Best dinner ever! Well, at least one of the best vegan/gluten-free dinners I've made in a long time. One of my favourite things to be is hostess, especially to my visiting out-of-town friends and of course I especially love cooking for them. So, I was more then happy to riffle through my recipe books and websites to find some delicious summer meal ideas for my visiting friend this weekend.
On the menu so far ... last night I quickly whipped up a Quinoa Tahini salad that included chopped spinach, tomato, cucumber and chickpeas with a creamy lemony tahini dressing. Simple, savoury and super filling.
Tonight (best home-made meal I made/ate in a while) included vegan Black Bean burgers, Big Greens salad and left over Quinoa tahini salad. I found the Black Bean burger recipe on one of my favourite websites, Fat Free Vegan but I of course adapted it.
Black Bean Vegan Burgers
1.5 cups cooked black beans
1 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup chopped orange pepper (any pepper will do)
1 small onion chopped
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
2 tbsp quinoa flour
1. In a food processor, mix the beans, peppers and onion until most of the chunks are smoothed out.
2. Add the remaining ingredients except the rice and quinoa flour to the bean mixture.
3. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and add the rice. This is when you can get your clean hands dirty and mix everything up really well.
4. Add the flour as needed to harden the mixture a bit so it's not so moist.
5. Using about one large spoonful at a time form circular patties to fry up in a pan.
6. Cook just until browned well on each side of the patty. Cooking times may vary depending on your taste.
Bon Appetite!