Today we did nothing but stay home most of the day and play catch up. I wore my stay at home mom uniform all day: t-shirt, hoodie, sweat pants, no bra. I swapped out my sweat pants for jeans when we ran Ava to dance class and got a few groceries late this afternoon – still no bra, thank you hoodie. You’ll be glad to know I’m back in my uniform once again.

I’ve been in search of the perfect homemade veggie burger recipe for a while now. The black bean burgers I make are quick, easy and tasty, but they aren’t perfect. They are pretty mushy and need a little more structure.

I got a little closer to veggie burger perfection with another version of black bean burgers, made with sun dried tomatoes and sunflower seeds, but they were still a little too soft. Better, but not perfect. Those lost points in the ease department.

I’m not going to take this challenge lying down. Today I studied a few more recipes and came up with something new, something different. A recipe involving everyone’s favorite pseudo grain – quinoa!

1 cup of dry quinoa, cooked according to package directions. (1 cup of quinoa + 2 cups of water, cooked for about 10 – 15 minutes)
1 15 oz can of cannellini beans
3/4 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 – 2 cloves of garlic
dash of kosher salt

Once quinoa is ready, add all ingredients into the food processor and process until well combined.

This worked very well. It stuck together well without being too sticky in my hands, like my bean burgers always are. It held together perfectly and I love the taste the quinoa gave it. In my mind the food processor is “easy”, but still not as easy as mashed beans with a fork. Actually, you probably could mash the quinoa in with the beans and stir everything else in… at the very least it would make for a good arm workout.

When I started working on the veggie burgers, I also preheated the oven to 350 for some kale chip action.

Bagged, triple washed kale. What a miracle. Worth all 299 pennies.

Misto‘d with olive oil and sprinkled with nutritional yeast. I usually use parm but thought I’d try the nooch tonight.

My quinoa burger was cooked in a lightly sprayed frying pan and cooked for about 5 – 8 minutes on each side. Served on an Ezekiel roll with mustard, dill pickle, lettuce and tomato. And oh yeah, a huge pile of kale chips.

Hope you’ve got a nice big mouth! Oh yes, I believe I do.

All things considered this was a great burger! It tasted pretty neutral and could have used more seasoning of some sort, but I was experimenting and didn’t want to mess with too many variables. It had a nice consistency, wasn’t too sticky but wasn’t too dry either. Quinoa really is a wonder seed! This recipe made five good sized patties, I probably could have squeaked out a sixth had been a little more frugal with the first two patties.

So I don’t think I’ve nailed the perfect homemade veggie recipe just yet, but I’m getting there!

In other news, I added to my reusable bag collection today! Exciting stuff.

Thermal baby! Oh yes, I’ve been waiting for you thermal bag. Finally, you are mine – just in time for winter when I don’t have to worry about keeping my groceries cold in the car. Perfect.

Before I sign off, I’ll share a little something over heard from the kitchen today:

Ava, frustrated with Maxine about something: Maxine, if you don’t stop I’m going to break up with you.

Maxine: GASP NO! Don’t break up with me!

Ava: Too late. I already did.

7th grade flash back. 7th grade flash back!!