Black Bean Quina Burgers

Continuing along in my attempt to start trying to incorporate more beans into my diet, I decided to give black bean burgers a try. I've been on a quinoa binge as of late, so I decided to throw that in too. I recently watched the documentary Simply Raw:Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days, and it was so awe inspiring the amazing changes that happened to these people simply by adopting a completely raw vegan diet. It's so inspiring to me to see people who had been told that they would spend the rest of their life taking insulin and pricking their fingers be able to completely stop taking any of their medications(it's Doctor supervised, of course), and halt their insulin use. Yet another testament to a medical system which is failing it's patients by simply trying to bandaid the problem with drugs, instead of treating the cause for disease.

These burgers aren't raw, but I ate them on top of a huge green salad. David Wolfe, a raw food health expert, mentions that if you incorporate at least 51 % of raw foods into each meal it stops your body from reacting towards (cooked)food as a toxin. A study by Dr. Paul Kouchakoff shows when you eat cooked food your body increases white blood cell count,  a phenomenon called 'digestive leukocytosis'. This is the same reaction your body has to infection, or exposure to toxic chemicals or trauma.  


I started this blog as a raw blog, but drifted away from raw foodism since I found it restrictive, and the mental pattern of thinking I had 'failed' if I ate anything not raw wasn't really conductive to recovery. Exploring and including more raw foods in my diet is something I think I'm going to try to make an effort at, especially since I noticeably felt the effects of eating a high raw diet at the time. Plus all the summer produce available now is definitely making it easier!! I don't think I'm going to try to make a commitment to going all raw again, but I'm definitely going to make more of an effort to incorporate more raw foods into my diet.


Black Bean Quinoa Burgers


This recipe made about 9 smaller burgers, you could make them larger or smaller depending on your preference. I topped mine with sauteed mushrooms and hummus.


1/4 cup dry quinoa
2 cups cooked black beans
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp sea salt and pepper(or to taste)

Cook the quiona in 1/2 cup water, bring to a boil on stove(with a lid), then turn heat to low and leave to sit for 15 minutes. Don't stir or peek!

Mix the black beans and seasonings together, and place half the mixture in a food processor or blender. Blend or process until chunky, then mix in with the rest of the black beans in a bowl. Add quinoa when finished, and stir to combine(using your hands is easier). Cook in a skillet with a little bit of coconut oil, or on a BBQ.