Simple Birthday Meals this weekend

Good morning!  We had an amazing and relaxing weekend!

Both my husband and I had our first FULL weekend OFF in almost 4 months so we spent it together lounging around the house.  I cleaned up a bit but mostly we read books, watched movies, talked, played with our cats and ate yummy food.  
It was fantastic!

I managed to make a few healthy meals.  My husband isn't a big "party guy" and he wouldn't give me a definitive answer on what he wanted for dinner.

Saturday night I made Black Bean Burgers on French rolls (from a local bakery) with grilled onions and Homemade Spicy Chipotle Dressing.  I paired the burgers with a small side salad and fresh homefries with sauteed onions.

For breakfast on Sunday I made Delicious Yogurt Pancakes.  I didn't have plain yogurt so I used Greek instead.  They came out perfect!

How was your weekend?


Black Bean Quinoa Patties

Ingredients
1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water
2 cups cooked black beans
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tablespoons minced onions
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
*or 1 clove minced*
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
 2 eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.  

Roughly mash the black beans with a fork leaving some whole black beans in a paste-like mixture. 

Mix the quinoa, bread crumbs, bell pepper, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, hot pepper sauce, and egg into the black beans using your hands.

Form the black bean mixture into 5 patties.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.  Cook the patties in the hot oil until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Serve as patties or on a bun like a "burger."

Homemade Creamy (Spicy) Chipotle Dressing recipe


Delicious Yogurt Pancakes
Ingredients:

1 cup flour (organic, non-bleached)
1 tsp. cinnamon

1 Tbsp. organic sugar

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup organic plain or vanilla yogurt 

(nonfat, low-fat, or whole milk all work here)

1/8 cup water

2 eggs

2 Tbsp. melted Coconut Oil (or butter works)

Oil or spray oil for cooking

Directions:

Heat a griddle or large frying pan over medium high heat. Meanwhile, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl; then whisk yogurt, water and eggs together; add yogurt and eggs to flour mixture and stir to combine. Stir in melted butter or oil.

Spray oil on hot griddle and spoon batter into even cakes – about 8 – and let cook until bubbles form on the surface of the cakes, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook until golden brown on the other side, about another 2 minutes.

This recipe makes about 8 pancakes so it can easily be doubled or tripled.

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