Black Bean and Quinoa Burgers

I realized yesterday that all of the meals I planned for this week were vegetarian – totally unintentionally. Well, not 100% unintentional, I suppose. I have been trying to eat less meat, especially since poultry has begun to ick me out. I even briefly considered doing a full-on 2-week vegan experiment for kicks, but, alas, cheese won out in that debate. My real goal for this week’s meal plan (a process on which I intend to do a separate post) was to cut the grocery budget a bit, and cutting meat is the best way to do that.

This black bean and quinoa burger appealed to me as soon as I saw it in its reincarnated form as quesadillas on foodgawker. I love the idea of “round 2″ recipes, especially since I have less and less desire to spend an hour in the kitchen at the end of a long day.

We both really enjoyed the burgers, but since I didn’t change much about the recipe, I hesitate to post it here. BUT, then I remembered the original purpose of this blog for me – to document recipes that I would like to make again. These burgers definitely fit in that category. We served them on toasted english muffins (probably my favorite sandwich vehicle) with some cilantro-lime mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato. Avocado and sriracha would have been nice additions too.

Quinoa, Butternut Squash & Leek Pilaf with Runny Eggs

A few years back I wouldn’t ever eat egg yolks when eating eggs for breakfast. As B and I were eating this yummy, healthy dinner tonight (made even yummier from runny eggs), I was reminded of back when we first started dating and how he never made fun of me for eating around the yolk when eating fried eggs. Now that’s true love. And craziness because yolks are delicious — nature’s best sauce, in my (now) opinion.

Balsamic Grilled Vegetables and Basil Quinoa Salad

I heart my CSA. I LOVE getting fresh summer veg each week, straight from the farm. I was having the girls over for dinner and drinks (and bachelorette finale…don’t judge), and thought this would make a great vegetarian meal. I was not wrong (unlike Ali, whose bachelorette choice was questionable).

Quinoa with Garlic, Pine Nuts and Currants

This is my first quinoa experience. I am still partial to rice and cous cous…but quinoa is just so damn healthy I might have to get behind it. I think that the finished product is a little mushy and a tad fuzzy, but the crunch of the nuts really makes it happen and it’s actually extremely tasty. I don’t think I would try to make this without some sort of nut or other crunchy element as the texture really is lacking otherwise.