Monday, June 25, 2012

a summer burger

note: I LIVED through my race!! (only almost died once) 
It was awesome and amazing and terrible all at the same time. race report coming soon.


I want to share a little something about myself. 
I really, thoroughly, truly, love, appreciate, and drool over,  and loooovve a good burger.
I went probably 5 or so years burgerless. (It was during my fat free stage of life--remember?)
A couple years ago I started researching and learning about quality of meat. 
How it was raised, what it ate, all that good stuff. 
Around the same time I was becoming a lot more active--adding more miles to my running, as well as starting yoga and weekly strength training. 
I was hungry.
We were at the farmer's market, and I decided to see what this whole
"grass fed beef" thing was all about.
We grilled burgers, 
and,
wow. 
It actually tasted good. 
really. good. 
The burgers I'd eaten before had been dry and "boingy" and just tasted bad. I never thought I'd eat another burger, and I was totally ok with that.
I can't really explain the difference in good quality meat--all I know is that you simply must try it. 
I still don't eat a lot of beef--I'm not really a fan of steaks or ribs or any of the other cuts that I have no idea what they are called......but I'm sure if that's your thing, a good quality and fresh steak would be hard to beat. 
(remember we eat LESS meat, so we can afford the better stuff. read more HERE)

Burgers get a bad rap of being unhealthy, but the important thing is that you don't eat them constantly--there is no problem with an occasional burger (everything in moderation!) And a lot of it also depends on what you are having WITH your burger. 
We love to grill burgers sometimes on the weekends, and it's always fun coming up with what toppings we want to go on them. The summer is the best because we can always pull fresh ingredients from the garden to go on our burgers. 
Here is what we had yesterday.
.
A Summer Burger
bolded ingredients we grew ourselves.....I LOVE summer
-yummy, happy, grass fed beef--local if you can find it--check your farmer's market! salted, peppered, and grilled
-gouda cheese (put it on the burger the last few minutes of grilling)
-our FIRST (woo-hoo!!) tomato of the year
-arugula
-caramelized onions
-balsamic and basil mayo (chopped basil and balsamic vinegar mixed into your favorite mayonnaise)
-all on a toasted whole wheat bun

we paired it with a salad of spinach, spring onions, goat cheese, pine nuts and a quick lemon dressing (fresh squeezed lemon, olive oil, lemon thyme, dijon mustard, salt and pepper)

yum.

What do you like on YOUR burger?

11 comments:

Becky said...

Guacamole! Oh, and cheese. Mmmm...cheese...

Anonymous said...

either bbq sauce or ranch!

Danielle said...

I am the same way basically. My whole life I thought I hated burgers...like I really just thought they weren't for me. Then I tasted my father-in-laws burgers. HEAVEN. He gets quality local meat and oh my gosh, I had no idea there were such burgers in existence. I still hate the "boingy" ones though! :)

Kaitlyn Luce said...

Yes! I love a great hamburger! It might be one of my favorite meals.

I love mine with ketchup, fresh tomato, lettuce, and raw onion.

in dreams said...

this sounds delicious! i haven't quite made it to the eating-beef-burger stage, so i tend to have a veggie chicken burger, with mayo, lettuce, tomato slices, and cheese (usually jalapeño havarti! my favourite)....this is made even better if i can have it on a bagel. MMM.

london bakes said...

I was thinking only today that I could never become a vegetarian because I'd miss a good burger so much. Love this post.

kami said...

YUM!! I did not used to like burgers either until I switched to grass-fed beef. Such a difference. I love to top mine with guacamole! Since I am gluten free I eat it wrapped in lettuce or on a bed of cauliflower "rice." Mmm. I think I know what I'm making tomorrow night for dinner :)

Faith said...

I'm so craving a burger right now! So delish!

Heather Hoerr said...

avocado is always good. the other day I put sundried tomato jam (pretty much sundried tomatoes, onions, a little garlic, sugar & vinegar, oregano or thyme with water & chicken broth, cooked for about 30 minutes until it's all tender and yummy, then I added pine nuts after it cooked) on a pork burger with goat cheese and that was delicious!
I like the idea of balsamic vinegar in the basil mayo - going to have to try that.

Laura said...

Your salad recipes are the BEST. Thanks for another fun one to try {and dressing without vinegar, hooray!!}!

kassidi bridge said...

Oh wow. This is seriously just wow. My mouth is watering. YAY for summer burgers!!