White Bean Quinoa Veggie Burgers

I love burgers. Hamburgers. I love hamburgers! You know this — yes, yes, and yes? Yeah, I really love hamburgers. At the same time: I LOVE veggie burgers. Veggie patties. Veggie cakes. How many other names can we come up with for vegetables smooshed into flying-saucer-shape? Veggie discs? Veggie frisbees? Veggie ottomans? I think I've gone too far... {but seriously, what do you call them?}

Here are the following situations in which you may find me making veggie burgers/patties/flying saucers:

1. I'm cleaning out the fridge and have random veggies to use.
2. It is Tuesday.
3. I have leftover quinoa and/or beans and/or veggies I need to use.
4. It is Wednesday.
5. I have vegetarian guests coming over for dinner during the summer.
6. It is Saturday.
7. It's any ol' day and I want a veggie burger, damnit, so I'M MAKING THEM.

The point of this list is mainly to illustrate the fact that you need no special reason to make veggie patties! They're so easy to throw together! They're healthy! They're economical! They're forgiving! Even your meat-loving husband will finish the meal satisfied! You'll enjoy the leftovers for lunch the next day!

The key with veggie burgers is to know the texture you're looking for, and what you need to get there. Depending on the amount of liquid in the vegetables you use, you might need to go severely off-recipe {which I condone, if you know what you're doing!}. If it's too wet, add something that will absorb the liquid! Oat flour, plain {uncooked} oats, any flour, ground up {dry} TVP, etc. are all good options. Use what you have on hand! You need to have a texture that will hold its shape once formed into a patty, more or less. This recipe has a double-bonus of helpful shape-holding power: beans AND quinoa. They both give some structure. Don't even attempt to make a veggie burger without some sort of structure! Or, if you do, let me know exactly how it works...

As for the shape of these babies, I used a little trick I like to call "using a biscuit cutter." Yes, very high-tech. Very advanced. Not safe for everyone. Do you have a biscuit cutter? Or a tall, large, round cookie cutter? Or an English muffin ring? Or an empty tuna can? Just cover one side with your hand, smoosh a bunch of the finished mixture into the ring and smooth it flat. Then dump it out {sometimes this takes a little swatting action} onto your other hand, and put it straight into the hot skillet. WIN! Pretty, nicely-shaped veggie poofs. Poofs? I'm not so sure about that one...

White Bean Quinoa Veggie Burgers

• Author: by Mary
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 4-6 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 1 can (15 oz.) white beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 garlic cloves
• ½ onion, medium-sized
• 2 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• ½ cup corn
• 1 small bell pepper
• 1 jalapeno {seeds removed if you want less spice}
• juice of one lemon
• ¼ cup ground flax seeds
• salt & pepper to taste

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Instructions

1. Cook your quinoa and beans, and set aside.
2. In a food processor, combine the remaining ingredients {excluding the flax, salt, and pepper}. Pulse until chopped, then add the beans. Pulse again until everything is in very fine pieces, but is not one smooth mess. Transfer to a bowl, and mix in the quinoa, then flax seeds, salt, and pepper.
3. If the mixture is still very wet, add a flour {oat flour is my favorite for veggie burgers} of your choice a few Tablespoons at a time. The mixture should be dry enough that you can shape it into patties, but wet enough that you'll still have a little bit on your hands.Form all of the dough into patties about 1" thick.
4. Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add oil if it isn't non-stick, and cook the patties until golden on each side.
5. Serve on buns of your choice with greens, tomatoes, and condiments.

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