Sunday, September 12, 2010

Where have all the avocados gone!

The Healthy Bitch Daily Feed e-flyer featured the Healthy Voyager on Friday. Here is the yummy looking recipe they posted:

Chickpea Quinoa Veggie Burgers

1 small sweet potato
1/4 cup dry quinoa, baked

1/4 cup dry oats

1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

2 tablespoons parsley

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
 (spelt if you are gluten-free)
2 tablespoons olive oil


Peel, dice, and steam the sweet potato until soft. Cook the quinoa and oats in separate pots. In a food processor or blender, combine the garbanzo beans, sweet potato, parsley, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt and pepper, flour, and one tablespoon of the oil. In a separate bowl, mix the bean mixture with the quinoa and barley. Using your hands, form into six patties. Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a pan on medium heat. Brown both sides of each burger.

Serve on a toasted whole grain bun or focaccia and top with chopped salad greens, dressed with a drizzle of canola oil, lemon, salt and pepper. If you want to nix the bun, serve the patty on a bed of dressed dark leafy greens.

Here is what mine looked like...
Huge Difference.

If you are wondering where the diced avocado is... it's a tragic story. I think I was looking forward to having the avocado more than the burger. Yesterday morning we went to the farmers market. I prefer Haas Avocados but they were a lot pricier than the Florida Avocados. LT said that he thought the Florida ones were just as good so we got 1 humongous Florida Avocado for 99 cents. (There was my clue!) So I put it in a brown bag to add a little ripeness before dinner time, we sliced it open and it was hard as a rock. Tasted it just in case that was how it was supposed to be, and we both spit it out. Totally disgusting! Very disappointing. I almost cried. It went in the trash despite the fact that I HATE to waste food. What would you have done with a rock hard nasty Florida Avocado that tasted like the bottom of my shoe?

Anyways!
I had a little trouble with understanding the recipe, to be honest. For example, I didn't know what it meant when it said, "/4 cup dry quinoa, baked
" in the ingredient list and then "cook the quinoa and oats in separate pots." Also, I was not sure how much I should process the food in the food processor, so I made it a puree. If I were to do it all over again, I would use an even smaller sweet potato, process the food a lot less, and I wold bake them instead of brown them in a pan.
They were still delicious enough to each every last bite! The boys ate 1 1/2 burgers each. It makes me so happy when people eat seconds of my food. Well technically, Daniele helped me make the burgers and she made both side dishes, so it would be our food. The sides were Brussels Sprouts with toasted pecans and cranberries and french fries. Yum!

Today is Fun in the Sun with Angela and Ricky! WooHooo!! =) After church of course. Thanks! Hugs!

3 comments:

  1. I can't believe you listened to LT about the avocados! lol Hass all the way...there are no substitutions! You'll have to make them again with your changes (& the right avocados) and we'll be your taste testers. =) I'd like to try the brussel sprouts too-those sound yummy.

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  2. First of all Miss Queenie... I LOVE THE NEW LOOK of the blog! Very chic and professional!

    Looks like you have had fun using your amazing creativity cooking for your dad and Daniele! I am certain they have really enjoyed all of it... the huge smiles on their faces gives it away ;)

    The meals look fantastic... would love to sample each one of them! I am going to steal that pumpkin seed recipe for fall, yummy!

    As far as the Hass avocado, I have been a fan for years! The creamy texture and taste is hard to beat and worth the extra pennies! I planted a Hass avocado seed over two years ago and the tree is now over 8' tall... maybe one day I will have my own supply! =)

    Speaking of pumpkin seeds, the other day I had gone for a demonstration/tour at Cordon Bleu and they prepared a butternut squash stew for the audience. This "Autumn Stew" used onion, butternut, white beans, corn, various spices (tumeric was one of them), and roasted butternut squash seeds! I never have considered using the seeds out of a squash, but it makes perfect sense! It was so good and the seeds added a nice toasty/nutty element to the dish. It makes me think that there are several veggies with seeds to experiment with... just an idea for another layer of flavor!

    Keep the posts coming, simply love reading what you are up to!

    Love you Miss Queenie!

    ~Mom

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  3. Ahem! *taps foot* :)

    I know you are busy busy BUSY! But just a note to let you know that your fans are patiently awaiting a small, itty bitty, tinsey, little update! Think of it like a "microblog" or a "nanoblog" ;)

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