Quinoa Burgers made with chickpeas and served with a lemon dill sauce.

I am a self proclaimed (vegan) cookbook lover! I read them like others read novels. I get immersed in the pictures (no wonder!), and I love to see how others combine ingredients, spices, and herbs. I can follow directions to a "T", and according to a patient of mine, he says I'm a good German girl, because of it. I usually don't deviate from recipes too far, unless I actually don't have an ingredient, or I know I want to make some changes.

Which leads into my recommendation of a fairly new cookbook that is out now, by the name of Vegan Diner- classic comfort food for the soul, by Julie Hasson, who is well known on her Everyday Dish TV.
Can I tell you how much I L-O-V-E this cookbook??? Simple down home cooking that tastes great!

The quinoa burger recipe comes from that cookbook, and I only changed the spice blend I used, which she encourages the reader to do, to fit their taste.  Quinoa is naturally gluten free, which is a plus for so many too!

 

The adapted recipe for

Quinoa Burgers from Vegan Diner, by Julie Hasson

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

3 cloves garlic

12 oz chickpeas, (about 1 1/2 cups canned and drained, or homemade)

1/2 cup quick oats (not instant)

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa ***

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

1 tsp of poultry seasoning or favorite spice blend (I used a local blend called Symeon's Seasoning from a local restaurant)

1 tsp of smoked paprika

2 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Amino or soy sauce

2 Tbsp of chickpea flour

1/2 tsp salt or to taste

freshly ground pepper, to taste

additional chickpea flour for dusting the burgers

olive oil for cooking

Burger buns

Lettuce or greens

sliced tomato and onion for serving

Makes 6 burgers. Add the onion and garlic to a food processor bowl, and pulse till finely chopped. Add the chickpeas and oats, and pulse until well mixed, but not pureed. Remove to a large bowl, and stir in the quinoa, parsley, poultry seasoning or spice mix, smoked paprika, Braggs, and chickpea flour. Stir in 1-2 Tbsp of water if necessary to help the burger mixture stick together, but you don't want it too moist. Add salt and pepper to taste. Thoroughly mix the ingredients well, cover the bowl, and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Form the burger mixture into 6 balls, and press into 3 1/2-4 inch patties.

Heat a large cast iron skillet or heavy duty fry pan over medium high heat. And lightly coat or spray with olive oil. Place the chickpea flour on a small plate and dust the burgers on all sides with the flour. Add the burgers to the hot skillet. Cook the patties for about 5 minutes, or until nicely browned and crispy. Reduce the heat to medium if necessary, to continue cooking without burning. Add more olive oil if needed, to keep the burgers from sticking. Flip the burgers over and cook on the other side. Repeat with the remaining burgers.

Remove from the skillet and let sit for minutes before serving. Letting the burgers rest will give them a better texture. Serve on a roll with all of the fixings you like, or serve or a salad as shown.

*** to cook quinoa, bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil in a pan on the stove, rinse 3/4 of a cup of quinoa in a mesh strainer under running water. Once water is boiling, add the quinoa, cover and cook for 12-15 minutes till the quinoa appears spiraled, and the water is absorbed. ( I like to add vegetable stock powder to the water for a little extra taste, and then reducing the amt of salt added to the recipe)

Lemon Dill sauce

1/4 cup Vegenaise (or mayo)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/2-1 tsp dried dill

1/2-1 tsp of garlic powder

freshly ground pepper, to taste

Mix in a small bowl and add as a topping to your burger. If you like a lot of sauce, you may want to double the recipe. (I only used a small amt to keep the calories down)

I've expanded my baking experience with a wonderful vegan gluten free chocolate cupcake recipe.

Karina from the Gluten Free Goddess website truly has the biggest gluten free cooking and baking website online! She has extensive recipes for baking and cooking, due to her own allergies. She has vegan and non vegan recipes alike, and a fantastic page on GF substitutions here. It was very educational reading up on the different flours used and combined to get nearly the same results as regular baking.

So recently, a co worker was diagnosed with celiac disease, and it turned her world upside down, especially when she has a family to feed, and many of her regular favorite foods are now off limits. It's still a learning process for them, but Karina's website was the first one I gave to her, to brush up on all of the ins and outs of GF cooking. I came into play, being the baker at work for the rest of our coworkers, wanting to be able to share some goodies with her too, since she was being left out.

What I didn't realize is the variables for baking, with so many options for flours. I had picked up some sorghum flour, potato flour, (then there is potato starch too-not to be confused!), and some xanthan gum. Then my search began for a vegan recipe for me, but a GF recipe for her that would use these ingredients. And Karina's site came to the rescue with the recipe for GF chocolate cupcakes with coffee icing. It fit the bill for vegan and GF!

I am not gluten sensitive or intolerant at all, so I had no idea what to expect when eating these cupcakes, but they were really good! I was surprised at how high they rose, and the recipe did make 12 cupcakes as  the instructions said. They were light and airy, and very moist. What else do you need in a cupcake, as long as it looks pretty too!

I didn't use Karina's exact coffee icing recipe, but I did use Earth Balance margarine instead of the spectrum shortening, and ended up doubling it, since frosting the cupcakes with the rosettes, required a larger amt of frosting. I must not have made the coffee strong enough, as I didn't even taste it, so I added 1/2 tsp of organic almond extract to each batch of frosting, instead of the vanilla. (1 tsp extract for a double batch of her recipe). They were just as nice as any of my previously made vegan recipes, and I highly recommend giving it a try!

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes Recipe with Coffee Icing


If you don't care for the taste of coffee, use plain water or a light rice milk in the batter in place of the coffee and make a vanilla or chocolate flavored icing.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with paper liners.
Whisk together the dry ingredients:

3/4 rounded cup sorghum flour
3/4 rounded cup potato starch, cornstarch or tapioca starch
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon xanthan gum


Add in and beat till smooth:

1 cup warm coffee (not too hot or it will make the potato starch gluey)
1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer beaten with 1/4 cup warm water
3 tablespoons light olive oil
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon light tasting vinegar

Beat the batter for a full two to three minutes until all the ingredients are incorporated and the batter is smooth. Using an ice cream scoop, plop the batter into the cups and smooth the tops. Bake in the center of a preheated oven till done- about 20 minutes or so. Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack (don't let them sit in the baking pan too long or they'll get soggy). Frost when completely cooled. See recipe for coffee flavored icing below.

Vegan Coffee Icing Recipe

2 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar

2-3 tablespoons Spectrum Organic Shortening (or Earth Balance margarine)

2-4 ounces cold coffee, as needed

1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla (or a half tsp of almond extract)

Starting with the least amount of liquid, beat the sugar to incorporate the shortening, coffee and vanilla. if you need more liquid, add a small amount at a time. beat for two minutes or so until smooth. If you need to stiffen the frosting, add a little more confectioner's sugar. Chill the frosting before using it. I chill it, covered, for roughly an hour ( I didn't chill it all and used it right out of the bowl). Frost the cupcakes. Cover in an air-tight container until serving. best eaten the first day. If making ahead of time, chill frosted cakes briefly in the freezer before wrapping individually and freezing. Makes twelve cupcakes.