Black Bean Quinoa Burgers with Chipotle-Mayo

Sometimes when eating a really clean and healthy vegan diet, it can be difficult to find enough filling sources of calories and protein without resorting to soy or other forms of processed protein.  My other half sometimes struggles to maintain a healthy weight and finds himself not feeling full and satisfied after eating.  In an effort to fill him up without resorting to processed carbs and protein, I came up with these black bean-quinoa burgers.  In addition to black beans and quinoa, they are made with potatoes to add an extra source of heartiness to the burger.  They contain two sources of clean carbs and two sources of protein and are both filling and flavorful.  They also freeze very well, so if you don't serve all 8 at once, you can freeze them individually and easily defrost them whenever you're ready to eat them.  Whenever my guy decides he needs a filling and hearty meal, he can grab one of these from the freezer and put it between two slices of bread and have a really satisfying, yet healthy vegan burger.  These burgers are delicious enough to eat on their own, with just the chipotle-mayo.  Or you can put them on bread of your choice and pile them high with veggies. 

Yields 8 burgers

Ingredients: 

• 2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans
• 4 small gold potatoes 
• 1 white onion
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons Paul Prudomme Magic Seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce*
• 1 tablespoon Chia seeds 
• 3 tablespoons water
• 4 tablespoons Vegenaise
• 1 tablespoon pureed chipotle in adobo

*If you want these burgers to be fully vegan and gluten free, make sure to use a brand of Worcestershire sauce that is both.  

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet with olive oil.  
2. Dice potatoes and onion into half inch cubes. Arrange on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Season with Magic Seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper.  Bake for approximately half an hour, tossing once, until potatoes are fork tender.  
3. Allow potatoes and onions to cool for a few minute before handling.  
4. While potatoes are cooling, place Chia seeds in a small bowl of water and allow to rest for ten minutes, until gelled. 
5. Once cool, combine potato and onion mixture in a blender along with 1 1/2 cups cooked black beans, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce.  Blend until almost smooth, with some texture remaining.  
6. Transfer pureed mixture to a mixing bowl and add to it the cooked quinoa, chia seed mixture and remaining salt.  Stir until combined.  
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and re-grease baking sheet lightly with olive oil.  
8. Scoop mixture into approximately 2 inch balls and flatten between palms to shape into burgers.  Place burgers on greased baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes on each side, until a golden brown crust is formed.  
9. While burgers are baking, prepare chipotle-mayo.  Since chipotles in adobo sauce come canned, you will have more chipotles than you need.  What you can do is transfer the entire contents of the can to a blender and puree until you have a smooth paste.  Reserve 1 scant tablespoon of chipotle paste for this recipe and store the rest in teaspoon or tablespoon sized portions and freeze in freezer safe ziplock bags for later use in other recipes.  
10. Combine 4 tablespoons Vegenaise with 1 tablespoon of chipotle puree and stir until combined.  You can always add more Vegenaise or more chipotle puree depending on your spice preference.