recipe: veggie packed burger!

i learned via twitter that this past tuesday was national burger day. half my timeline was filled with people tweeting about their yummy burgers and i got a serious craving for one. seeing as how i've never really made burgers on my own, i wasn't quite sure what to do. but i did know i wanted to throw some veggies in there.

i had been to the farmers market earlier in the day and picked up my weekly stash of veggies. i got a pound of lean meat (96%) from the teeter & some ripe avocados from trader joe's. i decided to use zucchini, red bell pepper, and onion in my burgers. i sliced up the zucchini with my mandolin and finely chopped about half a bell pepper & 1/4 of an onion.

once the veggies were chopped, i combined them with the meat in a large bowl and used my hands to mix & knead them together. i also threw in some sea salt & pepper. i separated them into 5 burgers and turned on the stove (my grill needs propane). i sprayed the griddle with coconut oil cooking spray from trader joe's and threw two burgers on at a time. i cooked one side until i could see it browning on all sides, flipped them over, let them cook, and cut into them to make sure there wasn't too much pink.

 

 

{my griddle is from ikea}

 

i topped the burgers with two small slices of raw goat's milk cheese, and homemade avocado spread (avodcao, lime juice, salt & pepper). YUM!

 

for my side, i made lemon & garlic okra. i simply cut up the okra into small slices, let olive oil heat in my skillet, and threw the okra in (it should sizzle). i squeezed half a lemon in & also sprinkled some garlic salt. i loved the flavor.

 

 

{that is samuel smith's organic strawberry beer - super sweet but refreshing}

 

not too shabby for my first go at burgers!