02 June 2013


 

There are a few exciting things going on here today. One: This is my 500th recipe!  I can't believe I have posted 500 recipes!  It seriously blows my mind.  Good thing Blogger keeps track of this kind of stuff for me!

Two: This is my Secret Recipe Club recipe for this month.  The Secret Recipe Club is a group of food bloggers who secretly make one of someone else's dishes and post them all on the same day at the same time.  It's really fun, choosing a recipe to make, making the recipe, then reading about everyone else's recipes.  It's a great way to "meet" other bloggers and check out some great blogs that you never knew about before.

This month I was assigned the blog Searching For Dessert.  It's written by Shannon, a former pastry chef, recent culinary school graduate, and mother of two.  Shannon is also a pescatarian, which, as I understand it, is a vegetarian who eats fish and seafood.  I am not a vegetarian, but I do try to serve my family meatless meals at least once a week, and have a growing collection of favorite meatless recipes.  I was excited to add to it!  Shannon has some really great recipes on her blog.  I loved the sound of her Chicken Fried Portobello Mushrooms.  Her Slow Cooker Stuffed Onions definitely have me intrigued, but I knew no one else in my family would eat them since they are picky about onions.  And with grilling season in full swing, I really want to try her Grilled Caesar Salad.  But the recipe I tried this month was her Southwest Quinoa Sliders.  My family is fully on board with quinoa, and I thought these sounded really good.  

Southwest Quinoa Sliders

Ingredients:
1 avocado, peeled and cubed
2 tbsp ranch dressing
½ cup quinoa, cooked
¼ cup dry bread crumbs
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp chili powder
2 eggs
½ cup corn, fresh or thawed from frozen
½ cup black beans, drained and rinsed
½ tsp salt
Olive oil
8 slider buns
Lettuce, if desired
Tomato slices, if desired

Directions:
Prepare the avocado topping: Mash up the avocado in a small bowl.  Add the ranch dressing and stir to combine.  Cover and place in fridge until ready to serve.

In a medium bowl, mix together the quinoa, breadcrumbs, flour, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, eggs, corn, black beans, and salt.  Make sure all ingredients are evenly distributed.  

Heat the oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet, then divide the quinoa mixture into 8 equal portions, dropping them into the skillet and flattening them slightly. Cook the patties on each side for 3-4 minutes, flipping once.

Serve the quinoa sliders with the avocado topping, lettuce, and tomato on the slider buns.

Makes 4 servings, 2 sliders each.

I only made a few changes to Shannon's recipe.  First of all, I doubled it, and that ended up being perfect for us.  I got 8-10 sliders out of it.  I left the cheese out because one of my daughters is allergic to dairy.  I didn't have a lime, so I left the lime juice out.  I changed the condiment a little bit too.  Shannon's was avocado, garlic, Greek yogurt, and cilantro.  I was lazy and made a simple avocado ranch sauce by simply mashing up some avocado and mixing in some ranch dressing.  It was really good.  


Here is a pic of the slider patties without the buns so you can see them close up.  They are the perfect combination of quinoa, black beans, and corn.  

My family absolutely loved these sliders.  I thought that my husband would just tolerate them, but he went on and on about how great they were.  He was a huge fan.  I loved them too, and and didn't miss the meat one little bit.  I served these with my Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes for an awesome meal.

Since these were such a huge hit with my family, I know they will be in regular rotation on my meatless days. Thanks for a great recipe, Shannon!

Oh, by the way, the other exciting thing that is going on is that there is a big change coming to my little blog.  I don't know exactly when the change will be done, but I will keep you posted!


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10 comments:

  1. Lesa,
    Thank you for all of the kind words and I'm so glad you enjoyed the sliders! Your Honey Roasted Sweet Potatoes sound delicious! I will have to try them soon.

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  2. These sliders look AWESOME! Perfect for summer cookouts and perfect for SRC. Congrats on hitting 500 recipes :-)

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  3. Love the idea of using quinoa for vegetarian burgers. I will keep it in mind for the months of grilling ahead of us!

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  4. These look delicious! I have some leftover rice that I might try to sub for the quinoa tonight for dinner. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  5. I had Shannon's blog last month and marked these to make. Now here's another reminder. And I'll have to have the sweet potatoes to go with it.

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  6. These sound delicious... just wish I did not have a quinoa allergy since it is SO HEALTHY! Ugh!

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  7. First quinoa pattys ever for me, very cool. And congrats on the 500 milestone

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  8. Nicole Humphrey CookJune 6, 2013 at 9:19 PM

    Oooh! I'm always looking for new Quinoa recipes and this one looks great! Yum!

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  9. Yum! I adore quinoa burgers - they're so delicious! :)

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  10. This looks like a very tasty vegetarian recipe and so healthy too.

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