Gluten Free Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

A friend of mine ordered a Black Bean Quinoa Burger at a restaurant we were at the other day and kindly let me try a bite. I found the idea of it intriguing and after I tasted it, I knew I had to make this at home.  It was actually really delicious. It doesn't truly taste like a hamburger...because it isn't...but it still tastes really good. In fact, Mike actually really loved it and said I could make it for dinner any day!

I looked up a few different recipes and ended up using them as a basis to make my own version. It has since become a staple recipe. It's so easy to make and I usually have all the ingredients on hand already which makes this a great last minute meal.

I have also made double batches and frozen them with great success. There's nothing like having meals already frozen when you don't feel like cooking.

I find myself having a hard time accurately describing the flavor, so you'll just have to make the recipe and try it for yourself!

(This recipe is gluten free but I've added notes where you can use regular gluten-ized ingredients. Some of my friends and family are gluten-free, by necessity or by choice, so I like to make recipes gluten-free if possible.)

Let me know what you think of this recipe and how it goes over with your family:


Black Bean Quinoa Burgers

1 15 oz can black beans
1/4 cup onion, diced small
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 of a can of Trader Joe's chopped green chilies or other canned green chilies
1 tsp cumin
some generous grinds of Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning OR a dash of coriander, and a dash of dry mustard

salt and pepper
2 tbsp dried parsley
2 tbsp sriracha or other favourite hot sauce
1/4 cup cooked quinoa
2 eggs
1/2 cup gluten free breadcrumbs OR gluten free rice krispies, crushed OR regular breadcrumbs

Udi's gluten free hamburger buns OR regular hamburger buns

your favourite toppings, i.e. avocado, red onion, onion rings, ketchup, mustard, mayo, cheese, pickles, tomato, etc...

(this time I remembered to take step by step photos!)

In a large bowl, mash the black beans with a potato masher.

Add the onion, garlic, chilies, parsley and spices and sriracha.

Mix well.

Add quinoa and mix again.

Push mixture to one side of the bowl and add breadcrumbs and 2 eggs, as shown:

With a fork, lightly beat the eggs and mix them into the breadcrumbs. Then mix everything together really well.

In a large sauté pan, heat about 3 tbsp of regular olive oil over medium heat. Measure out about a 1/2 cup of black bean mixture into your hand and lightly shape it into a patty shape. Carefully place it into the sauté pan. Repeat with the rest of the mixture. It should make about 4 patties.

Cook about 5 minutes on each side or until there is a nice crust on each side and burgers are cooked through.

Place them each on a hamburger bun of your choice and go crazy with the toppings. So far, our favourite toppings are avocado and onion rings. I like to serve these with sweet potato fries and a salad or peas.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Slow Cooker Lemon Thyme Whole Chicken

I finally bought myself a crock pot. After having borrowed Mama's for almost a year, I figured it was time to give it back to her and get my own. Plus, hers is the enormous, feeds an army size and I need something that will fit snuggly on teeny tiny counter space.

Now that I have my own, I've been trying to find tons of recipes that allow me to use it as often as possible. The latest one is this Whole Chicken recipe. I put the whole chicken in the crock pot with chicken stock, lemons, thyme and garlic and just let it cook. It turned out great. It was moist and fell apart and with a veggie and mashed potatoes, would make a nice mid-week meal.

Slow Cooker Lemon Thyme Whole Chicken

1 whole chicken
2 lemons, sliced
6 sprigs fresh thyme
3 large garlic cloves sliced thin
salt and pepper
Trader Joes Everyday Seasoning or a poultry seasoning blend

To prepare chicken, remove the insides (eww) and I like to rinse it off and pat it dry with paper towels.

In my crock pot, I poured about a cup of chicken stock, then placed the chicken, breast side up into the crock pot.  Pull the skin up away from the chicken breast and slide 1 sprig thyme,  2-3 slices of lemon and 3-4 slices of garlic onto each breast under the skin. Place the remaining slices of lemon, garlic and sprigs of thyme over the chicken on top of the skin and around the chicken. I roughly chopped a couple more cloves of garlic and tossed them in too for a more enhanced garlic flavour. 

Season with salt and pepper, and the everyday seasoning.  Cover your crockpot and cook according to manufacturer's directions. I cooked mine on high for about 4 hours. Check to make sure that your chicken has reached a temperature of 165 degrees. Serve with a salad, or veggies and potatoes.
I served it on a bed of garlic butter spinach.

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken

I never saw the need for a slow cooker. I never registered for one when I got married and I've never bought one. To me, a slow cooker was something you only used to make beef stew, which I detest. However, a dear friend of mine asked if I could come up with some recipes for her slow cooker. And since she is now a proud mama, I think her slow cooker might come in handy a lot in the future. So for her, I borrowed my Mama's slow cooker.

Since it's warmer weather, I decided not to start with a soup or stew. After much scanning of the web, I discovered that one can cook a lot of chicken in the slow cooker and use it for a bunch of recipes. I decided to try cooking chicken breast and then shredding it.

This recipe was AMAZING! The chicken came out tasting like a southwestern rotisserie chicken. It was so moist, it just fell apart. I had no idea such delicious chicken could come from a slow cooker!

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken

2 - 3 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup favorite Italian dressing (I used Trader Joe's Tuscan Dressing)
1 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 Tbsp Adobo Seasoning
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning

In a bowl or large glass, mix together the dressing, broth and spices.

Place chicken breasts in your slow cooker and pour the dressing mixture over the top of the chicken.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours. I cooked it for about 7 hrs.

When chicken is fully cooked, remove from slow cooker and shred.  To shred it, I take two forks and pull them in opposite directions  through the meat. As I said, it will be so moist and tender that it will fall apart.

Okay, so now I am left with 3 lbs of shredded delicious chicken...now what?
The first thing I made with it was Chicken "Tostadas". I also made BBQ chicken sandwiches. I will link both recipes to this one.

The chicken is also fabulous on salads or eaten plain, and it makes a great chicken salad. Add a little mayo, salt, lemon pepper seasoning, scallions and chopped celery.

For the two of us, this recipe made enough chicken for three days of lunches and dinners. I may have to go get myself a slow cooker...we'll see.

The Perfect BLT

The quintessential summer lunch food... It's not summer... It's cold and rainy and dreary and not at all the season for BLTs. But in the modern world who needs to follow to strictures of our parents that said you can only have chili in the winter and potato salad in the summer.

I'm ready for warmer weather. I feel as if I've spent the last four months in a frozen state. Don't get me wrong, I love winter and snow and cold weather. But when it's bone chilling cold and it isn't snowing, it's time for spring.


 I wanted to jazz up the traditional BLT a little bit. But I also didn't want to get too far away from the traditional as Mike is a purist when it comes to his BLTs. So his was made the traditional way and to jazz up my own, I added avocado slices. Let me just tell you I will never, I repeat, NEVER, eat a BLT without avocado ever again. The creaminess of ripe avocado balanced with the other ingredients so well, it was amazing!

For a side dish, I wanted something light and healthy to balance well with the BLT, not the usual potato or pasta salad. A quick Internet search brought up the idea of a citrus-y fruit salad to "balance the saltiness and grease of the bacon". Sounded good to me.


Perfect BLTs with Fruit Salad
 (for two)

6 strips good bacon
4 slices good white bread
1 ripe beefsteak tomato, sliced thick
one handful of lettuce, your favourite
half ripe avocado, sliced
mayonnaise

Cook the bacon.

I use the Alton Brown method of cooking bacon. The method is placing a cooling rack over a cookie sheet and placing the strips of bacon on the cookie sheet. You then bake the bacon at 375 for about 10-15 minutes or until the bacon is cooked to your liking.

I love this method. Not only is the bacon not swimming in its own grease while cooking but it also minimizes the smoke created by cooking bacon. As I have said before, tiny kitchen, no windows, no vent, equals fire alarm going off whenever there is smoke in the kitchen. And nothing says heart stopping like a fire alarm going off in a quiet, tiny space. I digress. 

While bacon is cooking, slice your tomato and avocado and gather up the lettuce and mayo. You are going to want to assemble the sandwiches as soon as the bacon is done cooking so that everything doesn't get cold.

I also used this time to assemble my fruit salad. I used the fruit that I had in the house at the time.

1 apple, diced
1 grapefruit
a handful of strawberries, diced
a handful of blackberries

Mix together well. I also added a pinch of sugar just to slightly sweeten the grapefruit juices.

Anyway, before the bacon is done, toast the bread slices. I don't have a toaster (they take up valuable counter space) so I use a griddle pan with the teensiest amount of butter on the pan just to get the bread slices to brown a little.

When bacon is done, remove it from the oven. Assemble the sandwich... Spread mayonnaise on each slice of bread. Then add the lettuce on top of the mayo. (I do this so that the lettuce pieces stick to the mayo and don't fall out of the sandwich later.) Top the lettuce with tomato and top the tomato with the bacon.

 I fold each slice of bacon in half like a slight V shape and layer two slices vertically and one slice horizontally so that there is equal bacon coverage on the sandwich. Now, on the other half of the bread, place the avocado slices evenly over the mayo and then place that on top of the rest of the sandwich. With a sharp knife, carefully slice sandwich in half. I say carefully because you don't want to lose anything out of the sandwich and you don't want to squish it.

Serve immediately with a large scoop of fruit salad.

Vacation Grilling

The view from our balcony

 This isn't so much an exact recipe post. It's more of a "what we ate on vacation" kind of post. But the weekend was filled with such delicious foods (mostly made by my husband) that I had to share it.

Since we didn't go away this summer, we took a long weekend this month and went to the beach. It turned out to be a fabulous weekend with near perfect weather and, since it's off-season, no crowds. We rented a small ocean front condo with a full kitchen and with the full view of the ocean right on your balcony, who wants to go sit inside a restaurant for dinner? There also happens to be a grill...

As I have said before, our current housing situation lacks any outdoor space and with that is included a serious lack of anywhere to grill (except on my grill pan on the stove, but it's just not the same). Mike also happens to be spectacularly proficient at grilling without the ability to indulge in this expertise as much as he'd like. Therefore, when presented with breathtaking ocean views and a grill, he grills.

The morning we left, I marinated chicken in olive oil, rosemary, thyme and garlic. (This marinade idea was given me by two good friends who happen to be some of the best cooks I've known.) We also bought steak and packed them and the chicken in the cooler (we drove, obviously, or this would never have worked) I also packed bruschetta, really excellent Parmesan cheese, grapes, apples, olives, bread, salami, wine, potatoes, and vegetables.

When we arrived that first night, I sliced up the potatoes length-wise and thinly and brushed them with olive oil and seasoned them with rosemary , salt and pepper. I also sliced up a couple of bell peppers and an onion (in large slices so they won't fall through the grill grate) and Mike grilled them, the potatoes and the chicken. It was delicious. The chicken had great flavour, the potatoes were like steak fries but better and the peppers and onions had that great charred taste. It was a delicious way to start our little vacation.

Potatoes in olive oil and spices

The following day, we ate lunch in too. It was really an assembling of things we had bought (not made) but it was still delicious and we still had the beautiful view.

Lunch! (Olives are in a separate bowl b/c I hate them and they pollute the other food)

One of the other nights we were there,  we grilled the steak...

Before grilling them, Mike brushed each side with butter and then seasoned it with salt and pepper. I made mashed potatoes with garlic and rosemary and we grilled more veggies. It was sensational! The steak was unbelievably delicious.

That's Parmesan cheese in the background, not butter

We did manage to save some to have steak and eggs the next morning; also delicious.

Sorry there aren't any real recipes, but since it was so good, I wanted to share it anyway. We had an excellent time and were properly refreshed for the upcoming autumn months. I already have a plan to get back into some serious cooking. Cranberry season is coming so I am planning on making cranberry sauce. I also want to try out a few more soups as the cold weather comes upon us. If I like any of them, I will definitely post them, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Spinach Strawberry Salad

A few weeks ago, we ate at this little hotel restaurant with barely anyone in there and no front door. You actually had to go into the hotel entrance and down a long hallway to even get to the restaurant. I was not expecting much. But since it was late, we were staying at this particular hotel, and we did not feel like driving all over, we ate there. More proof, if proof were needed, that you shouldn't judge a restaurant by it's entrance. It was incredibly delicious and super fast. Their portions were also enormous and forewarned by our friendly waitress, we easily split an appetizer and entree between the two of us.

On a side note: This is our standard we're-not-that-hungry or let's-save-money-but-still-eat-out strategy. If you both have similar tastes, this works especially great when away on vacation or at restaurants that serve huge portions.

Anyway, the appetizer we ended up getting was a spinach and strawberry salad with pecans and goat cheese. It was so tasty and looked so simple that as soon as I got home, I tried it myself. The only difference is that I added chicken. It is just as delicious and such a simple and quick, but still healthy meal that I had to share it.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

1 bag baby spinach
10 large strawberries, washed and sliced
1/2 cup pecan pieces
2 chicken breasts, cooked and sliced
1 small log goat cheese, broken up into bite size pieces
Trader Joe's Champagne Vinaigrette or favorite light vinaigrette


After dividing the spinach onto two separate plates, line each plate with strawberries. Any extra strawberries place on top of spinach bed (or eat them yourself).

 
Place chicken pieces on top of each spinach bed, followed by pecans and goat cheese pieces. Lightly pour vinaigrette over the top. Enjoy.

Notes: I cooked the chicken on the grill pan with a little bit of olive oil, basil, rosemary and thyme, salt and pepper; 3-4 minutes per side until cooked through. It is packed with flavour and so easy to make that I make a bunch of it at once and use it in everything. Also, goat cheese is creamier than feta so it doesn't really crumble, just so you know.

Mediterranean Pizza

 
Summer weather started here a few weeks ago; 90 degree weather and 100% humidity. Oh, and did I mention that the AC isn't working super well either? Out the window goes the idea of cooking with the oven. A small kitchen heats up surprisingly quickly. There goes any idea of casseroles and baked dishes.

At the same time, I found a recipe that called for marinating chicken in Greek yogurt before grilling it. I thought that sounded like a great idea but needed some additional ingredients to make a fabulous and quick meal. Adding spices to the yogurt before adding the chicken and letting the chicken marinate for at least 3 hours gave the chicken a wonderful moistness and great flavor. A few other ingredients that I had on hand made it into a spectacular and quick weeknight meal.

4 thinly sliced chicken breasts
1 small container plain Greek yogurt
1/2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp coriander
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
naan bread
hummus
1 large cucumber, sliced
basil, if desired
pepper

In a container of your choice with a lid, combine the Greek yogurt, spices, garlic and olive oil and mix well. Add the chicken being sure to coat both sides of each chicken breast with the yogurt mixture. All to marinate happily in the fridge for at least three hours.

Attractive, isn't it?

(As I lack the delightful outdoor cooking experience known as the charcoal or gas grill, I have to be satisfied using my grill/griddle pan thing.)

Spray grill pan liberally with olive oil spray. Heat  according to manufacturer's directions.  Scrape excess marinade off each chicken breast. When hot, add chicken and grill until cooked through, flipping chicken breasts once. Depending on the thickness of each chicken breast this should be a few minutes on each side. (I always slice into the thickest part of each piece just to be sure it's cooked through) When cooked through, remove chicken to a plate to cool slightly.

On the same grill pan, add the naan bread and cook until warm and golden brown on each side. Remove naan bread to a plate, spread with a thin layer of hummus. Slice a chicken breast (my husband insists that the chicken breast is sliced from north to south. This does not sound right to me but I can't remember the cooking term for how I sliced the chicken so in lieu of the proper terminology: with the chicken breast sitting on the cutting board horizontally slice from north to south)....on second thought, slice the chicken breast however you would like. This is too much thought for what is supposed to be a quick meal!

Anyway, with the unbelievably important decision of how to slice one's chicken out of the way, crumble feta cheese all over the layer of hummus, lay slices of chicken on top of the cheese and lay the cucumber slices on top of the chicken.  Sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and basil if desired. I don't add salt since the feta is already salty.

Serve immediately so it's still warm.

You could add tomatoes to this too. Since I made a tomato salad I didn't add them this time, but I think that would be good. Also, this chicken was so delicious that I marinated a large batch of chicken, grilled it and kept it in the fridge to be used for sandwiches, fajitas and snacking.

Spaghetti Sqaush - Coolest Thing Ever

Okay, any fruit or vegetable (I think it's classified a fruit but whatever) that when cooked, tasted remarkable like pasta gets a gold star in my book. Since we've been trying to eat less carbs on a day to day basis (not the easiest thing for me to do), I've given up cooking pasta for dinner. And with that decision, all of my quick and easy pasta recipes went out the window.

However, Mama called and told me that she had made spaghetti squash and that even Daddy really liked it. Now, I've heard of this squash that actually tastes like pasta before and really couldn't believe it. I don't like acorn squash. I only like butternut squash if it is pureed to oblivion in soup form. I am not a fan of zucchini, or as the grocery store insists on calling it with incredible lack of imagination: green squash. Therefore, the idea of spaghetti squash was not exciting to me, though when mama called I figured, 'If Daddy could eat it, so could I.'

I humbly admit that I misjudged this fruit/vegetable thing. It - is - Delicious. It has the just the right texture and shape and it holds up to sauces just like pasta would. It is also a fairly easy thing to make. Hence, I submit to you my first try with spaghetti squash which was a huge hit:

Spaghetti Squash in White Wine Lemon Sauce

1 spaghetti squash
1 pkg Italian sausage, cooked and sliced
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup white wine
2 tsp thyme
1/2 tbsp flour
Parmesan Cheese


First of all, you need to roast the squash.

How To Roast a Spaghetti Squash

1. Remove sticky label that grocery store adhered to said squash.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. With a fork, prick squash all over.
4. Roast in 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours.
5. Remove from oven carefully and allow to cool slightly (15-20 minutes just so you can handle it without burning your hands)
6. Slice open lengthwise with sharp knife and scoop out all seeds.

7. Run a fork through the flesh of the squash and stare in wonderment as it separates into "noodles".

Okay, now you are ready to continue with the recipe.

While your squash is cooling, cook your choice of Italian sausage according to package directions. I cooked mine in a large saute pan. When they were fully cooked, I removed them to a plate. In the same saute pan, add olive oil and garlic and cook until garlic is golden brown and fragrant.

Add butter, lemon juice, white wine, thyme and flour to garlic. Cook, stirring a little to incorporate the flour for about three to five minutes until sauce has thickened a bit.

When you've separated your "noodles", add them and the sliced sausage to the lemon sauce and stir to fully incorporate sauce into "noodles".

Remove from pan to plates and sprinkle on Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

A Better Chicken Noodle Soup

As I have previously mentioned, I don't like chicken noodle soup. Mike does though and sometimes one makes things one does not like for a person one loves. I figure if I really don't like what I made, I can always eat toast with jam for dinner like his grandmother used to.  The traditional carrot-celery-onion-chicken-in-broth soup recipe is frightfully boring so I started throwing in stuff that I saw in other soup recipes. I figured that all the ingredients came from soup recipes so they should all taste good together. I do realize that this method of cooking does not always work out for the best. I have first hand experience with the times that it has failed miserably. However, in this case, it worked beautifully. I even thoroughly enjoyed it.

Better Chicken Noodle Soup


olive oil
one yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 c white wine
1 small can diced tomatoes
8 cups chicken broth or 8 cups water with bouillon cubes (follow package directions)
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (I baked the chicken in garlic-Parmesan olive oil at 350 for 30 minutes)
3 zucchini, cubed
4 carrots, sliced into rounds
fresh or dried thyme
fresh or dried rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste
1 large can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cups noodles of choice (I used pappardelle)
1 bag fresh baby spinach
grated Parmesan cheese

Coat the bottom of a large pot with olive oil; heat over medium heat. When oil is heated, toss in onions. Cook, stirring occasionally until onions are translucent and beginning to brown. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add white wine and cook for another minute or two. Add tomatoes and continue to cook, stirring occasionally.

Add broth, carrots, zucchini, chickpeas and herbs (I had fresh thyme and rosemary from another dish I made but if you only have dried I'm sure that will work too. I used three stems of thyme and one stem of rosemary. The rosemary I chopped up but I just picked the thyme leaves off the stems and threw it in without bothering to chop it. If you are using dried, I would use about 2 tsp of each.) Continue to cook until zucchini and carrots are soft, about ten minutes. Stir occasionally. Add noodles and cubed chicken.

*Note: I used pappardelle noodles from Trader Joe's because they looked very pretty in the package. However, because these noodles are so wide and long, they need to be broken into smaller pieces. I suggest that you do this in your hands over the soup pot. Do not try to cut dried noodles with a knife on a cutting board. The noodles break into little noodle shards that rocket all over the kitchen.

After adding the noodles, I left the pot on the stove, cooking on very low heat, for about twenty minutes more until we were ready to eat. Just before serving, add spinach and stir well so that the heat from the soup wilts the spinach.

Serve in bowls topped with Parmesan cheese.