Quinoa Cakes - and how to hide vegis in amazing deliciousness

In the beginning of August, I got hypnotized.

I swear, before I got pregnant, I was NOT a hippy. Had you asked me two years ago if I EVER thought I would see a hypnotist, I would have laughed in your face.

As soon as that baby was inside me though, I got freakishly concerned about chemicals, organic foods, and my mental state affecting his little development. I knew that if one day he ended up a bad person, I would blame the fact that I ate strawberries with chemicals on them while he was in utero.

Anyway. On T's first birthday, I realized that my time was up. The other moms had lost their baby weight. Moms of toddlers at the park didn't have the triple chin anymore and they certainly didn't have thigh sized upper arms like me. I had told myself that I would lose the weight after I finished breastfeeding, then that I would lose it by his first birthday.

It just didn't happen.

I had gotten to a point where I felt ugly, my clothes didn't fit, and I was cranky because I didn't feel like myself.

Hypnotism had worked for Bubbs when he had a small tic that he didn't like, so I decided to try it myself. I yelped, "hypnotherapist and weight loss" and chose the top name.

After two sessions my behavior has really changed. I've stopped eating grown man sized meals, stopped pulling over for snacks on long car rides, and started exercising regularly. The hypnosis just changed the song the little birdie on my shoulder was singing. It went from "you don't have time to work out" and "this is a treat, you deserve it" to: "you have time and it makes you feel good" and "one treat leads to others, so have a bite and move along."

I immediately lost about five pounds (admittedly not doing the homework she gave me - I need hypnosis to make me do the homework). I noticed it in my face and that was huge inspiration to keep going.

Since Bubbs and I have cut our restaurant budget back from a LOT a month to zero, at all, ever, I have lost another five pounds. I think restaurant portions are part of the problem, but also, I would want the restaurant experience and eat even if I wasn't hungry. Now, we eat much lighter.

So, the point of all that was to say that I am finally only 10 pounds heavier than I was pre-baby. Since I'm finding great healthy reciepes that are helping this along, I thought I'd share.

I have to share an AMAZING recipe that is simple, delicious, and a healthy protein bomb.

I found it off Epicurious, Little Quinoa Patties, but I'm going to put my recipe here, since it varies quite a bit from the original.

Clean out the Refrigerator Protein Bomb Patties

You can seriously use practically ANYTHING in the fridge and I think these would be good.
Put 2 cups of quinoa (I used red and white mixed) in 3 cups of water with one bullion cube. Let it come to a boil, then cover, turn down the heat to simmer, and remove from heat when all the water is gone and the quinoa are curly (about 20 minutes). It needs to cool a bit. You could also use left over quinoa from dinner the night before.

Then, mix together:
4 eggs
pinch of salt
1 onions chopped super tiny
1/2 cup of shredded organic mozerella (or sub any kind of cheese you want)
1/4 cup of shredded paremsan
4 garlic cloves chopped tiny
2/3 cup of bread crumbs
1/2 cup last night's swiss chard chopped tiny (or sub any minced other vegi you want)
1/2 carrot grated (or any other vegi you want)

You can add more water or bread crumbs to get patties that stick together. Form them into patties (whatever size you like) and pack them fairly tightly. If they aren't sticking well add more egg or breadcrumbs till they are good and firm and sticky.

Heat up a good layer of oil in a pan.



Drop the patties in carefully. When you can see the edges a little brown, flip them and smush them slightly with the spatula. Let them cook for a couple more minutes, then remove and place on a paper towel to drain.



The epicurious recipe talks about possible dips, or using them as vegi-burgers (we are SO trying this at some point), but we couldn't stop just popping them in our mouth. There wasn't time to try dipping them, they were gone too quickly.


(yes, I use a cheese slicer as my mini spatula - it works great!)

Little T LOVED them. I made him tiny versions that he could hold himself and eat. They held up well in a backpack on an evening trip to the beach too.

We have a ton of the mix left over, so we're having it for lunch again today!

I'd never had quinoa in any form other than just boiled as a side.

Are there other ways to use it?