Black Bean and Quinoa Veggie Burgers

We've all had a bad veggie burger. They're bland and mushy and leave you unsatisfied. 

Before I made these black bean and quinoa burgers, I had only tried one other time to make vegan burgers. They were okay, but I wasn't going to hold onto the recipe. The other day I had my friend over for dinner because she was considering going vegan and wanted to pick my brain. Since I was leaving to go out of town the day after she came over I didn't have much food to work with, but thankfully I found a recipe for veggie burgers using most of the ingredients I had in the house. Overall the recipe reviews were positive, but I wasn't sure how "veganizing" the burgers would affect their consistency and more importantly if they'd hold together. Nobody likes a crumbly burger.

Thankfully, these turned out great! They actually had flavor and didn't fall apart with each bite we took. If you're okay with spice, I'd highly recommend increasing the seasonings even more to bump up the flavor. These are also great burgers to freeze and reheat throughout the week.

Black Bean and Quinoa Veggie Burgers

(Serves 5)

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup cooked black beans (or one can, drain and rinsed)
• 1/4 cup dry quinoa*
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth*
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 2 tablespoons minced onion
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon frank's hot sauce
• 1 flax egg (1 tablespoon ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons warm water)
• 1/4 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup corn
• 1 small jalapeño, seeded and minced

*If you already have some cooked quinoa, you can substitute the 1/4 cut dry quinoa and 1/2 cup veggie broth for 3/4 cup cooked quinoa.

Directions:

1. Prepare your flax egg by whisking together 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed with 3 tablespoons of warm water. Set aside to "gel".
2. In a small sauce, bring the quinoa and vegetable broth to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes until the quinoa is tender and the broth has been absorbed.
3. While the quinoa is cooking, place the black beans into a large bowl and mash them with a fork until there are only a few whole beans left and a paste has formed.
4. Add in the flax egg, oat flour, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, hot sauce, cilantro, corn and jalapeño and mix everything together using your hands.
5. Form into 5 patties and if possible let the patties rest for 20 minutes in the fridge.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and spray a baking tray with cooking spray. Place the chilled patties on the baking tray and spray the tops with cooking spray.
7. Bake the patties for 15 minutes, flip the over, and bake for 15 minutes more.
8. For extra delicious patties, after the patties have baked in the oven, "fry" them on a hot skillet for 2 minutes on each side using cooking spray.
9. Serve on whole wheat buns with any fixings you desire! In my opinion, lettuce, tomato, avocado and spicy mustard are always winners.

Notes: Adapted from All Recipes.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the burgers after baking. They went too quickly!

Eat Consciously,

Faith

WIAW: Spicy Black Beans with Cilantro and Lime

Yesterday was a weird eating day. You know, those days where you're busy rushing around and end up eating meals at weird hours or just snack through lunch. These days usually happen when I'm prepping a lot of food for the week. I always want to taste test all the food I make and then I never really get hungry. 

Today I'll share with you a "weird" day of eats, some experiments in the kitchen and a Spicy Black Bean with Cilantro and Lime recipe (at the bottom!). Check out Jenn's blog for other recipe ideas!

Meal #1: My Growing Oat Bran Bowl using 1/3 cup oat bran cooked in 2 cups water. I stirred in 1/2 cup pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, ginger, vanilla extract and stevia.  Almond butter on top.

Brett and I just got back home after being in Virginia for the past ten days. We were meeting with a lot of people for work and ate most of our meals out. Now you might think I'm crazy, but I'm one of those people that would rather eat at home than eat out (usually). By the time we got home my body was craving lots of fruits, veggies and home-cooked meals. And of course I was aching to start experimenting in the kitchen.

I still wonder about when I grew to like cooking. When I was younger I would always tell my Mom that I would rather mow the lawn, clean the house, weed the garden...basically do ANYTHING other than cooking. Now I can't stop thinking about new recipe I want to create! We'll see how long this phase will last.

Meal #2: All-bran, homemade granola and banana with freshly Homemade Vanilla Almond Milk.

I think I've discovered my favorite ratio for homemade almond milk. Yum!

Since I was doing a lot of experimenting in the kitchen, I ended up taste testing and snacking most of the afternoon. I'm always looking for ways to use the almond pulp that is left over from making Homemade Almond Milk. Yesterday I tried making brownies with almond pulp and dates. Their flavorful and hold together well, but they never really "cooked" and are really moist. While delicious, I don't think they're quite right. You win some you lose some!

Meal #3: Carrots, Celery, Whole Wheat Rosemary Wheat Thins 

and Avocado Hummus (recipe coming soon!)

One of Brett's coworkers invited us and another couple over for dinner last night. She was making enchiladas and asked me to bring some type of bean dish and a vegan dessert. These beans might look like mush, but they're delicious! When jalapeños, cumin and cilantro are involved you can't go wrong. For dessert I made Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies using coconut oil. Those were a big hit.

Meal #4: Spicy Black Beans on top of Brown Rice (not pictured) 

with a side of green beans (not pictured).

Spicy Black Beans with Cilantro and Lime

(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

• 1/4 onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 cans black beans (or 3 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 3/4 teaspoon cumin
• salt to taste 
• juice of 1 lime
• handful of cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1. In a large sauce pan over medium heat, sauté the onion, jalapeño and garlic until the onion is soft.
2. Add in the black beans, vegetable broth, cumin and salt and let cook for about 5 minutes.
3. After the beans start to thicken, use a potato masher to mash the beans until about 1/2 are left whole.
4. Continue to let the beans cook until they have thickened then squeeze in the lime juice and stir in the cilantro.
5. Pour into a serving bowl, garnish with more cilantro and eat!

Right before bed I ate one of my brownies and that was it! Enjoy your Wednesday!

Would you rather eat out or eat at home?

Have you ever made homemade almond milk? What do you do with the leftover pulp?

Eat Consciously,

Faith

Moroccan Carrot and Raisin Couscous

 

I love this dish. It's so simple and filling and makes your kitchen smell incredible while it's cooking. I decided to make it for my dinner duty tonight for our family's Thanksgiving week together. My Dad rented a house for our entire family to use in West Virginia. My whole immediate family is here as well as my Grandparents, my Aunt and Uncle and three of my cousins. It's amazing how much our family has grown in the past few years. All of my siblings and I are now married and two of my siblings have kids! It's such a joy to have a full week together and to spend some quality time with my nieces and nephew. Since moving to Florida and it's become harder to see my family, so I'm always incredibly thankful for these family gatherings.

This is also the first holiday I'm spending with my family since going vegan. I wasn't sure how they'd feel about a Mediterranean meal, but everyone ended up loving it! Along with this couscous recipe I served roasted cauliflower with sweet tahini dressing, a green salad with lots of yummy toppings, pita chips and hummus and baked chicken for all the meat-eaters. For dessert I also made chocolate chip cookie bars which I love. Everyone went back for seconds and kept complimenting me on how good everything was. Success.

I actually got this recipe from my friend who used to write a blog. She's no longer posting, but I still go to her blog often to try out some of the recipes she has listed there. This recipe caught my eye because of the small list of ingredients and short cooking time. Try this simple recipe out! It's delicious as a side dish or the main course.

Moroccan Carrot and Raisin Couscous

(Makes 4-5 servings)

 Ingredients:

· 4 cups vegetable broth

· 1 cup chopped carrots

· 1 cup chopped sweet onion

· 1 cup cooked chickpeas

· 1.5 –2 tablespoons Moroccan spice mixture*

· 1 cup raisins

· 2 cups couscous

*If can either use ras-el-hanout or make your own Moroccan spice mixture by mixing the following spices together:

 

· 1 teaspoon ground cumin

· 1 teaspoon ground ginger

· 1 teaspoon salt

· 3/4 teaspoon black pepper

· 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

· 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

· 1/4 teaspoon cayenne

· 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

1. Pour the vegetable broth, carrots, onion and chickpeas into a medium sized sauce pan and bring the liquid to a boil.

2. Once the liquid boils, reduce the heat to medium low and let simmer for 8 minutes.

3. Add in the Moroccan spice mixture, stir, and let simmer for 2 more minutes.

4. Add in the raisins and couscous. Stir well, cover, remove from heat and let sit for ten minutes or until all of the liquid is absorbed.

5. Fluff with a fork and serve hot!

Notes: I did not create this recipe but got it from here!

Eat Consciously,

     Faith