Sweet Potato Quinoa Cakes

After a rigorous Bikram yoga workout, I was in no mood to cook so I picked up dinner at Whole Foods. I love the prepared foods section in Whole Foods. It can be expensive, but you always get a quality meal that is both nutritious and delicious. Last week I picked up a variety of things from an emerald kale salad to a pecan crusted veggie patty. Among my hodgepodge dinner was a sweet potato quinoa cake. It was delicious. Luckily the ingredient list was right on the lid, so I decided to try my hand at it. They used a combination of brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, cranberries and sage. I made my own version and I even watched my measurements and created a recipe!



Sweet potatoes are everywhere and they are quite easy to prepare and quite delicious. This sweet potato quinoa cake is filling, easy and yummy. This recipe makes 8 cakes, which is about 4 servings. It stores well and the "round two" recipes are super fun.



Servings: 4
Calories per serving: 424

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa (uncooked)
1 medium yam, peeled and roughly diced
2 tbs. honey (optional)
1/2 cup whole almonds (soaked in water overnight)
3/4 cup dried cranberries
2 tbs. chopped green onion
2 tsp. dried sage


Directions
1. Cook quinoa with two cups water on either the stove (15 mins in a covered pot) or in a rice cooker. Yields about 3 cups cooked quinoa.

2. Bring a large pot of water to boil and drop in the diced yams. Boil until fork tender, about 10-15 mins. Once cooked, drain and mash.

3. Chop soaked almonds in the food processor. Add to mashed yams. Add honey, cranberries, sage and green onion. Mix well.

4. Mix together with cooked quinoa and form into patties.


That's it! Super easy. The quinoa cakes are good warm and cold. To reheat, consider toasting them up on a skillet to create a crispy exterior. Also, you might notice that I didn't use any salt or pepper in this recipe. I found that it's totally unnecessary. However, if you feel like it needs seasoning, go for it. Enjoy!