoon of organic potato starch (or tapioca starch)
1 tablespoon sea salt (if you are sensitive to salt you may want to reduce this to 1/2 tsp)

Step 1 - After your veggies are all prepped, in a medium sauce pan place filtered water in stove on high heat.  Add one teaspoon of olive oil and sea salt to taste to your boiling water.  You want the pasta cooking while you cook your vegetables.

Step 2 - In a wok or stainless steel pan add 3 tablespoons of real butter (or olive oil).  Melt this on medium heat.

Step 3 - Add onions first, then proceed with the cabbage, mushrooms and sea salt.  Allow this to cook down a bit for about 5-10 minutes. 

Step 4 - Now that the above has cooked down a bit you can add your broccoli, carrots and scallions.  Cook for another 3 minutes and turn flame off.  Turning flame off will allow you to enjoy slightly crunchy veggies.  If you leave flame on you will end up with overcooked and mushy veggies. 

Step 5 - Combine 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 3 tablespoons of szechuan sauce, 7 tablespoons of filtered water and 1 tablespoon of potato starch.  Make sure your starch is completely dissolved in the liquid.  Add to your veggies and stir.  The starch will add a wonderful thickness to the dish.

Step 6 - Your pasta should be cooked to perfection by now.  I prefer mine aldente so that it is not mushy when added to the veggies.  Once you are happy with the firmness, you can remove from the stove and drain. 

Step 7 - Add drained pasta to veggies and stir. I turn the fire on high for about 3 minutes right before I am ready to serve the meal so as to allow the flavors to blend a bit more. 

**You can alternate this recipe by adding shrimp (as shown here) or cooked chicken if you so desire. **

**If you do not have the Szechuan sauce readily available you can use 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper.  I prefer the Szechuan sauce because of its flavor but the cayenne alone provides the heat needed.  However, if you cut out the Szechuan sauce, I would recommend doubling the amount of water and starch.**






If you try this recipe be sure to leave a comment letting me know how you liked it or how you tweaked it to suit your family.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Enjoy and do share!!!

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