Quinoa Burger dressed with Tzatziki

This is a guest post from Stacy Abbott (Bryce's Mom) who is an awesome cook and has a beautiful garden.  Hope you all enjoy!







As I looked at my counter full with the bounty of my raised bed and container garden, as well as zucchini and squash from friend's gardens, I pondered what to fix for dinner. I wanted it to be no fuss, quick and delicious.

I hopped on pinterest and searched Quinoa Burger and found a recipe to adapt to the fresh veggie bounty. I did add ingredients (extra veggies) and remove others (cheese and sweetener) from the original recipe with success. Interestingly enough, the author also had modified the original recipe using zucchini instead of carrots, perfect!  She also suggested topping the quinoa burgers with tzatziki, heck yeah, I have those ingredients too. But wait, the step by step tzatziki recipe I found soaks the cukes for 30 minutes and then refrigerates the final product for 2 hours. Eeek, that didn't fit my 30 minute meal plan... I decided to go for it anyway, in a right out of the food-processing-Ninja version! No cuke salt soak, didn't even peel it, no hanging out in the fridge for 2-hours, not this version, and it was amazing.

Stacy's Ninja Tzatziki
5.3 oz (single serve) Greek yogurt
1 small - medium cucumber (seeds scooped out, skin left on)
juice of 1/2 lemon, hand squeezed
1 clove of garlic
Fresh dill (I like dill so I was heavy handed) it would probably measure out to be 1/4 c.




I tossed all of the above ingredients in my Ninja (aka mini food processor) and blam instant fragrant and delicious tzatziki!

In less than 30 minutes we were enjoying a protein packed, gluten free super delicious meal.

Quinoa Burger

2 rounded cups cooked quinoa (see note below for cooking instructions)

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 cup shredded zucchini, squeezed dry (don't skip this step)

3 eggs

3 tablespoons quinoa flour

2 green onions, including white parts

1 handful of cilantro coursely chopped

1 fajita bell pepper chopped (or a medium spicey pepper of your choice )

1 large clove of garlic minced

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon organic greek garden herb spice grinder (Red Monkey, I find it at Kroger)

Coconut oil for frying

To cook quinoa:

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups vegetable broth (I added a small crushed clove of garlic as well then removed before adding quinoa) 

In a medium saucepan bring the 2 cups vegetable broth to a boil over high heat.  Add quinoa and reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook for 15 minutes, or until all water is absorbed and the seeds are tender.  Allow to cool for a few minutes.

After quinoa cools for a few minutes, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. (My patties were easiest to form while in the pan, they won't hold well uncooked.  Cooking the burgers on med-low slowly, helps the to stay in patty from and not fall apart, they will have a little longer to set-up without burning. It will also make them easier to flip).

Heat a frying pan and a couple teaspoons coconut oil over medium-low heat. Mixture will be slightly sticky, so using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop mixture into pan and lightly flatten to 1/2 inch thick.  Fry until golden-brown, about 4 minutes on each side.   Makes approx. 10 burgers.