Homemade Veggie Patties

I’ve meat free for about 4 years now (not counting a few unintentional accidents). Transitioning to an animal-free diet has been relatively easy. One of the main challenges I face is keeping variety in my diet so I don’t get bored. I’ve also become increasingly aware of how much I rely on processed food for protein sources.

Do you ever have someone say something and it just sticks in your head? This will sound like I am changing my focus, but hang in there. Years ago I mentioned to a friend how ugly I thought maternity clothes were that tied behind to create a waistline. A week later she announced she was pregnant and paranoid about maternity clothes. Oops! A co-worker of mine recently went on and on about soy and how bad it was. I later realized what her specific issues were with soy and know I can ignore a lot of her concerns, but the comments have remained in my head. And most of those processed foods I eat (told you I’d be back on topic) use soy.

A few family functions ago my uncle-in-law introduced me to quinoa. He also introduced me to the proper pronunciation of the word – Keen-wa versus Qui-no-a. This is a wonder food! It’s a grain, which means it qualifies as a member of one of my favorite food groups, and it has tons of protein in it. Wonder Boy and I have been working in quinoa into our diets with increasing frequency. We strive to mix up our protein sources throughout the week and use as lot less processed food.

Last night I made homemade quinoa / black bean veggie patties. Mmmm they were good! I got the recipe from The Vegetarian Times and, although it took a while to make, the end result was well-worth it. The best part is that the recipe yields 8 patties and I was able to freeze 6 of them for 3 future meals.

I checked the Vegetarian Times site for the recipe, but no luck. Here’s an alternative recipe that also looks good if you’d like to give homemade veggie patties a shot.