Hummus Burgers

Yup, Troy lost his tooth last night.  Glady's lost one of hers too when she stayed the night at her sister, Gracie's house.  It looks as though the fairy will be coming over soon.

Today, the kids and I went back to Saxony beach. 

We just can't seem to get enough of those hungry, flesh-eating fish!

Troy and I played Frisbee on the beach. 

Then dug out our very own bluegill-free lake-- yup, that's it below.

The beach isn't my favorite place, but I do enjoy swimming, playing in the sand, Frisbee and rescuing people from bluegill attacks.  :)

We had plans to float on a 3 hour trip in the White River with our floatie tubes, but the weather was iffy. 

Instead, the kids built there own river too.

Meanwhile, I was catching up on thinking complete thoughts.  I've had a lot on my mind lately with moving and all. 

 
Speaking of which, the move back home has been made official.  From what I have been told thus far, it looks as though we will be moving sometime this month.  The Department of Corrections will be temporarily housing us once again; until our intended house becomes available. 
   
My little bucket head has all ready got a good deal of his toys packed up and ready to go.  I, on the other hand, am not so ready.  Mostly because I'm trying to decide what to keep and what not to as I pack.  It's harder than it sounds.  Sigh

 

I don't know where I got the bag cooler from, but I like it.   It's much easier to carry around for day trips than my usual hard sided Igloo.

 

My kids are always hungry.  When we go to Grandma's house, the first thing they ask for is food, even if they just finished eating supper.

Today, I just packed drinking water and snacks; peanut butter & apple slices and carrots & hummus.

Speaking of hummus, I used the remaining half a container's worth, to make healthier and different burgers for supper.  They consisted of Rice Chex, hummus, ground beef, and seasoning.  The Chex cereal actually made them turn crispy-good on the outside.  The overall flavor reminded me a little of meatloaf.

To spruce em up a bit, I caramelized onions in a little olive oil.  I was told that onions will put hair on a person's chest-- hasn't happened to me yet.  :)

Also, I made a "special" sauce to make it seem like I put forth some real effort in this supper.  Hehe. 

The sauce is just lemon juice, mayo, and smoked paprika mixed together.  I like the smokey flavor.

The hardest part of this supper, for me, was finding someone to mix the raw meat and shape the patties.  I don't.  Luckily, Glenn does.  He also likes to grill. 

Fresh grilled sweet corn; so summery.  Yumm!!!

So, Glenn isn't really into hummus and Chex in his meat.  Although, he has never actually tried it.  He made some patties 100% beef, just for him.  I actually preferred the taste of the hummus burgers.  Mainly, I am a fan of the garlic hummus and they were nicely flavored from it.

They were a bit more crumbly than the 100% beef patties, but the crispy outside made up for it.  Make sure you give em a good 3-4 minutes on med-high heat before flipping, to help keep them from crumbling.  I think mine would have came out looking better had I been more patient to flip.

The beauty of a hummus burger, is that you can use any flavor of hummus you like, and it not only makes normal burger more tasty, but healthier for you too.

Ingredients: 
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 jumbo sweet onion
1lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup Roasted Garlic Hummus
1-1/4 cup Rice Chex, crushed
salt and pepper (as desired)
buns
Toppings: baby spinach, tomato slices
For the Smokey Mayo:
5 Tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
salt

Directions: 

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat then add onions and a dash of salt. Cook, stirring every so often until onions reach a caramel brown color, 25-30 minutes. Set aside. 
2. Combine ingredients for the Smokey Mayo in a bowl then stir to combine and set aside in the fridge.
3. Add ground beef, hummus, crushed Chex, salt, and pepper in a large bowl then combine with your hands and form mixture into 4 patties. Grill over medium-high heat on one side until a crust forms, 3-4 minutes, then flip and grill for 3-4 minutes on the other side.  Place burgers onto buns then add caramelized onions, Smokey Mayo, and additional toppings.

While the smokiness from the char of the grill plays wonderfully off the smoked paprika in the mayo, these burgers are a bit softer than your typical beef burgers, on account of the hummus, so they’d be great to cook in a skillet or grill pan indoors. No grill, no problem. Enjoy!