Quinoa cakes

Garnished with tahini & yogurt sauce

Sorry for the lack of posts, but this week got away from me. I was busy trying to get as much work done as possible before the weekend hit. I'm leaving for the Outer Banks (in an hour!) to run my first half marathon tomorrow! Wish me luck! Before I dash out the door, I wanted to share a recipe I made last week.

One night last week I was thinking about what to make for dinner. I thought about making black bean burgers. I walked into the kitchen surveying what ingredients I had on hand. No black beans, only dried beans. Then I eyed a lonely bag of quinoa. Hmm quinoa burgers? I did a quick google search and found this recipe.

These little patties remind me of a vegetarian version of crab cakes. Their flavor is light and clean. These cakes would be great on top of a salad, stuffed into a pita or eaten as an open-faced sandwich. This recipe does contain one egg, but I'm sure you could substitute that to make them vegan. They are gluten- and dairy-free as well.

Quinoa Cakes
Adapted from Whole Foods
~2 c cooked quinoa
2/3 c grated carrot
1/4 c minced bell pepper
1/4 c minced celery
1/2 tsp turmeric
6 green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 free range, organic egg
zest of 1 lemon
~1/2 c of parsley, rinsed & minced
1/3 c of chickpea flour*
dash of sea salt & pepper


Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients except the egg. Add the egg to the mixture and stir well. *If the mixture is too wet, add more chickpea flour. Form the mixture into patties. I made mine about 3 inches across. This should make about 8 quinoa cakes. Put onto an oiled baking sheet and into the oven. Bake for 25 minutes, flipping once to brown each side. Garnish with tahini and/or yogurt sauce.