Burgers!

Every week when I’m asking the family for their input on the menu we generally end up with some type of burger on the menu. They are fun, easy and can be personalized once they hit your plate. I would say burgers have smile factor in our house! What prompted a burger post though you ask? I noticed last week that we had THREE burgers / patties on our menu on accident. We had Kevin’s Burgers, Salisbury Steak and Sweet Potato and Kale Chicken Patties. Again not intended to have 3 in a week, but wow was it a great week with smiles all around.

Here are a few of our favorites:

Kevin’s Burgers

I swear one of the reasons I married this man is he can cook. He makes recipes up on the fly and they always turn out great. The only downside is he doesn’t write it down and generally can’t repeat the same one twice. I had to nail him down on the burgers and insist on a measurement.

This is for a family of 4. We either make 4 or 8 burgers depending on when we are eating them. If it’s on a work out night we make 1/2 pounders.

1 lb ground meat

1 lb ground turkey

1 tablespoon heaping of Montreal Steak Seasoning

All of the burger dinner variations here are mine because again I’m the most adventurous with food in the house.  Charlie only eats his with ketchup, Dawson eats his plain, and Kevin generally eats his with mustard. I’m open to what ever I feel like putting on it. My favorite way lately is to lay it on a bed of lettuce and dress it like a regular burger with tomatoes, onions, pickles, olives, mayo and lots of mustard and maybe even some Louisiana Hot Sauce.

The great thing about burgers is you can order them at a restaurant with no bun or cheese along with a side salad and have a great Paleo meal! Keep that in mind!

This awesome burger was from Ted Montana’s Grill and it’s called The Kitchen Sink. It starts with a burger on the bottom under all that then is topped with mushrooms, onions, ham, bacon, and an egg. I threw all that on top of the lettuce, tomato and red onion. I made a little salad and it was wonderfuly delicious. Don’t ever tell me you can’t eat out because you eat Paleo, I’ll prove you wrong! Oh and the asparagus was beyond yummy too.

Sweet Potato and Kale Chicken Patties recipe here

For these I used ground turkey because I had no desire to put raw chicken in the food processor. Call me crazy but that doesn’t sound like fun.  I also have to admit I was a little nervous about the smells that came while I was cooking all the veggies going into this, mainly the kale. I hear about all the benefits of this funny looking veggie, but have yet to love it. When I threw it in the food processor it smelled like fresh cut grass, which is one of my favorite smells (that’s another story altogether).  When I then added it into the pan and it continued to smell like grass I was worried, but pressed on with great hopes that it all worked out.

I made these the night before after dishes were done (prep work!). Please note that these have to sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Ours sat overnight so when we arrived home from the gym late the next night it took 20 minutes to get dinner on the table. I love that! We had these with a green salad. I very quickly got over the whole grass smell, as it was gone after cooking, and what was left was an amazing tasting patty! So what was lesson learned on this one? Don’t go by smell alone.

This night everyone picked their own veggie and I selected artichoke hearts with mine.

Everyday Paleo’s burger selection is here

There are two favorite burgers that we’ve had from her newest cookbook, Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook, which are the Curry Burger on page 146 and the Ground Pork and Apple Sliders on page 116.

The Curry Burgers I wasn’t expecting to like because of the curry, however they are a wonderful new flavor! Here I have it paired with cauliflower rice. The best recipe for cauliflower rice that we’ve found is in the Everyday Paleo Family Cookbook on page 176. (This weeks tip….go get the book, it rocks!!!!)

The Ground Pork and Apple Sliders are a great new twist on burgers with the sweetness of apples baked in them. The recipe calls for cooking the stovetop but we’ve found baking them to be easier.

Everyday Paleo Salisbury Steak is here

I remember eating Swanson Salisbury Steak when I was little and thinking it was the best thing since sliced bread! Considering I won’t touch bread now or Swanson Salisbury Steak I’ve come a long way baby! However I so badly wanted that meal so I went in search of a proper recipe that fits our diet / lifestyle.

This was a great quick meal that delighted everyone. I did alter the recipe a little bit by cutting the amount of mushrooms in half, as Kevin isn’t a fan. Additionally I did add arrowroot to thicken the sauce. It may have thickened on it’s own in time but everyone was hungry and I was impatient and hungry. We paired this with a great salad for dinner. This is being added to our favorites / quick / easy categories.

At the end of the day if you asked me if I’d prefer any one of these burgers or a burger on a bun it’s not even an option. (oh and I was a HUGE burger on a bun freek in a previous life) Hands down any day of the week I’d pick my Kevin’s Burger Salad and wouldn’t touch a buned (is that a word?) burger with a 10 foot pole, no kidding.

So revisit the burger category and have fun!

Enjoy!

Yvonne