Beetroot burgers

I have made some Black Bean Beet Burgers and the recipe I have used is in the Clever Guts Diet recipe book. They took a fair bit of effort to make but I have to say they do smell gorgeous. They contain beetroot, onions, ground cumin, ground coriander, olive oil, black beans (you can use kidney beans if you don't have any and that's what I used as well as borlotti beans), fresh garlic, chilli flakes ,zest of limes, egg, precooked quinoa, parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.

Even though they did take a lot of effort to make I doubled up on the recipe and will freeze the rest so I have made enough for 8 meals as I'm the only one that will eat them.

I am looking forward to dinner tonight.

[Zest]

Wow, Alicia, these look fabulous! I really like the sound of them too - must be really flavourful and full of healthy ingredients. I am definitely going to try to make some of those. I think they would be so delicious.

Lots of really good spices in there too.

Zest

[Hidden in reply to Zest]

Thank you Zest and I'm really looking forward to eating them. Yes they took a lot of effort but by the smell of them it was worth the effort that's for sure.

Alicia

[Zest in reply to Hidden]

I think the fact you can make so many of them, and freeze them, makes the effort worth it too.

[Hidden in reply to Zest]

Thank you Zest and it certainly does.

Enjoy your meal tonight.

Alicia

[Zest in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Alicia,

I need to start cooking it - I'm running late!

Zest

[Hidden in reply to Zest]

And me, I'd better get on with cooking my hubby's meal!

Alicia

[Hidden]

Hi Alicia,

These look stunning and brilliant that you've made a batch, I love all the ingredients spices and everything about them...

So you enjoy them tonight. 😊

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Jerry and they were yummy. They do fall apart but that's not a problem when they taste as good.

Alicia

[avoid-sugar Star]

They look absolutely 😋 delicious

[Hidden in reply to avoid-sugar]

Thank you avoid-sugar , they were gorgeous and I'm so glad I made a batch.

[Millie09]

Oh boy, now these i must make. Could you be so kind as to tell.me how you made them please. I would be so grateful. 😊

[Hidden in reply to Millie09]

Hi Millie09 , they were absolutely gorgeous and I got the recipe out of the Clever Guts Diet recipe book that my daughter bought for me on Mother's Day, sadly the recipe isn't online as I've just had a look so I have copied and typed the recipe from my book.

They are called Black Bean Beet Burgers and the recipe is:

150g beetroot, peeled and diced into 1/2 cm pieces

1 small onion finely diced

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

3 tbsp. olive oil

400g can black beans (or kidney beans), drained but not rinsed

1 large garlic clove, crushed

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

Zest of 2 limes

1 medium egg, beaten

150g precooked quinoa (red, white or black)

40g vegan Parmesan, grated (I didn't bother with vegan)

2 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180oC/160oC fan/gas mark 4. Mix the beetroot and onion together in a medium sized bowl with the cumin, coriander, 1 tbsp. of the olive oil and some seasoning. Spoon the mixture into a roasting tin and bake it, covered, in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the beetroot starts to soften.

2. Meanwhile, place the beans, garlic, chilli flakes and lime zest in the bowl used for the beetroot. Season with salt and black pepper and mash with a fork or a hand blender, leaving some texture.

3. When the beetroot is cooked, allow it to cool for 10 minutes before mixing it into the beans. Then add the egg, quinoa, Parmesan and parsley, and mix thoroughly. With wet hands, shape the mixture into 8 medium-sized burgers, and chill them in the fridge for 20 minutes.

4. Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and cook the burgers on a medium heat for 5-6 minutes on each side. Serve them with a wholegrain bun (add 100 cals).

Please note that the mixture is very wet. I doubled the mixture and used 2 eggs but I will only use one next time.

Happy baking.

[Millie09 in reply to Hidden]

Hi crazyfitness, i can well imagine how tasty they were. 😋😋.

I will have a look online for the book. Manythanks for this. Really appreciated .😊

[Hidden in reply to Millie09]

Hi Millie, you are most welcome and they are delicious burgers and the book has lots of lovely recipes in it.

Happy cooking.

[Cooper27 Administrator]

I've made these before too - they're really nice! I'll make them again, but think I'll grate the beetroot to help it cook faster!

[Hidden in reply to Cooper27]

They really are lovely and I did cut the beetroot a lot smaller than the book said and it cooked fine for me but I will use less egg as they were very wet. The one problem I found, and not just with this recipe, is they say cooked grains but don't say what weight in dry grains are needed so I was searching on the internet for quite a while and still couldn't find an answer so just guessed in the end.

[Cooper27 Administrator in reply to Hidden]

Me too! Think I only used about 2/3 of the quinoa I made up

[Hidden in reply to Cooper27]

Same here and I put the rest in the fridge and ate it with my burger.

[BadHare]

Nom!

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

They were gorgeous Mel and I'm sure you would enjoy them. You will see that I have typed out the recipe above.

Alicia

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

Yummy!

Thanks Alicia!

I've made cake with beetroot instead of carrots. They're very versatile, & the earthy taste is masked by the other ingredients. Beetroot sourdough is good, too, but it's strange eating pink bread.

Mx

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

The burger I had was certainly yummy and I have 7 more in the freezer.

I bet cake with beetroot is gorgeous and what a lovely colour as well. I think I could get used to pink bread, never thought of using it in bread so I'm certainly going to have to widen my horizons more on the sourdough front. I am also thinking of making a multigrain bread as I love multigrain.

Alicia x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

It's nice having meals ready, especially if they take a long time to make.

I bought some orange beetroots with baking in mind, but they ended up in soup.

I used to add extra wheatgerm to bread, & use it for kneading & rolling out instead of flour. I love millet seeds in bread, though any seeds make a loaf extra nutritious tasty. Making bread is extremely satisfying, & it makes my hands soft.

Mx

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

It makes it so much easier and particularly as I'm now working 3 days a week. The days I'm not working are now going to be meal prep days and sourdough bread days. I agree in that I love adding seeds in bread, makes it so much tastier and yes it is very satisfying but a very good tip on using wheatgerm to knead the bread.

Love knowing what is in my food.

Alicia x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

Great that you have a job sorted! Congratulations Alicia!!!

I still have prep days for the rest of the week, from habit. It makes life so much easier when I'm busy or have bad days.

I found wheatgerm really tasty, & used it with brown flour rather than wholewheat when my son was too small for a very high fibre diet. I used to be able to get some good local stoneground organic flours where we lived in Wales, though there's even more choice online now. Have you tried rye flour? The taste is great, but it can be very dense. I usually add some Italian 00 flour to lighten the texture, & it works well with olive oil. Great with hummus!

Mx

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

Thank you Mel and I'm so pleased I now have a job.

It does make it easier to have prep days as then the other days can be put aside for other things.

I'm going to have a look for the wheatgerm. I've bought stoneground organic flours and they do taste so much better and there certainly is a lot more choice online albeit I would rather have local shops that stock these things as although I do shop online I try and use the local shops if I can as I would rather have a browse and support locally - I think there is far too much online now and that's why the high street is suffering. I don't like rye flour but could do as you have suggested above add some of the Italian 00 flour. Hummus is yummy as well.

Alicia x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

I'm sure you are, & hope it's something you enjoy?

I experimented a lot with baking when I lived somewhere with an excellent hippy cooperative. There's nowhere with a similar range of quality products within >50 miles of where I live, & I don't drive, so it's buy basics or shop online. My organic company is good but expensive, & my local Waitrose has a pretty good range, though Ocado is even better for unusual ingredients!

Mx

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

Thank you and it's early days yet and I'm still learning but I will soon be proficient in my work.

What a shame the shopping where you are isn't great and I can see why you buy online. I've scanned Ocado but not looked at it properly so I'll have to have a look at what they offer - thank you.

Also, one large and one small sourdough loaves baked today - result.

Alicia x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

Yummy! x

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

I love the bread and so pleased I managed to get this one right. Also it's the yummy beetroot burgers tonight. x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

You've mde me hungry!!! x

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

They were yummy but I put far too much veg on my plate lol.

Alicia x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

No such thing as too much veg!!!

I've just eaten half a bag of cavolo & a whole bag of spinach. x

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

I love the stuff and when I have one of my slow cooker meals I have another bowl which is full of veg beside it. x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

It makes me cringe when people say they don't like vegetables, though I'm not a fan of cabbage unless it's young enough to be eaten in salad. x

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

Same here Mel and I am the same as you in that I don't like cabbage yet when I was a child I loved it, it's funny how taste changes. I never liked spinach as a child but like it now. I have never liked celery but I am more than happy to use it in one pot dishes and did so a couple of weeks ago when I made a recipe using the Clever Guts recipe book, I froze the rest as there is no way I'm going to waste stuff that I don't use often. I have frozen ginger, garlic, butternut squash and beetroot in the freezer as they are ingredients I don't use all the time. x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

It was overboiled & salted cabbage that put me off. I happily ate spring greens in a salad every Saturday, in a cafe we used to go to, & it took months before I plucked up courage to ask what I was enjoying. Spinach is a funny one, as I remember it frozen & mushy ~ yeuck! It must have been some pasta & Indian dishes that made me realise it was nice. I liked celery with a drizzle of salad cream or cream cheese when I was young, now it goes into most soups & stews. I usually get organic, but sometimes I travel to a farmers market & get it with all the leaves intact. It's a nuisance they're usually cut off as the strong taste is great in ribbolitta or a chickpea stew.

Do you freeze those spices & veg yourself? Do they need to be blanched first? I keep some emergency veg in my freezer, usually peas & broadbeans, & I'm adding sweetcorn to the list of things to keep in for emergency soup. Squash doesn't last me long enough to store, especially if I have a doggie to share it with. Squash is like doggie crack, & seems to be what nutritional yeast is to cats.

Mx

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

My mum always cooked vegetables so that they still had bite to them so I think that's why I enjoyed them so much albeit if she had frozen peas she would just heat them up and then serve so they were a little hard. I ate loads of spring greens and must actually start eating them again if they agree with me (I'm at present printing off a low fodmap list for my IBS so I can carry on keeping a diet sheet but want to make sure that I can keep abreast of my symptoms). I don't eat pasta at all now, I've just gone off it. I still don't like the taste of celery hence it is put into one pot meals for me. I agree that so much is cut off these days from the vegetables where they would be good to use.

Yes I have frozen them myself and do a google search if I'm not sure how to freeze them i.e. you have to cook beetroot until it is soft before you can freeze it and it then lasts quite a long time in the freezer. I have peas, mangetout, butternut squash, onions, ginger, garlic and beetroot in my freezer - I can't eat sweetcorn as I get awful tummy pains with it and broad beans don't like me either and that's such a shame as I love them. I didn't realise dogs like Squash! I also have nutritional yeast in my cupboard and bought it after I saw one of your posts - that's now a staple in my cupboard.

Alicia x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

My grandparents overcooked everything, & my mm should have stayed out of the kitchen. Three of four of us learned to cook well as a consequence! I could bake basic pastry, scones, etc, before I went to school.

I hope your diet regime is helping & you;re finding different foods to suit you better? It'll be well worth the effort!

Celery is something that people can be allergic to, so maybe see how you feel without it, especially if you're not keen on it.

I was naughty this week & ate a few edemame, but the warmer weather means I need less thyroid hormone so I felt no ill effect. I do miss tofu as a veggie option when I'm out, but got used to not eating it most days at home. I find the trick to avoidance is finding something nicer, so I treat myself to a weekly pack of tempeh which is better for our bones. It makes a tasty toasted sandwich with avocado & sourdough.

Most times I cheat & buy a pack of organic cooked beetroot for soups, though I love baby beetroot with chilli & hummus.

Good that you know what doesn't agree with you, & broad beans can be problematic to anyone if eaten too often.

I used to doggie sit two lovely labs who were not the slightest bit trained, so made them sit & wait whilst I made their breakfast & dinner. That was impossible when I gave them leftover squash & sweet potato soup. After that, I used to make one with no onions & garlic, & kept my squash skins fr them as a special treat. They like carrots, too, which is what guide dogs are trained with so they don't get fat, as a lot of labs are hypo.

Glad you like the NT. I purposely make my soups watery & under-seasoned with adding that in mind. Great tat it's tasty & nutritious! Did you see Kitten-whiskers post, a while ago, with the topping made with NT & sunflower seeds?

Mx

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

My mother in law always over cooked vegetables as she did them in a pressure cooker and cooked them within an inch of their life and she is also a rubbish cook and always has been. My mother was a very good cook, apart from her peas just hitting the water that is, and she made beautiful homemade soups (naughty ones though as she added cream to some ;)), made lots of cakes (we didn't know the problem with sugar back then), homemade bread rolls which were to die for and homemade beefburgers which I loved back then but of course no longer eat meat. The only packet food my mum bought was Vesta curries as they were a new thing out when I was a child which was in the 60's but everything else was always cooked from scratch.

I have printed some information off the internet re FODMAP foods and will be following that as closely as I can (I know I'm okay with dairy as I eliminated that from my diet for 6 weeks a few months ago and reintroduced it with no problems whatsoever. I had sugar free baked beans last night and I know for sure they are no good but I am using them up, I don't want to waste them; if they were sweetened beans like most tins are then I would have passed them to my daughter. I've only 2 tins left to eat.

I'm glad that you felt no ill-effect from Edamame's, what a shame you can't eat tofu. I've never eaten tempeh so will have to give that a go and didn't know it was so beneficial for us. Now that does sound like a tasty sandwich. As far as I'm concerned I can't see a problem with buying organic cooked beetroot, I love the stuff and could just sit there and eat a bowl of baby beet and baby tomatoes and be in heaven. Broad Beans are definitely a no no for me so I will just leave those for a while but may introduce them in a few months, I'll just see how I go.

The good thing with dogs is that they never need to be fat as it's down to the owners/trainers on what they feed them. I love labs and also boarder collies, I was brought up with boarders and absolutely love them.

Thanks for that re Kitten Whiskers' post, I will have a look at that one.

Lots of food for though here.

Alicia x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

That's funny, Alicia! I was talking about Vesta meals last wee, & the crunchy fried noodles in the chow mein.. I think that type of "food" is now peddled to campers, but back then it seemed exotic compared to most folks' meat & two veg.

I hope your low FODMAPS diet works for you. It's a nuisance to have to eat things to use them up, but I hate wasting food.

I'd eat tofu if there was nothing else available, though I'd make sure to up my meds afterwards to be on the safe side. Check tempeh is ok before you buy it as it's hich fibre: tempeh.info/health/tempehhe...

I used to remove the skin from broad & butterbeans when my son was young so as to reduce the fibre content. It's also do-able with smaller beans should you find that better for your digestion.

I thought I hated beetroot until I ate some out of politeness at a friend's house. I realised I only disliked the pickled type, though I've since enjoyed that in small quantities.

Labs & some dogs can be affected by hypothyroidism, despite exercise. It's often better treated in pets than people, which gives endocrinologists an appropriately bad reputation. I like all dogs above yappy size, & came home today with several paw prints on my jeans.

Happy cooking this weekend!

Mx

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

Oh how I loved a Vesta meal back then but would I entertain eating it now, no way.

I've just printed off a low FODMAP food sheet and will study that but at least I know lactose isn't a problem which I am so pleased about. I've just had a look at the sheet and it lists Tempeh and suggests that I could eat 100g but no more so I will have to give that a try.

I've removed the skin from apples and it certainly makes a difference but I have to say I eat very little fruit now but eat more vegetables. Funnily enough I can eat tinned fruit and have some in the cupboard so must eat that up - I'm going to look for a healthy sugar free ice cream recipe. I have to say that eating healthily does take dedication and a lot of time but once you get used to it and know what's healthy then you no longer have to research online.

I've always loved beetroot as my mum grew all her own vegetables so we always had it fresh out of the garden, boiled in a pan of water and eat is straight from the pan, it was delicious and I could just eat handfuls of the stuff.

I am definitely not a small dog person, I like what I call 'proper dogs' i.e. bigger than my cat.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Alicia x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

Those were the days when spaghetti was vile tinned stuff & a bolognaise was exotic foreign food with parmesan that was more butyric acid & sweaty feet than cheese. Glad my tastes have changed!

100g of tempeh is enough for two sandwiches for me as it's probably the most expensive single item I buy. Some people hate it, so try a small pack first.

Tinned fruit has less fibre which could be the issue if you feel better with peeled apples. Can you eat raw veg for vitamin C or would that be too much?

I bought a "healthy" ice cream a few months ago, then realised after tasting it that it contained artificial sweetener, so it went in the bin. Would you make your own so as to avoid chemical nasties?

Your mum's cooking sounds great, & even better being home grown. I have veg envy, though I wouldn't know where to start growing anything other than herbs.

I call proper dogs that, too. I like them with a real woof & a big waggy tail. Biggest I've critter sat was a 55kg briand, who looked as though he was a mutant knitted cartoon dog, though my favourites are clever German shepherds.

Off to zazz my Saturday soup, so hope you have a good weekend, too!

Mx

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

Oh most definitely and so glad my taste has changed. I used to love pasta but I don't even entertain it now! I had cauliflower rice a few weeks ago that I had made and really enjoyed it.

I will look out for tempeh and as you suggest just buy a small amount to see if I like it.

Unfortunately I cannot eat raw carrots and have known that for quite a while now - raw carrots were my 'go to' food as I absolutely love them but can't eat them now. I would only ever make my own ice cream now and will be searching on the internet when I have a moment for homemade ice cream but without the sugar. So disappointing buying what is supposed to be a healthy ice cream to find artificial sweeteners in it - how annoying. I would actually rather have sugar than artificial sweeteners.

My mum's cooking was wonderful and just about all of the vegetables were home grown, they were so earthy and fresh - yummy.

The Briand was a huge dog, my goodness! Yes I do love large dogs with lovely big waggy tails.

I'm now off to make dinner for tonight - think it might be the Paneer Curry from the Clever Guts Recipe book for me.

Alicia x

[BadHare in reply to Hidden]

Pasta's something I eat less than once a month or so. There are lots of veg alternatives to starch food available, even cauliflower pizza.

Berries might be an alternative to sugar in ice-cream. I had some blackcurrant last year which was lovel & zingy, though I didn't make it.

Curry is always good, I hope your panner turned out well? Nom, nom!

Mel x

[Hidden in reply to BadHare]

I have made cauliflower rice from the Clever Guts book and it was lovely but haven't tried cauliflower pizza, that's one I'll have to try.

Thank you for the tip re ice cream, I will have to give that a go.

The curry was lovely thank you. I had a takeaway curry last night (it was my birthday so I was with the family) and the curry I had was a Paneer Masala, it was gorgeous.

Alicia x

[Georgie_M]

Thanks for the recipe! Looks delicious!

[Hidden in reply to Georgie_M]

You are most welcome, they are gorgeous.