The Romaezis

Cooking for Kam: Quinoa Burgers

Quinoa Burgers

I’m a working mom so all of my cooking for the boy is typically done on weekends.  I didn’t do a very good job of planning out meals for the week this week and tonight was at a bit of a loss for what to feed Kamran at daycare tomorrow.  I have a few meals still frozen from previous weeks and technically could have given him turkey meatballs a few extra times.  I don’t like to be as low on food options for Kamran as I currently am so I whipped something up.  Tonight’s recipe is brought to you by my “oh no, what do we have in the fridge” moment.

Quinoa burgers. Quinoa is one food I can’t get my husband to eat but Kamran and I both really like it.  I love that it is such a versatile food and is packed full of nutrients.  You can really mix it with anything.  So, what did I have in the fridge?  Quinoa, carrots, asparagus, egg and bread crumbs.

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup shredded asparagus
2 medium eggs (I buy medium because Kamran never eats all of a large egg)
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup wheat germ (optional)
small diced onion (optional)
pinch turmeric
1 tbsp olive oil

Cook quinoa per instructions on the box.  Basically, just like you would rice.  Shred all veggies (carrot, asparagus, onion (optional)) then saute in olive oil with a pinch of turmeric.

Add quinoa, cooked veggies, bread crumbs, wheat germ (optional), 2 eggs to large bowl and mix well.  Flatten quinoa into small patties by first rolling into a ball then flattening as you would hamburger patties.  To cook you can either fry in a pan or bake on 350 for 20 minutes.  I had Kamran sample these before he went to bed and he LOVED them.

As I mentioned, one great thing about quinoa is that you can cook it so many ways.  It also tastes great with several different ingredients making it really easy to just throw something together using the stuff you have on hand in the fridge. Try these alternates:

Sweet –  Substitute veggies (carrot, asparagus, onion) for shredded apple and raisin.  Lose the turmeric.  You could add cinnamon.
Savory – Substitute veggies for butternut squash.  You could keep the carrot if you wanted.  Lose the turmeric and use cinnamon instead.
Zucchini is also great with these instead of asparagus.