Monday, February 27, 2012

Quinoa/ Veggie burgers


So I wanted a veggie burger...an excellent one...delicious...healthy and home made...not a gross frozen one. So like any ambitious cook would do, I started digging through the fridge in search of on hand veggies...pulling out the bag of quinoa and devising my plan.....but like in any story there is a beginning and mine started in Asheville Nc.
We went to Asheville for our 10th anniversary and of course visited the Biltmore Estate. After the long, hunger inducing tour was over, we ended up eating lunch at the Carriage House. I order a veggie burger and was surely skeptical. If you have never been to Asheville let me tell you its the bees knees for all foodies...I wanted to eat somewhere way more exciting but I was too hungry to wait.. The nice waiter assured me the veggie burger was his favorite thing on the menu. Well, he didn't lie. It actually turned out being one of the best veggie burgers I had ever had. Odd, because Dave's food was gross and the menu as a whole did not appeal to me. When the nice waiter brought us our check he also brought out a card with the recipe on it! GREAT..HOORAY....but of course me being me..I lost it..SUCK......this was some time ago. Long enough that I forgot all about it until staring into my pantry at a bag of quinoa that I needed to use up. Then I remembered the burger and decided I had to make up a recipe for a delicious quinoa/veggie burger..BETTER THAN THE CARRIAGE HOUSE..( this cold air is getting to me, giving me high hopes and lofty ambitions ) so here it is. I was impressed with even myself. If you hate it, well I am sorry. If you love it..YAY. Its healthy and yummy and pretty easy.

*1 cup cooked quinoa
*1 cup herb bread crumbs (i used day old french bread and tossed in some rosemary and thyme)
*1 red bell pepper
*1/2 red onion
* 1 cup carrots
*1 and 1/2 cup broccoli
*1 can drained and rinsed black beans
*1 8oz can tomato sauce
*1 egg
*1/4 cup whole wheat flour
* a few good shakes of turmeric ( cause that's how I cook)
*a shake of cumin
*salt and pepper
* and if you don't use herbs in your bread crumbs, maybe and little rosemary and thyme
-
-chop all veggies pretty small and sauté in pan with preferred oil until tender...dump beans in too
-mix quinoa, bread crumbs and tomato sauce in bowl
-dump veggie mix in a food processor or blender and pulse..just to break down and mix em up a bit.
-combined veggies with quinoa and bread crumbs
-add spices and egg and mix until combined
-add flour a little at a time, just until it has thickened up a bit
-form burgers and cook in skillet or grill pan

It will make you around 10 burgers..I tossed the leftovers in my freezer and fully plan on reheating them for lunch later this week!

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