Did you miss me? Goodness, where did that week go. Things have been extra manic here this last week, with every minute crammed full and no time left to blog. I’ve missed our chats and have had lots of things to write about and absolutely no time to do it. But back today, and hoping things will be less busy.

We went to Lewes yesterday to finalise wedding arrangements at the venue, not long now! One minute I had plenty of time, the next it is upon us. So much to think about, even tho it is a simple ‘do’.

I got a Slimming World magazine last week, I’m ever the optimist, and there are some nice recipes in there this time. I have been thinking about using quinoa for ages, and have had a packet in the cupboard, also for ages, but never got round to using it.

SW has a recipe for the ‘the best ever veggie burgers’ using quinoa, so I thought I would have a go.

This is my version of their recipe.

Protein packed Quinoa burgers

150g dried quinoa, Asda £1.98/300g, 99p
100g carrots, grated, Asda 57p/kg, 6p
400g chickpeas, drained and rinsed, 4 for £1, 25p
2 tbsp Pataks curry paste, any flavour, Asda £1.24/450g, 16p
1 onion, chopped, Asda £1.07/2 kg, 5p
1 egg, Asda 30 eggs/£3.30, 11p
Total cost £1.62
Makes 10 burgers, 5 portions, 32p a portion
For each 2 burger portion, 192 cals, 8g protein, 25g carbs, 7g fat, 6g fibre

150g quinoa is a cupful. Put it in a saucepan, along with 2 cupfuls water. Simmer gently until the water is absorbed, about 25 minutes. Leave to cool.

Put the cooled quinoa, carrot, onion, curry paste, chickpeas and egg in a food processor. Pulse gently until well combined.

I had just chopped the carrot and a stalk of broccoli roughly and I had to whizz everything for longer than I wanted to chop the veg up enough. So best to chop/grate it beforehand.

Form the burger mix into 10 equal sized portions using your hands or a burger shaping gizmo. I’ve had one from Lakeland for years and years and it is very handy for things like this.

Place the burgers you want to cook in a frying pan with a tiny bit of oil and cook gently until crispy. Flip over and repeat. Or you could put them on a lined baking tray, drizzle with a tiny bit of oil and oven bake them for 15-20 minutes.

We had ours with oven chips, coleslaw, cucumber and radish.

Verdict – I thought with the curry spices in there that they would be full of flavour but they are not the tastiest thing I have ever eaten, they definitely need the yogurt in the SW recipe to serve with them. We got some hot mango chutney out of the cupboard and used that, then they were fine. You could use tzatiki, any chutney, a thick Greek yogurt, a spicy tomato salsa (also in the SW recipe), any flavour of hummous, or anything that will give these burgers a bit more flavour.

I have 3 more portions in the fridge, so I think tomorrow, I’ll get some soft wholemeal rolls and have one in a toasted roll, with lettuce, tomato, hummous and some caramelised onion chutney. Should be good!