Our First BBQ of the Summer

I am ashamed to say that today is the first day this year we have used our beautiful barbecue. I had been away all afternoon at a wonderful baby shower so I had little energy and time to cook. Thank goodness for homemade burgers! They are my easy go-to meal in the summer. You can basically add anything to them and they will be fabulous. Today I used ground beef (although I prefer ground dark turkey) and added a bit of shredded onion, garlic, a few fresh herbs that I had in the garden, salt, and pepper. Took 10 minutes to prep them, tops. Eight minutes on each side and voila!

Here's Jackson enjoying his burger....

And here's Jackson three minutes later...

Yes, we lasted three whole minutes. We still have no idea what caused Jackson to have a major fit, but we decided we didn't want to upset the neighbors so back inside we went...

Other burger favorites in our house include adding pieces of cheese to the middle of the patty for a little surprise while you are eating and melting blue cheese on the bun (or on the patty or both!) to make a delish blue cheese burger. Just remember, if you are using a darker, moister meat like dark turkey, you need something to help absorb the moisture, so add bread crumbs, 1/4c or so for a 1lb of meat. Also, try mixing meats. Some of my favorite burgers are a mix of various ground meats. And of course, all our meats are organic and grass fed. Happy Eating!!