The burgers are delicate when they are hot, so make sure they have a nice golden crust before turning them. They solidify and get very sturdy once they are cooled in the refrigerator, and become softer again once they get very hot again. Basically, I think it is due to the cheese (or un-cheese) which helps bind them together melting and then solidifying.

They are great on corn tortillas, would be delicious in a gluten-free hamburger bun, and were completely lovely as a breakfast “burger” served with a side of hash browns. This recipe was just something I threw together on a whim, but it was such a success that I can see it going on our regular menu rotation. A great way to use leftover quinoa!

After this recipe was such a hit in our household, I did a search for other gluten-free quinoa burger recipes:
Renee’s Sweet Potato, Quinoa, Bean Burger Recipe
GF Made Easy Black Bean Quinoa Burger Recipe
Gluten-free Cat’s Quinoa Burger Recipe
Gluten-free Dish’s Quinoa Black Bean Burgers
Gluten-free for Good’s Sweet Potato Quinoa Burger Recipe

Here’s an earlier Book of Yum recipe for veggie burgers:
Sweet Potato Black Bean Vegetarian Burger Recipe

Just want to buy one? Read my article reviewing the gluten-free veggie Burger options

Shared with Slightly Indulgent Tuesday and Gluten-free Wednesdays

Why is it that Baby Yum always steals my food in the middle of a photo session? I had to chase her around the kitchen in circles to get this quinoa burger back. Silly Baby, all she has to do is ask and I’ll give her some!


Breaking Gluten-free News: Speaking of burgers and sandwiches, did you hear that Subway is testing a gluten-free bun option in their Texas stores? Reportedly the bun is manufactured off-site in a gluten-free facility, comes in a sealed plastic bag and they use a single-use knife to cut the bun. Despite efforts to train staff in cross-contamination issues, I’m skeptical that they will be able to provide a truly gluten-free product. The condiments and any sandwich fillings will surely be contaminated, don’t you think? Besides, the bread smell alone in that place makes me feel queasy, personally. Nevertheless, at least another mainstream corporation is thinking about catering to gluten-free customers, which can only be a good thing. I just hope they don’t end up causing more harm than good by doing it improperly.

Gluten-free Vegetarian Quinoa Bean Burgers with Vegan Option Main Course  Alternative Grains  American

Ingredients 4 cups cooked quinoa (about 1 cup uncooked, simmered with 2 cups water) 1 can drained, rinsed black beans 1/2 can organic stewed tomatoes, drained (I used muir glen with green chilies) 1 egg OR for vegan, 1 flax seed “egg”* blended or food processed 1/2 cup roasted frozen corn (Trader Joe’s, or regular un-roasted) 4 scallions or green onion, minced 1/4 cup sorghum flour (or your favorite gluten-free whole grain flour) 2 cups monterey jack cheese OR for vegan, daiya mozzarella small handful fresh cilantro, diced olive oil or your favorite oil Directions Prepare a large baking sheet with a layer of parchment paper, if you have the latter. The paper is optional but makes life easier. Preheat oven to 350F. Combine quinoa, beans, and tomato in a medium-large bowl. Stir with your hands or a large spoon, mashing the beans a little if possible. Create a well in the mixture for the egg or flax “egg” and use a fork to whisk whites into the yolk. Fold the egg or flax “egg” into the mixture and combine thoroughly. Microwave briefly or cook your corn so it is no longer frozen and stir into your mixture along with the minced green onion. Sprinkle with half of your flour and fold in. Add your second half of the flour and combine. Sprinkle with cheese or un-cheese and mix it so it is evenly distributed throughout. Add cilantro, fold together one final time. See if you can create a patty with the mixture. If it is too wet, add a little more flour. On medium-high, heat enough oil in a nonstick or well-seasoned cast iron pan to cover the bottom of the pan. Carefully add enough medium-size patties, one at a time, to cover the bottom of the pan and not have them touching each other. I had two full batches. Fry until each patty has a golden-brown crust on the bottom and then carefully turn over. Cook second side until golden brown. Carefully remove first batch to your baking sheet and put in oven. Let bake while you make the second batch in your skillet, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve while the second batch is in the oven, if you like. Enjoy! Notes We served these on tortillas with lettuce, red pepper pico de gallo, and avocado dressing. DH LOVED them, and I did too. Yum! *Flax egg= 1 tbsp ground flax seed + 3 tbsp water, blended or food processed

Rating:  10 Original Source:  The contents of my brain, please do not replicate without my permission. Recipe ID:  1535 Added:  January 19, 2011 Last Modified:  January 21, 2011

Pepper Pico De Gallo Sauces & Condiments  Vegetables  Mexican

Ingredients 1 roma tomato (organic preferred) 1/4 of a red or yellow pepper OR handful of mini peppers 1 or 2 green onions dash of fresh lime or lemon juice 1 tablespoon fresh cilantro (or less, to taste) salt to taste dash of pepper or California pepper Directions Mince your roma tomato and discard the watery pulp. Put the nice minced pieces in a small bowl. Mince your red or yellow pepper OR your mini peppers- I got a big bag of adorable mini yellow and red peppers from Costco in a bid to get Baby Yum eating more veggies and have been putting them in everything. Mix peppers into the bowl with tomato and sprinkle with salt. Mince your green onions and add them to the party. You can use less or more, to taste. Use more if you will be eating the pico de gallo soon, and use less if you are going to let it sit overnight or for at least a half hour. It becomes even more delicious the next day, and flavors of raw ingredients mellow. Squeeze a bit of juice from a fresh lime or lemon on top of the mixture and mix together. Finely mince your cilantro and add to the bowl. Season with salt and pepper and fold ingredients together. Let it sit. Refrigerate in a sealed container if you are going to leave it longer than half an hour or overnight. Use on something delicious.

Rating:  9 Original Source:  The contents of my brain, please do not replicate without my permission. Recipe ID:  1536 Added:  January 21, 2011 Last Modified:  January 21, 2011

Avocado Dressing Recipe Sauces & Condiments  American  Mexican

Ingredients 1/4 avocado, mashed Equal amounts of mayonnaise (Vegan mayonnaise would make recipe vegan!) 1 small amount of scallion, minced into tiny tiny pieces Pinch of lemon or lime juice white pepper if desired (I didn’t Directions Combine ingredients and mix thoroughly. Serve on something tasty, preferably with my pepper pico de gallo. Notes The DH LOVED this. You can double or triple the recipe. I didn’t have very much avocado, so I made a small batch.

Rating:  9 Original Source:  The contents of my brain, please do not replicate without my permission. Recipe ID:  1537 Added:  January 21, 2011 Last Modified:  January 21, 2011

My apologies for my absence for the last two menus of the week. I always try to post a menu on Sunday and then twice during the week, but with spotty internet service as we moved to a new apartment, I just wasn’t able to. And, unfortunately, it just didn’t make sense to do a menu plan as meals have largely been consisting of restaurant fare and frozen gluten-free Amy’s meals.

I did manage to post two recipes somehow:
Japanese-fusion Avocado Onigiri Rice Triangles
and
Fresh Pineapple Spring Roll, Soy-Free Garlic-free Peanut Sauce and Nut-free Sweet Chili-garlic sauce

One of my favorite people, Cheryl of Gluten-free Goodness, is hosting the gluten-free menu of the week and the ingredient of the week is garlic. Unfortunately, somehow pregnancy has made me very sensitive to garlic (even though I formerly loved the stuff) and it just isn’t agreeing with me. I look forward to seeing what others do with this ingredient, though, and maybe I can join in after Baby Yum joins us and pregnancy is no longer playing havoc with my taste buds and constitution. The sweet chili-garlic sauce recipe I made for my gluten-free potluck above is perhaps the only valid entry I have for her theme… Here’s my sadly garlic-light menu for the week:

Monday: American
Homemade Cream of Tomato Soup
Homemade Gluten-free bread

Wednesday: Mexican
Vegetarian Enchiladas

Thursday: Chinese
Veggie Stir Fry

Friday: Italian
Veggie Pizza

You can find more great menus with Org Junkie.

If being 8 1/2 months pregnant, moving, and celebrating the forth of July weren’t enough this year, I also had an unfortunate incident involving a very painful cracked tooth that took real food off the menu when I suddenly had to have the tooth removed. EEK! Luckily I have the best husband in the world that kept me well supplied in hot (lukewarm) GF cereal, smoothies, ice cream and yogurt. Kozy Shack Rice Pudding went down very nicely, and I also enjoyed many a mashed sweet potato and even some nice sauteed scrambled tofu. I asked the DH to make me a soup, and fresh corn in the grocery store inspired him to channel a favorite in Japan- Cream of corn soup. Because he is my hero, he decided to try making it in the pressure cooker to soften the potatoes lightening-fast. He also pureed it to create one of the silky-smoothest vegetarian soups I’ve ever had. Because there is sodium in both creamed corn and bouillon, do be cautious when adding salt. I recommend adding any salt AFTER the soup is pureed. Naughtiness with sodium aside, this is one of the tastiest soups I have had in a long time and it made me love our pressure cooker and my wonderful DH all the more. Hungry yet?

Japanese-Style Cream of Corn Soup in Pressure Cooker Recipe Soup  Vegetables  Japanese  European

Ingredients 1/2 stick butter 1 onion, sliced 1/4 cup sweet rice flour 4 cups water 1 can (15 oz) cream style corn kernels from 2 ears of fresh corn 2 cubes Gluten Free Not-chicken bouillon 2 potatoes, peeled and diced 2 cups lowfat milk (we use Organic 1%) Parisien Bonnes Herbes (Penzey’s Spice Blend including chives, dill, basil, tarragon, chervil, and white pepper*) to taste salt and pepper to taste (cautious with the salt- between the cream corn and bouillon it is easy to over-salt… perhaps best to season at the end) Fresh basil to garnish (optional but adds delightful flavor) Directions Fry onions and butter on low heat in a pressure cooker with the lid off. Add flour and stir for a few minutes to make a nice roux. Add remaining ingredients to pressure cooker and bring to a boil. Put the lid on the pressure cooker, reduce the heat to low, bring it up to pressure and let it cook for 6-10 minutes. Release the pressure using the quick release, season as needed, make sure the potatoes are cooked through. If they are not soft, simmer soup until they are soft. If you like, for a very smooth, creamy soup you can then let it cool slightly and then blend in a blender. Notes *if you don’t have this herb blend, use another green dill-based blend you like or any of these dried herbs listed to taste.

Rating:  8 Original Source:  My DH’s creation. Please do not replicate anywhere without our permission. thanks! Recipe ID:  1432 Added:  July 4, 2009 Last Modified:  July 5, 2009

Inspiration from dinners this week:

Rajma Indian Vegetarian Chili Recipe, Roasted Eggplant in Creamy Sauce (healthy cuisine of India p. 91),special Indian Rice Recipe.

Here’s the menu for this week, a week that promises to be exceptionally busy with painting a new apartment, starting to move into said apartment, and more fun with third trimester pregnancy. Wonder if I’ll really manage to be so ambitious this week…

Monday: Mexican
Herbed Zucchini Salad (A Taste of Mexico p. 67)
Refried Bean Tostadas (116)

Wednesday: Japanese
Onigiri Rice Triangles
Spinach salad

Thursday: Middle Eastern
Falafel and tahini sauce
baba ghanoush
cucumber yogurt salad
gluten-free flatbread

Friday: Vegetarian
Gluten-Free crumpets
gluten-free veggie burgers (Sunflower)
Salad

Breakfast: Raspberry Smoothie
Baked Goods: Gluten-Free Crumpets (bette Hagman), Gluten-free flatbread (my own)

This week the gluten-free menu swap is hosted by Cheryl of GF Goodness, the home of the swap headquarters, with a theme of raspberries. After living on a farm for a year in my childhood and glutting myself on an obscene amount of farm-grown raspberries, i have to admit that they are not my favorite fruit, but I do love them in a smoothie! You can find more great menus with Org Junkie.

This week I posted an update on the new offerings at the
Gluten-Free bakery Mariposa in Oakland, California
and a
gorgeous tofu recipe with nutritional yeast and cheese that sadly, never felt the love. *sniff*

This week I was just debating about what type of recipe to try for my weekly Sunday recipe when I happened across a recipe by a master food blogger, the well known mastermind behind Sacramento based blog Vanilla Garlic. He was inspired by a cheesy, sweet cornbread baked in a madeleine tray that he was served at the local restaurant Tre to create his own salty, cheese-rich cornbread madeleines seasoned liberally with freshly ground pepper. Oh Garrett, you had me at cornbread madeleines, and the seasoning cinched it. Although I was a leetle frightened to try making this dish, what with the fiery inferno that resulted from the perils of the madeleine tray in Garrett’s oven, I absolutely had to give it the old gluten-free try. Of course, both the Tre version and Garrett’s contained gluten- so I took the baking pan presentation and seasoning ideas for inspiration and came up with my own gluten-free recipe. I was feeling a tad self conscious about the amount of cheese I’ve been eating lately so I made several variations- one a roasted red pepper cornbread inspired by previous recipes for green chili cornbread, another a lemon pepper, and then one with just the lightest tease of parmesan to pay homage to Garrett’s original. I have this lovely bottle of lemon olive oil in my pantry that cried out to be served with these cornbread yummies- and I sprinkled all versions generously with kosher salt. The recipe was just as lovely as I thought it would be, and was a perfect way for this savory-obsessed gluten-free lady to use her much neglected madeleine pan. The DH gave a big thumbs up and pronounced them yummy. I concentrated on not eating the whole pan in one setting. This recipe is also a great way to play with the new gluten-free milled cornmeals available through Bob’s Red Mill. If you don’t have a pan for madeleines, never fear, you can bake them all in mini muffin tins… but they’re not quite as fun! (Still taste delicious though). For the record- the lemon pepper and the parmesan were my favorite seasonings, but roasted red pepper was tasty too, especially if you add a little cheese to them. Mmm, mm, tasty.

Gluten Free Cornbread madeleines or mini corn muffin Recipe Bread  Corn  American

Ingredients 1/2 cup coarse gluten-free cornmeal grits (Arrowhead Mills or Bob’s Red Mill) 1/2 cup gluten-free medium cornmeal (Bob’s Red Mill) 3/4 cup gluten-free flour blend (Rebecca reilly’s brown rice blend) 1/4 cup sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup lowfat buttermilk (for dairy free, milk sub with lemon juice) 1 large egg, beaten 2 tbsp. canola or olive oil freshly ground black pepper Seasonings: 1/8 cup roasted red pepper, minced (for 1/3 the recipe) 2 tbsp. microplane grated parmesan or more (for 1/3 the recipe) Coarsely ground lemon pepper (for 1/3 the recipe) For all recipe: Lemon olive oil (optional) kosher salt 1 madeleine pan, 1 mini muffin tin (use only half or 1/3 or tin) butter for greasing or nonstick cooking spray Directions Preheat oven to 375F. Grease madeleine pan and 1/3 or 1/2 of mini muffin tin with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Whisk together dry ingredients in med-large bowl and then make a well in the middle. Add your buttermilk, egg, and oil, and gently combine. Fill 2/3 of tins with the cornmeal batter. Sprinkle 1/3 of batter in tins with grated parmesan. Sprinkle 1/3 of batter with generous amounts of coarsely ground lemon pepper. Add minced roasted red pepper to batter remaining in the bowl and use to fill remaining madeleine tins and mini muffin tins. Season with kosher salt and bake for 9 or 10 minutes. If you like, you can turn over your madeleines and bake for two more minutes. Bake mini muffins a few more minutes too, if you like. To serve, baste with lemon olive oil (optional) and sprinkle with a bit more kosher salt. Yummy! Notes Rebecca Reilly’s GF Flour mix: Made in bulk, proportions are 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, 1/3 cup tapioca starch. Now please buy her wonderful cookbook.)

Rating:  8 Original Source:  Inspired by GarrettMcCord’s recipe for parm cornbread madeleines on Vanilla Garlic, but my own gluten-free chemistry and seasoning. Please do not replicate without my permission. Thanks! Recipe ID:  1427 Added:  June 14, 2009 Last Modified:  June 14, 2009