Spinach-Quinoa Powerhouse Patties

Spinach-Quinoa Patties.

Spinach patties have always been one of my comfort foods. I'll eat them hot or cold, in a house, with a mouse, yadda yadda yadda. In my previous life, my spinach patties were equal parts spinach, egg, and sausage. I suppose calling the old version spinach patties was a lot like calling a Snickers a peanut bar.

My new version is vegan, and in place of the eggs I use flax meal and water. Then, since flax is so crazy good for you, I added even more. The nutritional yeast gives a great flavor with the added bonus of packing in B12 (something that vegans need to supplement for a well-rounded diet). Spinach is a super food by itself, but adding quinoa raises these patties to super-hero food in my opinion. Spinach, quinoa, flax meal and nutritional yeast . . . I think I created a patty that can provide complete nutrition in a little round package! (Probably not- but they were so good I'm feeling a little full of myself right now)

Adding the fennel and Italian spices created an almost sausage-like patty. Adjusting the spices used could produce all sorts of different flavor combinations.

Spinach-Quinoa Patties

2 cups fresh, raw spinach
1 cup prepared quinoa (I used red quinoa which made the patties look really nice)
3 tablespoons warm water
3 tablespoons flax meal, divided
2 small shallots
2 baby portobello mushrooms
½ tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
½ to 1 teaspoon ground fennel seed (to taste. I put whole seeds in a pepper mill and coarsley ground them, so I had some broken seeds as well.)
1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil for frying




1. Put 1 tablespoon of flax meal in a bowl and mix in 3 tablespoons warm water. Leave it to thicken for about 5 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, slice shallots and mushrooms and sauté with garlic in a little olive oil until the shallots are starting to soften and the mushrooms just begin to carmelize.

3. Add all of the ingredients (except oil), including the flax mixture and cooked shallots and mushrooms, into a food processor. Pulse until it's coarsely mixed (but not liquified).

4. You should have enough to form four good sized-patties. Scoop mixture out by the tablespoon-full, and form into patties about the size of your palm. Fry them in a little hot oil, cooking for about three minutes on each side until they begin to brown up a bit. If you try to turn it the first time too quickly it will fall apart, so take care to cook it long enough so it holds together, then gently work the patty up with a thin spatula before you turn it. You could also divide the mixture in two and have some pretty darn tasty veggie burgers.

5. Drain on paper towels when done and serve with your favorite mustard or whatever you like.