It’s summertime, and you’re at a party. You hear children splashing in a pool in the backyard. You see candy-colored cups and plates spread out on a buffet table.
You hear sizzling coming from the grill out back. Tell me, what are you about to eat?
For me, summer comes with two foods in particular. Watermelon is the first one, and I eat it on my birthday in June annually. But the other, which often accompanies the summer birthday atmosphere, is a delicious, juicy burger.
Over the years, the way I have consumed burgers has changed, though. When I was really little, a simple slice of cheese and some ketchup was all I needed to make any burger into “the best burger ever.” Then, I started adding veggies on top, like most people do.
Around my early teenage years, my parents cut out red meat from our diets for my dad’s health, and burgers changed once again. While we started out making traditional burgers, just with the lighter meat, we eventually realized that ground turkey will never be able to pack quite the same punch as traditional beef burgers.
Instead, my dad started playing with different flavor combinations than the traditional ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard. One of my favorites that I can still taste, if I picture it hard enough, was a burger that had feta and Greek seasonings worked into the turkey.
Man, I miss that burger. It was gone so quickly.
As summer rolled back around this year, burgers inevitably came to mind. But I didn’t really want to get out in the heat to grill them myself.
Plus, I’ve been going through a serious drop in my appetite recently. I know, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. But it makes it much less appealing to think about prepping burger toppings, the ground beef, getting the coals of our grill going, getting out in the sun to grill them, and then hours later, finally assembling the burgers. Especially if I’m only going to take a few bites and then feed the rest to my husband.
I had to weigh my options. And a burger-less summer didn’t feel like one to me.
I researched for a while, looking for faster, easier burger recipes. And I found some recipes that would work just fine, if it weren’t for my limited counter space and ventilation in my apartment. And, once again, my extremely limited energy when it comes to food preparation.
Finally, I found an option I hadn’t even begun to consider: burger bowls.
Searching for those two words together opened up a plethora of possibilities for my quest for a taste of homemade burgers. I read a few different recipes on the same concept, all of which seemed relatively simple and like they would fit my needs perfectly. And then, pulling from a few, including Confessions of a Fit Foodie, I Frankensteined these burger bowls together.
I’ll tell you first what a burger bowl doesn’t give you: the feeling of unhinging your jaw to take the biggest bite of a burger you possibly can. I can’t help you, if that’s what you’re craving. But if you want to have a taste of that classic burger flavor without the bun or the hassle, for whatever reason, this recipe is for you. Taste the summer.
BURGER BOWLS
(Adapted from Confessions of a Fit Foodie)
Servings: 4
Ingredients
For bowls:
1 pound ground beef
Salt, to taste
Garlic powder, to taste
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
3 heads Romaine hearts, washed, dried and chopped
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 avocados, sliced
Dill pickle slices
1/4 cup red onion, diced (Optional. I skipped it!)
Frozen french fries
For special sauce:
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons yellow mustard (or replace with more ketchup if you’re not a mustard fan! I made two different versions.)
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon pickle juice
Salt, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika, to taste
Directions
■ Bake fries according to package directions (typically around 15-20 minutes, but read your brand!). If they are not seasoned enough, add some salt on top once they are done baking.
■ While the fries are baking, mix ground beef with salt and garlic powder in a bowl. Work the seasonings into the beef. Then, saute ground beef in a skillet until fully cooked and browned.
■ Wash Romaine. Chop into bite-sized pieces. Also, prepare your other toppings, including slicing the cherry tomatoes, avocados, dill pickles and red onion, if using.
■ For each bowl: Add romaine as the base. Then, add cherry tomatoes, red onion and pickles to the bowl. Once fries are ready, add the desired amount to the bowl. Add ground beef, shredded cheese and avocado on top.
■ Drizzle with sauce. (Or sauces! I made two versions, one with the mustard added, and one with ketchup replacing the mustard. Having two sauces made it more burger-like to me.) Serve.
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