“Left-Over Quinoa Salad” Burgers

Hi! How is everyone doing? It’s almost our holiday weekend! I wanted to share my new recipe that I made the other night when I was trying to use up the last of my quinoa salad. I love being resourceful in the kitchen and using whatever is in the fridge instead of heading to the grocery store. I took out some ground organic beef and lamb that I had in the freezer from this dinner and pureed the quinoa salad before mixing them together.

“Left-Over Quinoa Salad” Burgers

Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free

Loosely based off the Garden Beef Burgers in the Better Homes and Garden Cook Book

Makes 4-6 burgers

1 cup quinoa salad (I used this one, but any quinoa/bean/veggie one should work)

1/2 lb. organic ground beef

1/2 lb. ground lamb

1 organic egg or 3 Tablespoons egg whites

1 Tablespoon catsup + more for cooking

1 teaspoon worchestire sauce

1 teaspoon dried onion

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat your broiler. Position your oven rack so that the burgers will be about 3-4″ from the broiler. Puree the quiona salad in a food processor, blender or magic bullet. Add the egg, catsup, worchestire sauce, dried onion, garlic salt and pepper. Pulse until well combined. In a medium size bowl, mash the ground beef and lamb with a spoon or your hands until fully mixed. Add the quinoa salad mixture to the meat. Mix until well combined.

Spray a roasting rack with cooking spray. (I don’t have a roasting rack, but I placed a cookie rack on top of a baking pan.) Divide your hamburger mixture into 4-6 sections. Using your hands, shape each section into a 1/2″ thick patty. Place on the roasting pan. Broil for 8 minutes. Flip the burgers. Brush with a little catsup. Back an additional 4-6 minutes. Serve on lettuce or with gluten-free buns. I enjoyed mine with a large serving of green beans and extra catsup.

I must be on a burger kick lately because tonight, when I went out to dinner with my cousin and my friend (and his girlfriend) I ordered another burger, sans-bun.

We ate at Noble Rot, which is a rooftop restaurant and wine bar that has their own rooftop garden. It was a spectacular dinner with good food and good friends. There was even a firework show while we were eating our dessert – flowerless chocolate tarte!

Now that I spent the past week celebrating my birthday and eating a little more indulgently than usual, I need to get my rear in gear because I leave for Maui in 1 week! My sister and I are staying with one of my friends that I met when Blake and I lived there. I’m excited because she’s pregnant with a little baby girl and I get to go to one of her ultrasound appointments while I’m there!

My game-plan for the week:

Sticking with my “O-blood type” style of eating

Working out with my favorite “Tone It Up” workouts

A few more HIT cardio sessions

Substituting chocolate and sweets with tea (this one is the hardest for me)

It will all be worth it when I’m in the sun, a week from now. Do you have any fitness goals right now? Mine is to continue my same level of exercise and healthy eating that I have enjoyed this Summer throughout the Fall and Winter. I don’t know about you, but when January hits, my workout motivation drops pretty low. Add my gluten-free sweet tooth to the mix and I have a lot of work to do come Spring Break time – haha!