Proof that I still remember how to cook instead of bake!


Let me start by saying that while I am not a fussy eater, there are some things I will not eat.

I'm willing to try most things at least once, and am probably the most adventurous eater of all of my circle of family and friends.

That said, I have an extreme dislike of peanut butter, both in taste and smell. Makes me an oddball right there - I was usually the only person in an entire school who wouldn't touch peanut better. (Though I like peanuts.)

I dislike squash, though as an adult I have learned I like spaghetti squash. I also learned I liked sweet potatoes. I can't stand melons, though again, there is an exception: on a hot, hot summer day, if the watermelon is good, I like watermelon.

And I can't stand cucumbers. I will pick them out of my sushi, my Vietnamese wraps, my salads, Greek or garden, I don't care.

Yet I love tzatziki. Yes, I know it is shredded cucumber. But there is so much garlic and yogurt that the cucumber is merely coloring!

With that in mind, I decided to experiment on Friday night with a new type of burger - Greek burgers.

I mixed roughly equal amounts of ground lamb and lean ground beef into a bowl with lemon zest, lots of chopped garlic, and fresh, chopped oregano. Into that mixture I gently folded in small chunks of feta (another odd food thing of mine - I like real chunked feta but won't eat the crumbled stuff that passes for feta in restaurants. Oh, and I don't like olives.)

The burger patties were cooked in a fry pan over medium-high heat, turning a few times but being careful not to push down on them. While they cooked, I oven baked some sweet potato fries (as well as some wedged baked potatoes for the rest of the family who won't eat sweet potatoes), and oven roasted some asparagus, both tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper.

The burgers, when cooked through, were served on a bun that had been slathered in tzatziki and dressed with lettuce, ripe tomato and red onion slices. Hmmmm.

It was so good I had one for lunch the next day! (Oh and I froze a couple of extra patties for future lunch use.)

This meal was entirely about me - I knew my husband wouldn't be interested in it, so he got what I called bbq burgers, ground beef with salt, pepper and bbq sauce, while the kids half ate their Greek burgers. It didn't bother me in the least that no one else shared my happiness over these burgers - it meant there was more for me!

6 comments:

Lis said...

Although those burgers sound mighty fine - and Go You! for creating them :D I'm more hung up on the foods you don't like.. which amaze me as every item you mentioned that you DON'T like, I not only like but count them as some of my Top 10 list! har!

I couldn't survive without cukes, melon, olives and peanut butter. Go figger. hehe

xoxo

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Both times I was pregnant I was so excited looking forward to having somebody to eat peanut butter with. Failed with the first, great success with the second.
Your burgers sound wonderful! It's good to treat yourself!

Peabody said...

You should have married my husband, he is just as picky about food as you are. :)

Jenny said...

Like I said - I'm the least picky of everyone else I know! But at least I'm open minded - I'll try anything at least once, even if it has some stuff in it I don't like.

Freya said...

Never mind pickiness, these look great!

Sara said...

My dad is the same about peanut butter. Peanuts are his favorite food, but he can't stand peanut butter at all, even the smell.

I once worked in a restaurant that had 2 prep cooks. The tatziki that came out of the kitchen alternated between excellent and tasteless. We found out that one of the prep cooks drained the water out of the shredded cucumber and added the cuke to the yougurt while the other added the water from the cukes and threw away the actual cucumber!