Sweet Potato, Black Bean and Quinoa Cakes

I made a huge pot of red beans and rice for Gabe and had a bowl the first night but then Gabe had his red beans to himself.

While he was on the boat I made THESE. Adapted the recipe and loved them! Didn't need a topping, they were so good on their own.

2 large sweet potatoes

6 oz. canned black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup rinsed quinoa- I used red quinoa from Traders Joe's

1/4 cup seasoned breadcrumbs - used 4C spicy hot chipotle panko breadcrumbs

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese - used Kraft parmesan

2 cloves diced garlic

1/4 cup diced walnuts- didn't add

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary-didn't add

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

1/4 tsp. salt- didn't add

2 tablespoon butter

1/4 cup milk

Topping-

1/3 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Wash and scrub the sweet potatoes. Dry and prick the skin with a fork or knife to make little holes to help release pressure so when you cook them in the microwave they don't explode and you have a huge mess to clean up. You could cook the sweet potatoes in the oven but the microwave was 5 mins for each one.

When both potatoes are cooked, scoop out and add to a deep bowl.

Add the butter and milk, cumin, pepper to the hot sweet potatoes that are in the bowl. I used an old fashion potato masher to mix it up.

I added the quinoa which was cooked in 1 cup of water. I boiled the water added the quinoa cooked it on a low simmer for about 15-20 minutes and stir. You know it is done when it  has "popped". I fluffed it and let it cool before I added to the sweet potato mixture.

Added the drained black beans to the sweet potato mixture and the cooled quinoa. Then added the parm, garlic and breadcrumbs. You might want to add more breadcrumbs to thicken it.

Make your little cakes and place them on the cookie sheet lined with parchment. I sprayed the parchment with pam. Used about a tablespoon of the sweet potato mixture to make a cake.

Cook 15 minutes on one side them flip and another 15 for the other side for an even tan.

I didn't make the topping. Didn't have sour cream and knew I could use my Greek yogurt but want it for breakfast the next day. No topping but these are so good they didn't need it.