Quick Quinoa Burgers is from The 150 Healthiest 15-Minute Recipes on Earth by Jonny Bowden and Jeannette Bessinger.  When Deb, Desiree and I were younger, my dad tried the meatless burger thing.  He used birdseed – or rather millet, but they were dry and not very tasty.  I tried this meatless burger thinking it would end on the same note, but I really was surprised at how good they were.  No, they don’t taste like burgers, not at all, but they are packed with flavor.  Where the recipe said to use a quality salsa – I used my canned salsa.  Where it said to use canned kidney beans, I substituted pinto beans that I made up earlier in the week, and it had a little garlic flavoring in it.  I also topped the burger and sauce with chopped avocado.  Deb are you listening – this meal had quinoa, avocado and salsa in it, you will like it.

Ingredients:

(Burger)

• 1 can (15 oz) kidney beans
• 1/4 cup quick cooking rolled oats
• 2 oz grated or crumbled cheese (or 1/4 cup nutritional yeast for a vegan option)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup cooked heirloom quinoa ( I used red)
• 2 tbs olive oil

(Dressing)

• 1/2 cup prepared salsa

• 2 tbs low fat plain yogurt
• 1 tbs lime juice
• 1 tsp maple syrup or agave nectar
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder

Place the beans, oats, cheese and salt in a food processor in that order and pulse until combined and holding together but still chunky, about ten quick pulses (I think I probably over pulsed, but it came out nicely).  Turn the bean mixture out into a medium bowl, add the quinoa, and mix, with your hands just until it holds together well.

Heat the oil on a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat (or just below medium in a regular skillet to prevent sticking), and form the quinoa mixture into four patties.

Place the burgers in the pan and cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side in until heated through.  Patties will be soft, so handle gently.

While the burgers are cooking, place the salsa, yogurt, lime juice, syrup, cumin, and chili powder into a blender (or a small bowl, and use an immersion blender) and blend until smooth.  Serve burgers with a generous helping of the dressing.

Vegetarian Tofu Pumpkin Pie

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS:

1 pkg(14 oz)House Foods Premium or Organic Tofu Firm
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 can (16 oz) cooked pumpkin
1 prepared graham cracker pie crust

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°
In a blender or food processor, add all ingredients and blend thoroughly. Pour mixture into pie crust; bake in a 350°F oven for 45 minutes or until set. Serve chilled.

Note Cooking tips:
Remove moisture from Tofu by microwaving it for about a minute; pour off water and blot well with paper towel before using. Be careful, Tofu will be hot!

And to go along with it .. an Orange Mango Smoothie, mmmmm.

Orange Mango Smoothie

Makes Two Servings (three cups)

Prep time: 5 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1/2 package (7oz) House Premium Tofu Extra Soft or House Organic Tofu – Soft
1/2 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cups frozen mango chunks
3 Tbsp honey
1/2 cup soy milk (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Place all ingredients in a blender.

Blend until smooth.

Divide between 2 glasses and serve.

Other combinations:
Guava juice, banana and frozen raspberries.
Orange juice and frozen blueberries.

Note If you don’t have frozen fruit, use 1 cup fresh fruit and 1/2 cup ice cubes.

Wild Rice Salad with Chickpeas, Dill and Lemon

• 2 cups cooked wild rice
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
• 1(19 oz) can of chickpeas (garbanzos)
• 3 tbs fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbs cold water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic

Combine rice, onions, feta, dill and chickpeas in large bowl tossing gently to combine.

Combine juice, olive oil, and remaining ingredients in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.  Drizzle juice mixture over rice mixture; toss gently to coat.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tbs canola oil
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced onions
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup dried lentils
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin, divided
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar

Directions:

Heat 1 tablespoon canola oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook carrots and onions 8 minutes or until richly browned, stirring frequently.  Add water, lentils and 1/4 tsp cumin.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover tightly and simmer 25 minutes or until lentils are tender.  Remove from heat and add the remaining ingredients.

A plus from the recipe book – you get all the cool stats along with the recipe

Calories 130  – from fat 55

Total fat 6.0g

Saturated .4

Trans fat 0

Cholesterol 0 mg

Sodium 315 mg

Total carbohydrates 17g

Dietary Fiber 5 g

Sugars   4 g

Protein 5 g

Exchanges per serving: 1/2 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 fat

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup black quinoa
• 1/2 cup bulgur
• 1/2 cup orzo
• 1/2 cup barley
• 1/2 onion diced
• 1 celery stalk diced
• chard
• 1 bag dried cranberries and spiced apple (I think they were dole)
• 1 can garbanzo beans
• 1 quart vegetable broth
• salt
• pepper
• thyme
• sage
• parsley
• 1/4 cup Carr Valley Apple Smoked Cheddar diced

Directions:

Cook the quinoa, bulgur, orzo and barley according to package directions using vegetable broth instead of water. I took turns with two different small pots on the stove.  In a separate medium size pot, pour in the rest of the vegetable broth.  Simmer the onions, and celery in a shallow amount of vegetable broth. When they start to become translucent, add in the rest of the broth, the cranberries and spiced apple, the beans and chopped up chard.  Heat up and add in the grains, and the herbs and spices.  If it seems too dry, add a little extra liquid (water) when heating. Serve in bowls and sprinkle the cubed cheese on top. 

Note: To make it vegan, leave out the cheese.

The dried fruit gives it a fruity flavor, with the smoky cheese to help balance it out.  The whole meal is delicious, and very quickly comes together.

I told my son to tell me it tasted wonderful, and after he tasted, he agreed.  If you have kids that balk at squash, this is the way to serve it.

Ingredients:

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced

3 or 4 apples, peeled, cored and diced

1 orange peel – zested

1 tbs grated ginger

Olive oil for pan

Nutmeg

Directions:

I parboiled the squash so that the apple wouldn’t get mushy from baking too long.  Oil a baking dish.  Drain the butternut squash, and toss with apple in baking dish.  Grate  ginger, then zest orange and toss that with the butternut squash and apple.  I squeezed a little of the orange over top of the dish too and then lightly sprinkled nutmeg over top.  Bake at 350 until soft, but not mushy, with a little bit of firmness. Oh, this dish is heavenly good.  I think I’m bringing it to my mom for Christmas.

I peeled off the leaves, scraped off the skin and julienned the kohlrabi along with some carrots. I used my frozen ginger in this dish, which smells so wonderful when grating. I did all the mixing right in the baking dish, so it’s truly a one pot dish. Even though this would have served more , with my husband repeatedly dipping into the dish,  it only served 3.  It was delicious, did I say that yet?

Ingredients:

• 1 kohlrabi – deleafed, destemmed, peeled, julienned
• 3 or 4 carrots – peeled and julienned
• 1 tsp ginger – grated
• 2 garlic cloves – minced
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine
• salt
• pepper
• parsley

Directions:

Throw all of the ingredients together in the baking dish – up to the olive oil, mix around a little. Drizzle white wine over top, sprinkle on herbs and spices,  cover with foil, bake at 375 until veggies are firm soft.

What was the name of that vegetable?  Carrot.  No the other one.  Ummm, (look at title) Kohlrabi.  Yes, that’s it.

The Fillo Factory Fillo Sheets should be defrosted and placed flat, covered with a damp towel to keep from drying out.

I used:

2 yellow acorn squash

2 delicata squash

1 green acorn squash

  Ingredients:

Squash – enough for about 3-4 cups

Olive Oil

1 Onion – diced

2 garlic – minced

Sage – nice handful of fresh sage

1/2 cup grated grana padano cheese

salt

pepper

melted butter

8 Filo Factory Fillo Dough Sheets

Directions:

Slice each squash in half lengthwise, scoop out seeds with a spoon and drizzle with olive oil.  Place the squash cut side down on a baking sheet, and bake until soft.  I used a silicon sheet on the pan for easier cleaning. Peel the squash, and slice into bite size cubes.  Sauté onion, garlic and sage in one tbs of oil until the onions are soft.  Place squash, onion, garlic, sage, salt, pepper and cheese in a bow. 

Work with the fillo but try to keep the sheets damp.  As you use each one, brush with melted butter. Place six of the sheets on a baking dish so that the ends stick out over the side overlapping. Fill the Filo lined baking sheets with the squash mixture and fold the ends over the top.  If you can do it all nice and neat, great.  Mine needed a little work, so I placed one sheet over top, then the next sheet I tore into wide strips, layered over top and tucked in the edges. The squash had such a nice savory flavor, not like pumpkin pie at all.  This makes about 8 servings, or more if spread out in a larger dish making a thinner layer.  It would be a great bring to the family gathering dish.  We had leftovers that were delicious reheated.  You could probably cover the top of the pan after preparing and bake right before you are ready to use it if you want to make it ahead.

My husband and I went to Lynd’s Fruit Farm just outside of Columbus.  We’ve been going there for apples in the fall plus other fun things.  This was the last weekend of the sale tent and we didn’t want to miss out. They have such cool things available like purple cauliflower, purple broccoli, purple Brussels sprouts – okay, not purple brussel sprouts – just green, pumpkins, gourds and apples.  While we were there, we actually got to be part of an apple tasting.  One gentleman said they were trying out a new apple and we should taste 4 different types and rate where they landed on a piece of paper.  After we placed the apples on the paper in the proper like/dislike square (it was a range), he marked where they landed, and told us the one we liked best was 1238.  There’s only one tree in the world with those apples, and they developed it.  That apple was really delicious and sweet, though he said it was a tart apple.  I hope they plant more of these trees.  As a thank you, we were able to pick out some gold rush apples to take home.  Cool!

I love the bright purple Cauliflower (no, of course I don’t have a before picture) though I’ve never used it before today.  I was really pumped to see that the color when the cauliflower didn’t disappear, but changed as I cooked.  I first boiled the cauliflower in a pot of water, so that I could use that water as the base for the risotto.  The water turned blue purple, but when poured in with the arborio rice, it turned lavender.  So all of these purples – dark blue down to light lavender are in this risotto and make it so pretty.  A few green herbs thrown really pop.  Then I strained the water out into another pot and let the cauliflower cool long enough to be able to dice it up.

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 cup arborio rice
• salt
• pepper
• parsley
• thyme
• 1/4 cup grana padano grated

Directions:

In a pot large enough to hold the whole head of cauliflower, boil until almost done but still firm.  Strain the water (it will be blue purple) into a second pot and place that on the stove on low heat to keep warm.  In large deep skillet heat oil, sauté onions and garlic. Pour in white wine, and stir until evaporated.   When the onions and garlic are tender but still firm, add in the arborio rice, and stir for about a minute.  Then pour in one to two cups of purple cauliflower water.  Let it soak up the water, then add more. Meanwhile mince the cauliflower head.  Add more purple water to the rice slowly, until it is just about risotto ready.  Mix in the cauliflower, throw on some salt, pepper, the herbs and add on top the grana padano. 

Deb, you’ve got to try this – T would love it.