Vegan Quinoa Veggie Bean Burger, No egg, No meat! Seedtastic! Yes Please!

We have transitioned to eating meatless dairy free veggie bean burgers. We love them! Summertime is in full swing, and it's time we enjoy my "Seedlicious" Quinoa Veggie Bean Burgers for a healthier alternative to the charred meat patty we grew up eating this time of year. These really are fantastic tasting, and they do not have the cancer causing barbecue bits on them either! I loaded them up with all manner of super food nutrition and zippy spices, although If you need to add the hot stuff go right ahead, that is not our thing. These quinoa veggie bean burgers would be considered vegan and vegetarian, and so would be perfect for transitional meatless Monday... or any day of the week! The family will love them.

Just like the burgers of your youth, you can freeze what you do not use, to save for those days when you don't feel like preparing dinner. Yes I have those days... A lot. Although today I want to make some veggie burgers right now. Please note most of my ingredients are organic. Do the best you can, and try to make sure the corn (especially so important that it's non-GMO), veggies, and beans are organic. So let's get to it! Cause' these healthy veggie burgers are good any time of the year!

Seedtastic! Quinoa Veggie Bean Burger

1 small can kidney or black beans

2 shredded carrots

1 small minced onion

1 medium green sweet pepper

1 -2 garlic cloves minced

1/4 cup organic corn

1 TB rice vinegar

1 TB coconut aminos 

1 TB garbanzo bean miso
spring water

SEEDS N' NUTS

1 cup of cooked quinoa

1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup almonds

2 TBS sunflower seeds

2 TBS pumpkin seeds

2 TBS ground sesame seeds

2 TB ground flax powder

2 Tb hemp seeds

2 TB chia gelled

1 TB mustard

1 TB ketchup

1 TB nutritional yeast

1 TB dulse flakes

SPICE

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp curry

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

First soak a half cup of walnuts in one cup of water, for thirty minutes, let this sit while you prepare the other burger ingredients. Then drain off the water.  

Be sure to rinse 1/2 cup of quinoa in a mesh strainer before cooking, to remove the sapolines. Cook the rinsed quinoa seeds in covered saucepan in 1 cup of spring water. Bring water to a boil then simmer quinoa approximately 10 -15 minutes until tender, water is absorbed, and the little ringlets appear. I used the light quinoa which is usually the cheapest. I have not tasted any difference in flavor between quinoa colors. The rainbow quinoa mixes just look prettier, and that's cool.

If you have decided to cook up extra quinoa while doing this recipe, or you have any leftover quinoa after making these burgers, you can either make this wonderful sweet hearty breakfast quinoa, or this savory cold quinoa veggie salad! (You can learn more about cooking quinoa here. Quinoa is a 2:1 ratio just like rice. It may create more quinoa than you think! That's a good thing, as you can do much with versatile leftover quinoa!)

While quinoa is cooking, rinse your canned beans in strainer. Shred carrots by hand, or use food processor. Mince onion, garlic, and green pepper. Grind sesame seeds. Place 2 TB chia in small dish and cover with water to create gel.

Set aside 1/4 cup shredded carrot, 1/4 cup minced onion, 1/4 cup minced green peppers, and 1/4 cup frozen organic corn, into large mixing bowl. Place the rest of the shredded carrot, minced onions, minced garlic, minced green peppers, and beans, into a pan to saute with a bit of spring water, rice vinegar, coconut aminos, and miso. Cook down 5-8 minutes, adding water when needed so not to stick. Set aside mixture to cool. You can see I was out of the green peppers this time, and I also opted for the kidney beans. As with many of these vegan dishes you can change up many ingredients, and be creative.

In food processor place flax, walnuts, almonds, 1/2 cup quinoa, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, mustard, ketchup, nutritional yeast, dulse flakes, chia gel, and spices. Pulse these items together to mix into a rough grainy consistency, without making it into a powder. Now add the cooled bean, sauteed carrot, onion, garlic, pepper, mixture. Pulse into a rough looking meaty mixture. See below.

It certainly does look meaty. I think the kidney beans and carrots are causing the color effect, then the nuts and quinoa give it the meat-like texture. (That's a close up of quinoa in the saucepan below.) 

Add the meaty food processor mixture into the large bowl that you set aside earlier with the carrot, corn, minced pepper, and onions. Add in the other 1/2 cup of quinoa to the large bowl too. Hand mix everything together. These reserved veggies add more texture, color, and flavor to the burgers. Cover the bowl and sit in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to firm up. Since it is not really meat you actually can stick your finger in and taste it! Should be yummy even at this stage!

Preheat oven 350 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper, and place a few drops of cooking oil in your hands to rub over the surface of parchment paper. Form patties from the cooled mixture in large bowl. Handle lightly and quickly. You can see by the photo below that I am not about perfect circles. So crazy that it looks like old fashioned meat patties.

Place patties on oiled parchment cookie sheet, and cook 15 minutes on each side till brown. Finish them by cooking 400 degrees for 10 minutes to brown up more. Oven temps vary so you be the judge if your patties need to cook more. When perfectly done these veggie bean burgers are light and moist inside.  

Serve your quinoa veggie bean burger open face on lettuce, upon a roll, or between two slices of a hearty bread. Then add your garnish of sprouts, lettuce, tomato and ketchup. I used Wegmans organic bakery bread called 'Marathon" which is filled with seeds too. I was not kidding about the "seedtastic-ness!" 

I think a side of awesome homemade organic potato salad would be perfect. A darn delish dish! 

Freeze veggie burger extras between parchment paper in freezer bags, or reserve a few of the burgers in a glass container in the refrigerator for the next day's lunch or dinner. You can reheat the burgers in toaster oven. Oh boy! Do I love great leftovers! Enjoy this taste of summer! Be happy! Be healthy! Be peace!

If you are new to The Queen's Table Blog you can become a follower on Instagram  or on facebook, and learn about our daily healthy eating choices. 

Fennel Jicama Carrot Pear Juice

This 'Fennel Jicama Juice' is inspired by a recipe from Dan McDonald - The Life Regenerator. Just when I was watching one of his DVD's called "Juicing For Energy and Peak Performance," we got a fresh fennel bulb from the CSA. Great timing! Since I did not know what to do with fennel last year, this was the perfect solution for us! 

Can we say 'beyond amazing' taste? I think that we can! Fennel has a licorice/anise flavor and even though I never liked black licorice as a kid, I found the flavor of fresh fennel to be extremely satisfying. Especially in this juice recipe! After taking a sip, hubby and I just looked at each other and said, "Oh WoW!' ...WoW!...and WoW! ...again. A seriously different flavor than any other drink! Thank you 'Dan The Man!' 

Fennel Jicama Carrot Pear Juice

1 entire Fennel Bulb

4 pears

4 carrots 

1/2 jicama peeled

1 inch ginger peeled

Prepare your organic items and run through your juicer. I put the entire fennel bulb and fronds into my Breville juicer. You can add the pears directly to the juicer, or instead use a blender afterwards to mix the pears with your juice of fennel, jicama, carrot, and ginger. If you juice the pears be sure to put the carrots in afterwards to push through the soft matter in your juicer. Taste your creation! Isn't that fantastic!!! 

You can find Dan McDonald's DVDs for sale here on his website. Dan says this juice is a great tonic for your digestion since pears and fennel are soothing for that area of the body. The only thing different from Dan's original juice recipe is that I added jicama to the recipe, and changed a few amounts.  

All the ingredients in this delicious juice are naturally sweet, then the ginger and fennel give it zing! Definitely give this fennel, jicama, carrot, pear, juice a try! You will love it for sure!!! A memorable juice experience, and good for you too! Sigh. We are happy in the neighborhood.

Chocolate Avocado Pudding: WoW! What A Decadent Vegan Mousse!

My daughter made this yummy chocolate avocado pudding, and I just had to share her recipe with you!  So creamy, so delish! I know... it seems hard to imagine how these two flavors go together. The magic is that they do! Oh my! Plus, look how simple this tasty pudding is to create! You can do this! Healthy super desserts! What's not to love! It's chocolate for goodness sake! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Must go in the tummy now!

Chocolate/Avocado Pudding

1 Large Florida avocado, or 2 California avocados

1/4 Cup Organic Dark Chocolate powder (+/- to taste)

1/4 Cup Maple syrup (+/- to taste)

Pinch of salt

1/2 tsp real Vanilla extract

1/4 cup coconut milk

Place all ingredients, except coconut milk in blender, and combine. The coconut milk is added to thin it out enough, to reach a pudding consistency. Add some of the coconut milk, and blend again. Check consistency, and taste. Add more milk and or sweetener as needed. This dessert holds up well covered in the refrigerator for the next evening's dessert! Very different than other recipes involving avocados! ... ENJOY! 

The Satisfying Comfort Of Healthy And Sweet Breakfast Quinoa

The healthy yum factor, and the gooeyness of comfort food come together in this delicious hearty breakfast! Plus it's extra easy when you have leftover plain quinoa in the fridge. This version of sweet breakfast quinoa was inspired by the Sunday buffet at our local food co-op. We like to eat, then have a fresh juice, before we food shop to cut down on overspending out of hunger. Since it's healthy organic food it's a win win situation at the co-op. We have nothing as healthy available where we live, so I always look forward to eating out at the cafe! Who knew eating out at a food market would be such a special treat with no guilt needed?

Seems the breakfast quinoa is only available on Sunday's, so when food shopping on that day I get to enjoy someone else preparing my breakfast treat. What about the other days? Well that is why I made this recipe, so we all can enjoy this super breakfast food full of protein and goodness anytime. Nor is this a breakfast food made only for winter enjoyment either. Oh no no no. Cold nut milk and fresh berries make this a perfect summer breakfast too! 

You can make many variations on the following recipe ingredients depending on what you have in your fridge and pantry. Cook up the quinoa fresh, or use leftover quinoa that you did not simmer in vegetable broth and still remains plain in flavor. Although savory quinoa would taste great in the morning in place of home-fries. It is my pattern to make much more quinoa than I need in any dinner recipe, so I can utilize those valuable leftovers! Remember to try this one when you have a leftover bowl of quinoa sitting in your fridge.

Comforting Sweet Breakfast Quinoa

2 cups cooked quinoa

Raisins

Gogi berries

Golden raisins

2 chopped dates

chopped dried apricots

dried cranberries

walnuts 

pecans

2 TBS hemp seeds

2 TBS maple syrup and or honey

1 TB cinnamon

1/4 Tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp vanilla

zest of 1/2 orange

1/3 cup coconut milk

After above ingredients are warmed together you can 

add the items below to your individual bowl.

Try to use almond, hemp, or coconut milk that does not contain carrageenan.

Fresh Blueberries, Strawberries or other fruit to top.

Recipe serves two or three people.

As you can see this is not a super precise recipe, as the ingredients are more or less to taste and the volume you like in your mixture. Hopefully this gives you a general idea of what can be used. Dried fruits are the sweetest items you can eat so keep that in mind when deciding how many you would like to add. Be aware I always use organic raisins because those made in the conventional way are loaded with pesticides. 

The flavoring of the spices and orange zest are the main keys to a great taste. I also prefer using real maple syrup as it also adds to the flavor. My daughter and her partner tapped some maple trees this spring to cook down into syrup, and we are fortunate to enjoy their sweet sweet labor! Please note that I never use agave to sweeten any recipe, as that is no different than using high fructose corn syrup.

To begin: Prepare quinoa, or use leftover quinoa. I think its best to already have the cooked quinoa in the fridge and cooled down for the thick texture. In this case...leftovers...good! If you would like information about quinoa and how to prepare this wondrous seed go to my blog post here called 'Quinoa Cold Salad.'

Add all ingredients including 1/3 cup coconut milk to saucepan. 

Stir and warm over low heat. You can adjust the coconut milk according to how much quinoa you are using. You want just enough coconut milk to soften the mixture and the various dried fruits. That's it! 

You are ready to place some breakfast quinoa in a bowl!

Top with your nut milk, fresh berries, or fruit of choice. Mmmmmmmm.

We had enough for two small bowls and leftovers!

Enjoy your Morning of happy nutrition, and old fashioned satisfying comfort food! 
Just like grandma used to make...hey... wait...I am grandma!
(...and my grandma didn't even know about the amazing world of quinoa! Whoa!)