Pumpkin Quinoa Patties

Well hello to you! (Miranda quote, of course!)  Sorry for having been so slack on the new recipe front!  Busy busy life, especially now that I'm back at uni!  I will try to do something on here at least once a month! :)  I did actually make this recipe in March (and was going to write it up asap... clearly that didn't happen) *virtual slap on the wrist* - lots of family drama and tragedy is my excuse :(

Patties, with chips and peas :D

Aaaaanyway, my Belgian friend Fien made them from a recipe book her dad sent her, we had them one night at her house when a friend of ours who was gluten free and vegetarian came over.  They were so good I wanted to make some for my parents to try too.  They sounded really bizarre when I first heard of them, they looked amazing, and the taste?  Well you'll just have to read on to find out!  *cheeky*


INGREDIENTS
1 average sized butternut pumpkin
1 tbsp olive oil
230g quinoa
470ml water
1 cube chicken stock (or vegetable if vegetarian) - use GF stock if you're GF

Pre-Grilling

170g rice (basmati or wild preferably)
110g spring onions

85g dried cranberries
1 tbsp basil 
salt & pepper to taste
parmesan cheese (grated) - optional, but adds a real depth of flavour

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 200 deg C
• Slice pumpkin in half, remove pips
• Place pumpkin halves on oven dish, and brush with olive oil
• Bake for approx. 1 hour (until soft)
• Let cool, and scoop out pumpkin, discard peel, and mash
• Mix the 470ml water with the stock cube and add to a pot with the quinoa
• Cook quinoa 10 to 12 minutes, until the water is absorbed
• When cooked, let cool for 10 minutes
• Cook rice ( using whatever your usual method is)
• Mix quinoa and rice together
• Add to the pumpkin mash
• Add all the remaining ingredients, mixing well as you go
• Form patties (this is the messy bit, where you end up with orange hands!)
• Bake for a further 15-20 minutes in oven, pan, grill, barbecue, however you want really! 
  
  (Serve hot or cold)

Several things I want to say.  First of all, while this seems like a lot of effort, a lot of steps, and preparation, and being organised enough to begin making this with enough time to roast the pumpkin, IT IS WORTH IT.  There are the most amazing non-meat patties I have ever had.  Especially with aioli on them!  The cranberries give a touch of contrasting sweetness and juiciness, the quinoa is not even noticeable, yet it is so good for you!  The pumpkin is delicious, and I can't get enough of them!!

Finished Product!

Secondly, when it comes to the final cooking stage, it doesn't matter how you do them, just cook them kind of like you would with ordinary burger patties.  My only piece of advice is, the pumpkin can get quite sticky, and can cause your pattie to disintegrate, which, if you're anything like me, will make you incredibly angry and frustrated.  I HIGHLY recommend cooking them on the smooth plate of a BBQ, or in a George Foreman-type bench top grill that has non-stick plates.  You really don't want to miss this cooking step out, because it gives the patties a nice golden edge, and makes them taste EVEN better.

The patties we had for dinner, lined up in our George Foreman grill, with non-stick tinfoil (because the non-stick surface on our grill is wearing away now, it's so old and over-used ;P )

Thirdly - THIS MAKES A LOT OF PATTIES!!! Don't fret though, because if it is more than you or your family can eat, you can certainly freeze them!  I froze my extra patties (before the final cooking stage) with baking paper between each pattie (to stop them sticking together).  Now, I have a fast food, I can get 1 pattie out of the freezer, microwave for 1 min to defrost, and then do the last cooking step (in the grill, etc.).  Healthy fast lunch = WIN!

So there you have it, my new favourite vegetarian food!  I actually ended up making a lot patties out of it, so it's lasted a while (I made them in early March, it's now mid-April, and I've still got about 6 in the freezer :D ).  Enjoy!  And I would love you guys to comment back sometime about the recipes of mine you've tried!!

Banana Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins

Time for another new recipe I tried!  This time, it came about not through browsing Pinterest, like most of my other recipes, but instead, me wanting a twist on plain old banana muffins/loaf/cake.  I didn't want to make a cake, and every time I use cake batter in muffin tins, it comes out too dry.  So I decided to google a recipe for banana muffins, but not plain old boring ones either.  I wanted something different.

So I found a recipe for cranberry banana muffins.  And it sounded yum.  Only issue was, I had no idea what "flaked bran cereal" was, yet I had seen recipes for oatmeal banana muffins.  I figured oatmeal and banana went together ok having read that, so I substituted oatmeal (aka dry porridge/rolled oats) for that.  

INGREDIENTS

1 & 1/4 cups flour (you can also use wholemeal)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar (or 1/3 cup if you prefer it not so sweet)
1 egg
1 cup milk
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1 & 1/4 cups oatmeal (aka rolled oats/dry uncooked porridge)

1/2 cup dried cranberries

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180ºC
• If not using a silicone muffin tray, then lightly grease a muffin tin, or line with cupcake liners
• In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt
• In another bowl, whisk together egg, sugar, oil, milk and bananas
• Stir in oatmeal
• Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just blended
• Stir in cranberries
• Divide evenly among prepared muffin cups
• Sprinkle with a little raw sugar on top - gives a nice crunch, but this is optional
• Bake for 20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre of a muffin comes out clean
• Leave muffins in tin to cool, then remove to a rack to cool completely (or serve warm)

This recipe with these measurements made (for me) 12 ordinary size muffins and 12 mini muffins.  However, since I was hesitant to overfill the muffins, they were quite small and dense, and didn't rise much.  Next time I will fill up the muffin cups a bit higher.  :)  

As for the flavour, it was amazeballs!  The cranberries soaked up the liquid, they became sweet and juicy, the banana was good, and the raw sugar I had sprinkled on top gave a delicious crunch to it.  The oatmeal and banana made the muffin nice and dense, which will be great for lunches/morning tea.  Definitely a keeper!!!

Recipe Inspiration:  http://www.sevenspoons.net/blog/2006/1/13/plain-january-jane.html?lastPage=true#comment18152293