I really can’t complain too much about the “off season” because we really didn’t break a streak. We didn’t have much winter and we fired up the grill in January wearing a long sleeve jacket. Usually, we reserve the grill for steak night. But this go around, I wanted a lot of grilled vegetables and burgers fit right along with it. I had some grilled vegetables from the hot bar at Whole Foods and something about the flame grill hickory/mesquite taste makes vegetables taste extraordinary. I wanted a big plate of that.
The burger recipe:
- 2 lbs of ground sirloin. I used a cut with a little more fat so it would not dry out on the grill. Grilling 97% lean beef is very difficult because it dries out so quickly.
- 1 teaspoon of the following: minced garlic, salt, pepper, seasoned salt
1. Mix together and form into burgers. Grill 3 minutes per side. Top with chipotle lime sauce (recipe follows), one slice of grilled onion, and 1 ounce of cheddar. Mine is Mediterranean cheddar.
Chipotle Lime sauce
- 1/2 cup of bottled light ranch dressing
- 1/8 cup of light sour cream
- juice of one lime
- 1 teaspoon of chipotle powder
1. Mix well. Use as a mayo type of sauce.
I marinated the vegetables in the following recipe.
- 1/8 cup of low sodium soy sauce
- 1/8 cup of olive oil based dressing (I used Newman’s Own light Sun Dried Tomato Basil)
- 2 Tablespoons low sodium Dale’s marinade
- 1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
- 2 peppers (one red, one green), 2 portabello mushroom caps sliced, asparagus, 2 medium squash sliced lengthwise.
1. Cut vegetables.
2. Mix the first 4 ingredients and pour over vegetables. Let marinate one hour minimum.
3. Grill in a single layer for 6 minutes/side. The mushrooms will probably only need 4 minutes a side. After they are done but with a slight bite left to them, remove from grill and cover with foil. Serve immediately. Leftovers are GREAT in salads or mixed with quinoa for a heartier punch of protein.
Now the only problem is deciding what to eat now and what to save for later.