Vegetarian Quinoa Black Bean Burgers and The Health Benefits of Quinoa

The 30 day mark is approaching for the 90 Day Weight Loss Challenge!  I'm down a few more pounds and feeling much better about my energy levels.  It is a work in progress darlings!  My family has been getting really excited about quinoa! Even Ace, who doesn't really like to try new things has been fully converted to this lovely grain.  Today I taught a gluten free class on cooking with quinoa and amaranth and this new recipes has become a much requested meal around here. We first talked about cooking this amazing grain on the blog with the full Quinoa Cookery 101 Post. 

Great  Health Benefits of Quinoa

 adapted from the  Article by Julie Wilcox, Forbes

• Complete Protein! Quinoa  is a complete protein containing all nine essential amino acids.
• Fiber! Quinoa contains almost twice as much fiber as most other grains. 
•  Contains Iron. Iron helps keep our red blood cells healthy and is the basis of hemoglobin formation. 
• Contains lysine. Lysine is mainly essential for tissue growth and repair.

• Rich in magnesium. Magnesium helps to relax blood vessels, may reduce type 2 diabetes because it promotes good blood sugar levels. Benefits of magnesium include transmission of nerve impulses, body temperature regulation, detoxification, energy production, and the formation of healthy bones and teeth.
•  High in Riboflavin (B2). B2 improves energy metabolism within brain and muscle cells and is known to help create proper energy production in cells.
•  High content of manganese. Manganese is an antioxidant, which helps to prevent damage of mitochondria during energy production as well as to protect red blood cells and other cells from injury by free radicals.

Normally we just use quinoa instead of rice and boost our fiber and protein as well as getting a really cool different texture.  I think it might be one of my all-time favo-rageous  friends.  

The quinoa black bean burgers have a really beefy texture and are full of flavor. My husband asks for them often and we especially love them drizzled with hot sauce, barbecue sauce, or homemade ketchup.  The use of the quick cook blackbeans makes them come together fast. I cook the quinoa and the black beans together on the stove and they are both ready to make into patties in as little as 20 minutes.  You can easily double or triple the recipe and make the patties ahead of time for keeping on-hand in the freezer for fast and easy meals as well. 

Tess Quinoa Black Bean Burgers 

½ cup quick cook blackbeans

¼ cup  organic quinoa, pre-rinsed*

1 3/4 cup water

½ cup gluten free breadcrumbs

¼ cup minced bell peppers

2T minced onion

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp Chef Tess All Purpose Seasoning

¼ cup Whole Egg Crystals**

Directions:

Bring the quinoa, beans and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes. Roughly mash the black beans with a fork leaving some whole black beans in a paste-like mixture. Add all remaining ingredients and mash well with your hands. Form the black bean mixture into 5 patties. Heat a large non-stick skillet. Cook the patties until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Nutritional Information: 
Recipe yields 5 patties. Serving size one patty. 
132 calories, 5 g fiber, 19 carbohydrate, 3 g fat, 7 g protein

*Note: Quinoa needs to be pre-rinsed to remove the natural saponin on the grain.
** If you don't have egg crystals, whole egg may be added, but reduce water by 1/4 cup. 

Serve with any side dish you love. May I suggest Cuban Grilled Sweet Potato Salad with Pineapple and Jicama

There you go my darlings! Happy and healthy ideas for a wonderful summer dish. Keep going with the weight loss challenge and eating well. Xoxo!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Homemade Instant Beans and using The Heat Retention Cooking Method

Tuesday's Tutorial is one I have been working on for a long time. I think a lot of times it easy to get caught up in my mind with a "this is how we cook" mental state. In the last few years I've studied and applied the use of  

Solar cooking , including the building of several different Solar Oven cookers.  I've come a long way since My first solar oven   

In that process I learned a lot. Number one, first and foremost...I can learn something new everyday.  Second...I should learn something new about how to cook food.  I'm a chef and as food is hard wired in my brain so is the absolute desire to see that people all over the world are blessed.  I have a vision of seeing lives changed every day through my efforts...and I hope you do too. I know that together, we can make a difference.  Wow. I just got really sappy right there.  {Insert suave eyebrow raise} I know.  I don't do that often.

So today's tutorial has come to pass after being so excited about instant beans! After the last few classes on  Convenience Meals  and cooking with them, I've had a lot of requests for this tutorial.  I found some instant beans from THRIVE that can are already made, but I also wanted to see if it could be done at home.  Yup. Totally can be done.  Highlighted today are the ever amazing beans from Colorado. All hail the farm-folk up there! Dang it. There's a lady who lives in my house Granny who grew up with those bean folk...and a gal named Elsie who almost cried when she saw her beloved Bolita beans from CO come home once again. Thanks folks. Awesome beans!  I found these at our local 

Honeyville Farms Retail Stores. Chandler, AZ.

 These are the Zuni Gold beans. I think they're pretty. I'd hot glue them to my favorite funky-purse and wear them as a snazzy accessory...but I think today we'll just cook them instead. Right?{ I'm secretly stuffing some in my pocket of to my right side. Now I'm mystically waving my hands in front of your face. You didn't see anything.}

 Our Heat Retention cooking class starts NOW.  For more on this amazing cooking method look HERE. It's not, in fact, a new method!   I've used my solar cooker as a sun-less cooker! Yes...it can be done! You can cook without the sun too! It's been particularly off-n-on sunny the last bit so I wasn't sure if I could pull it off...but I did. So I'm showing you. I did the post on Using Your Sun Oven as a Slow Cooker 101
 but failed to mention what to do should the sunlight be intermittent or it get cloudy shortly into your cooking. Heaven forbid! Well...there is salvation.

 Soak the beans in water overnight. Drain. Add 6 cups more water.  Bring to a simmer and cook 15 minutes (or in the solar oven, cook 20 minutes until at 350 degrees.)

 At this point, let's hypothetically say that the sun goes behind the clouds. In Arizona we've had several days like this lately. Annoying. But...I've found this out...I can sitll cook the beans.

 Cover the pot with towels, tightly fitting them around the bottom and sides of the hot pot. If you don't have a solar oven, this method will also work using a hay basket lined with blankets.  For more on this amazing cooking method look HERE. It's not, in fact, a new method!

 Close up your solar oven and allow beans to cook for 1 1/2 hours or more. Up to 8 hours.  Now. To make them into Instant beans that cook much quicker I made use of my method for Solar Dehydrating using my Bigger Bolder Sun Oven...big enough for 12 loaves . This has been an epic tool for dehydating and getting the food warm for things like beans.  At any rate. The cooked beans can go on a metal cooling rack in the solar oven and if the top of the oven is vented open by having a crack left unclosed, they will start as this...

 12-15 hours later they will be dry and shelf stable like this:

These can be cooked in as little as 20 minutes! Take one cup of instant beans and 3 cups of water. Simmer...or heat for 10 minutes over boiling water and use the Heat Retention method we talked about here. Either way will work.
I have enjoyed using them in my Convenience Meals in a Jar.

Personal favorite...the Bean and Rice Fajita Casserole using the Heat Retention Method.

There you go! Some awesome new tips for cooking without power and making instant beans!

 Again, if you want to learn more about the heat retention method I also recommend this e- book: Retained Heat Cooking ... the Wave of the Future Again . 
It's only 55 pages and under 10$ and I learned A LOT from reading it. xoxo! Special thanks and hugs to author Leslie Romano!