Mediterranean Quinoa Burgers

Well, kinda Mediterranean....I didn't have some of the ingredients the author deemed "Mediterranean" but they were still awesome.

I actually found this recipe through a cooking show I watch on Twitch called Cooking for Noobs. Twitch is basically a way to live stream yourself playing video games, cooking, crafting or whatever your little heart desires.

These burgers seemed very simple when the host, Christine, made them so I had to give them a try as well. I was a vegetarian for 15 years before the great babying of 2014 so I always have a place in my heart for a good veggie burger.

The burger consists of quinoa, oats, chickpeas, garlic, 1 egg, oregano and basil blended together in a food processor until its the texture of a really thick hummus. I folded in some sundried tomatoes and small pieces of feta.

They were very easy to form into burgers and once they were it only took 2-3 minutes on each side with a small amount of canola oil to get them crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

I whipped up a tomato, cucumber and feta salad to go on the side with a light lemon and oil dressing.

I probably wouldn't serve them in a bun as the texture of the bread would probably ruin the texture of the burger.

They would also work as a lunch. It's quite a light dish...but very yummy and easy.

My Vegetarian Week

I was a vegetarian for over 15 years...until I got pregnant with Daphne. The need for meat was unstoppable.

I have thought about going back to being a vegetarian but at this point that would mean making THREE dinners every night. Will would eat vegetarian but it ends up being cheaper to fill him up with chicken then to try to feed him enough chickpeas to keep him full.

So I decided we would be doing a one monthly vegetarian week.

This month the meal plan includes:

Black bean chili

Vegetable stir fry

Fusilli Alfredo with vegetables

Black bean and corn fajitas

Naan pizza (not sure of toppings yet...probably mushroom and peppers)

Sweet potato and chickpea Buddha bowls

And one evening of just store bought appetizers

We'll see how this goes. Thankfully it will be warm soon and it's A LOT easier to eat vegetarian during the summer. At least I find it is. Make a quinoa or chickpea salad full of veggies for me, and throw some BBQ'd chicken or pork on it for Will.

At this point my need to include a meat free week is both out of my guilty feeling for eating meat and also for our budget. It's definitely cheaper to buy for the week when zero meat is included.

I'll try to post some pictures at the end of the week. I'm especially excited to try the Buddha bowls. I've never heard of them before but apparently they are called that because they are meant to be overfilled and round like Buddhas belly. I'm probably going change it up a little but I'm using THIS RECIPE as inspiration for mine.