Vegan Quinoa Lettuce Burgers

 

This month's Recipe Redux theme is a Play on Patties. So with our fellow bloggers, you will be seeing a pelthora of delicious, healthy patties--turkey burgers, potato patties, and the like--in honor of St. Patty's Day, of course.

We have been on a quinoa kick lately, in part because quinoa is awesome and also because of the quinoa book that we've been working on. So we decided to develop a recipe that uses this great grain as a meat substitute. As a bonus, we've used flax seed instead of the traditional egg to bind the ingredients together so that it's vegan as well. Between quinoa being a complete protein and the flax having so many great Omega-3's, this burger is a great meat substitute. And because you have the grain on the inside of the burger, you don't need the bun and can fill up on veggies instead!

And it's really delicious. The end.

Ingredients
1 1/2 C quinoa, cooked
3/4 C shredded apple
2 green onions, chopped
1 T Worcestershire sauce (Take out for vegan version)
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic
1/2 C cornmeal
1 1/2 tsp ground flax + 4 Tbsp water
coconut oil
tomato
green leaf lettuce

Directions
1. Mix together the quinoa, shredded apple, and green onion.
2. In a small bowl, mix together Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic. Pour over quinoa and stir. Stir in the cornmeal.
3. Using a blender, food processor, or electric mixer, beat together flax and water until it becomes thick. Add to quinoa and stir.
4. Heat a skillet to medium heat. Put a small amount of coconut oil on the skillet. Form a patty with your hands and place it in the pan. Allow it to brown on one side and then carefully flip it over.
5. When the patty has been cooked on both sides, remove from heat and place on a paper towel to absorb extra oil. Let cook for 5 to 10 minutes.
6. Top with a thick tomato slice and wrap in several leaves of lettuce. Enjoy immediately.

An InLinkz Link-up

Tasty Vegetarian Black Bean and Brown Rice Chili

Recipe Redux is here again, and this month we are posting about recipes that are easy to make in a slow cooker that don't include casseroles. Isn't that perfect? This time of year always makes me want the kinds of recipes that heat all day long in my kitchen, making it smell delicious way before dinner ever starts.

It is that time of year that we enjoy a nice warm dinner. My family has enjoyed eating chili like this that you can be creative and add your favorite toppings. This had a nice combination of spices. It an easy recipe to assemble together. I loved all the bright colors in it and it was delicious. This is a chili you could freeze too.

Ingredients
3 T grapeseed oil or olive oil
1 yellow onion diced
1 large red pepper or green chopped
6 garlic cloves
2 tsp chili powder
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2- 15oz black beans
1 10 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles undrained
2 C of vegetable broth or water
1 tsp honey
1 to 1 1/2 C cooked brown rice
juice from fresh lime
1 avocado diced
1/2 C chopped cilantro
1 to 2 diced tomatoes
* other optional toppings cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips

Directions (Serves 6)
1. Heat oil in skillet. Throw in the onion, peppers and garlic cook and stir about 5 min or until softened. Pour into crock pot
2. Stir in the beans and spices, broth, tomatoes and honey. Turn up to medium heat. Let it cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Then turn down to low until almost ready to serve.
3. Right before serving stir in riceand let it heat all the way trhough for 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Stir in the lime juice and serve.  Top with avocado, cilantro and tomatoes. (You can also add addiontal toppings. Enjoy!

Sun-Dried Tomato and Artichoke Chicken Fettuccine

Mom asked me to spotlight one of our favorite meals today. We like this recipe so much and eat it so often that we buy the Costco-sized jars of artichokes and sun-dried tomatoes. It's easy to make and delicious!

This recipe makes enough for us to have two big servings (and I do mean big--my husband loves this and eats a large portion) and two leftover servings for lunch the next day. It's one of our favorite leftover meals. So if you want to make less or more, that's an idea of where this starts you out.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
12 oz. of your favorite whole grain linguine
1 c. sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
3/4 c. olive oil
1 1/2 c. artichoke hearts, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
3 tsp. basil


Directions:

1. Grill your chicken breasts and cut into bite-sized pieces.

2. Start your linguine boiling in a large pot.

3. Put your sun-dried tomatoes, olive oil, artichoke hearts, and spices in a large saucepan and simmer together, stirring occasionally.

4. When your linguine is done boiling, take your sun-dried tomato mixture off the heat and mix the chicken and pasta.

5. Serve and enjoy!


Possible variations:

1. Add some of your other favorite veggies. We've tried it with zucchini, peppers, and other veggies, and it is delicious.

2. Vegetarian: simply omit chicken for an even easier meal!

3. Add some chopped garlic! Delicious!