Whole Food Lentil & Quinoa Breakfast Patties

Breakfast meats were a staple of my diet growing up. My grandfather used to make sandwiches with his homemade bread (all buttery) and sausage from the local Farm Woman’s Market, and there was nothing like them. But it has been a long time since I thought about sausage. It was one of those foods that I just had to let go of since the fake meat route isn’t an option.

The other day I was thinking about the fact that the meat is pretty much a vehicle for the spices in sausage, so I got to brainstorming about how I could recreate a similar texture and flavor using whole food ingredients. Now that I have figured out how to bring a version of this childhood fave back into my life, the possibilities are infinite. Stay tuned for some of the fun stuff I will do with this recipe, and in the meantime, make up a batch of Buckwheat Blender Pancakes to enjoy with these savory, spicy patties.

Makes: 7-8 patties
Time: approx 30 minutes

Tools:
Food processor
Chef’s knife
Pan or skillet
small glass bowl

Ingredients:
Try to buy everything organic. Here’s why.
2 1/2 cup lentils, soaked and cooked—start with 1 cup dry lentils (here are some tips)
1 cup quinoa, soaked and cooked—start with 1/2 cup dry quinoa (here are some tips)
1/2 red onion, chopped (here’s a tip)
1/3 cup carrot, chopped
2 tbsp ground golden flax
1 1/2 tsp fine ground sea salt
1 tsp paprika
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp fennel seed, roughly chopped
1 1/2 tsp sucanat
1 tbsp fresh sage, chopped fine
1 tbsp fresh marjoram, chopped fine
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (feel free to add more to taste if you like more heat)
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
3 tsp virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil

Let’s get started.
Cook your lentils and quinoa and set aside. You can also prepare them both a day or two before and just keep in the fridge in an airtight glass container until you are ready.

Place 2 tsp coconut oil in pan and heat to medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and carrots and brown for about 10-15 minutes.

While your veg is cookin’, prepare all of your spices.

And herbs.

Just set aside when chopped.

Mix salt, paprika, garlic, fennel, sucanat, sage, marjoram, red pepper and black pepper in a small bowl. Take a sniff, yum!

Once your carrots and onion are browned…

…place them, your flax and your spices in the food processor.

Add your cooked quinoa and cooked lentils.

Pulse in the food processor just enough to break up the lentils, quinoa and veggies so they start to stick together—about 20 times max. Don’t over-process. You want to maintain the different colors and textures, so make sure it looks like the pic below.

Form into patties and place in a pan over medium heat and brown on each side.

You can also just brown the mixture as crumbles (right) and use to replace sausage in many recipes.

Psst: stay tuned for my new sausage-style lasagna recipe…

Store in an airtight glass jar in the fridge or freeze. Reheat in an oven or skillet.