Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers

I have had the opportunity to enjoy these bad boys on several occasion, and every bite on every occasion has been phenomenal.  I would strongly recommend making these.  And when you do, go ahead and make at least a double batch.  These will go very quickly.  Not spoil, mind you, you'll just eat them too quickly.

This recipe will take some time to prepare and just a little more time to bake, but it is nearly effortless to put together.  Make sure you have a food processor on hand as well.  You'll need one.

Start with throwing the quinoa in a pot.  I like to boil the water and the quinoa together before I turn the heat down to a simmer (and cover).

While the quinoa is simmering, toss the sun-dried tomatoes and onion in a skillet and saute in a little coconut oil.  Allow the two to cook for just under 5 minutes or until tender.  Stir in half of the black beans (3/4 cup for one batch) and the garlic, steak seasoning, and 1 1/2 cups of water.  Turn the heat to a solid simmer and let cook for 10 minutes or until most of the water has cooked out of the skillet.  At this point, preheat the oven to 350 F

Spoon the skillet mixture into a food processor along with half of the quinoa and blend until smooth.  (The food processor I use is too small, thus I have to blend the mixture in two batches)  Once well blended, spoon in the remaining half of quinoa and half of black beans and stir well.

Allow the mixture to cool before shaping into 8 patties (for one batch) and place on a pan with parchment paper.  Bake the patties for around 20 minutes or until crisp and flip over and cook for another 10 minutes or so.

Now comes the hard part:  Try not to eat them all immediately.  Hopefully you have made a double batch and you can throw half of the patties in the freezer.  You can reheat them in a toaster oven or on the grill.

Otherwise, you can now put together a masterpiece.  I like to top the patty with romaine lettuce and pineapple, as I am a simple man.  But the important part is the hummus: spread some hummus on both sides of the bun and you are in business.

For this recipe
1/2 cup red quinoa (and 1 cup of water)
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped
1 1/2 cup black beans, cooked
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp steak seasoning

For toppings (my preferences, but feel free to go wild)
hummus
pineapple
romaine lettuce

The picture above was taken later in the evening while I was eating my second burger and realized I had pineapple in the fridge and didn't use any! (which should be a sin)  And ignore the PB&J in the background.  I was really hungry at the time...