Bhealthier Burger on a Budget

For dinner I had this idea, instead of making a regular meaty burger or a burger vegetarian style, out of black beans or another meat-less variety, Why not make a burger WITH black beans as a binder AND meat? 

A pound of ground beef is very inexpensive and is a good source of protein, iron, and some vitamins but is also higher in saturated fat and cholesterol ( okay okay among other things that aren’t fantastic, if you go for a burger, this might bhealthier). So, I extended my money even further on the inexpensive ground meat by mixing it with a can of black beans that added fiber to balance the cholesterol and fat !?!

So I took a serving of black beans and mashed them very well ( I used my spaghetti strainer because I don’t have a potato masher). Then I added in 1/2 pound of ground meat ( I used the 96/4 ). I added a dash of Worchestire, salt and black pepper and mixed all of it really well by hand, forming each patty. I cooked them in a pan ( I added a teaspoon of smart balance oil) on med-low heat till brown inside. This made four patties consisting of 1/8 pound of meat but the volume ( and satiating power) of well over a 1/4 pounder.

Estimating the calories, 1/8 lb of the meat was 60 calories, plus about 25 calories from the black beans- so each patty was only 85 calories and about 16g of protein! They were extremely filling!

These were DELICIOUS !!! I know several bloggers do not eat meat at all but I know lots that do enjoy meat, just not all that often, or have to feed carnivore boyfriends/hubbies. This would be a perfect, easy, inexpensive and like I said, DELICIOUS way to still have some meat. 

The bun was newmans own double fiber ( because those taste the best to me) and inside was a wedge of light spreadable cheese and mustard, on the side a great big salad ( Ken’s Lite Northern Italian Dressing).

Right now we are sipping and enjoying this…

I had a snack mid-afternoon of organic kidz applesauce with some cranberries and almonds and cottage cheese. Jen, I have not been able to find Cabot Cottage Cheese in any of my regular stores?!?!?! I know its at trader joes but it was at other places too, like Harris Teeter?? sad face because I got this other brand and it was not anywhere near as good as Cabot’s!

Ah well. I mixed in cinnamon and some kashi go lean cereal.

Post Run Lunch:

My  lunch started out with organic herb greens on the bottom. On top of that I had heated up frozen veggies (another budget friendly item that will last much longer than fresh) with leftover chicken I had made for the carbonara. On top of that… I put … FARRO! We had extra spelt/farro in lab on thursday and our professor gave it up to anyone who liked it and thought they could cook it at home… So I have a big bag of it
 
It was perfect on top of the “salad”. Oh, and I hid some hummus in there as my dressing.
 
Pre-Run Breakfast:

Half a smoothie with blueberries and pure protein and ground flax, and half a serving of oatmeal and some banana and peaches. In case you did not notice, I had oatmeal as a part of breakfast everyday this week- it was a little experiment because I typically prefer a higher protein meal to get me through the morning. I haven’t decided what I like better, but I enjoyed both today!

Recap from earlier:

Body:

6.2 mile Run!!!! It felt fantastic, I ran the first 4 miles at a “pace” not allowing myself to start “speed racing” until after I reached the four mile mark. It felt wonderful!

I did yoga when I returned, just a short stretch and breathing session with my dvd.

Mind:
did not find my article.. meh.. I did get some cleaning done and some shopping.

Soul:

Jeff and I spent the evening enjoying the burgers and then dancing to a bunch of songs (some from Joe Cocker:  “You are so beautiful…” and  “Little Help from my friends”.. )

I love running, I love runs longer than 5 miles. Wee!

I got a $50 skirt for $3… you can’t beat that!

Rice & Beans with Sausage

Rice & Beans with Sausage is one of Jeff’s most favorite meals. I, however, pretty much hate rice and sausage and sometimes I can handle beans/sometimes I can’t. I used to have to take nexium, gees, but I have been good without it for about 1 year! So why would I eat things I don’t like for dinner?

Well, I found this sausage on one of my several attempts to find sausages that were fairly healthy ( high in protein, low in overall and saturated fats) and liked the taste and texture…I hated almost all of the kinds I have tried. I even bought super fatty sausage of sausage, bratwursts, etc etc… didn’t like em. I think it has to do with the casings too- they just irk me. IRK. But, I recently found this one and thought, “What the heck? Jeff will eat them.” I even made myself something else that night! I had a few bites of Jeff’s to see what the verdict would be, turns out, I really enjoyed it!! So I just purchased these again since I could put it with pasta, or in sandwiches or freeze em if we didn’t eat em before the holiday travels. We have Andrea and Nate’s Christmas dinner Tuesday, Jeff’s parents Tuesday, My parents Thursday, Friday and then Jeff’s Nana’s Saturday & Sunday. More on that lata….

There is the sausage, it has no artificial ingredients, 120 calories per link ( this is the uncooked package) 6 g fat, 12 g protein!

Maybe its the buffalo sauce but these are absolutely delicious in my opinion if you enjoy sausage!

We made them with rice… another thing I tend not to like, white rice has low nutritional value but to me, it just tastes too starchy. The texture is not my fav. either. I made this Rice A Roni’s All Natural Preservative Free Italian Herb Creamy rice…. Its essentially white rice but then you add in a seasoning packed and milk (1/2 cup 1%). It turns into a creamy risotto almost, and the flavor is amazing. I added the black beans for some more fiber and protein, I like them alot but I just end up not being able to eat all the beans.

There is my dish- with hot sauce! ( I took it out of the casing, put it in the pan with Jeff’s bad boys and cooked them all on several “sides” for about 15 minutes total). I was “missing” veggies- so on top I threw organic spicy bean sprouts and Earthbound Farms Organic Mixed Greens and a little goddess dressing. This was all delicious together!!! I really enjoyed the texture of the bean sprouts with the sausage! More rice and beans for jeff!

Body:
Gym:
Run 3 miles
Elliptical 20 minutes
Biked 5 miles.

Mind:
Read through lots of my cookbooks and magazines to find cookie recipes I want to try! I also caught up on a blog of a student I used to teach- his mom has started writing about all the treatments he is going through and progress etc.

Soul:
Lots of laying around, relaxing, I caught up on some dvr’d shows!

Christmas movies and cookie recipe pondering. I can’t believe it will all be over so soon!
This week is kinda crazy as I mentioned above, we have christmas dinner with all our friends on tuesday ( I am super excited to help andrea with the food!) and then its off to momma mo’s for christmas eve, christmas morning, and then in the afternoon we head to my parent’s for christmas dinner, then friday, my dad’s birthday, then off to Jeff’s Nana’s at the lake for more christmas family time. We will get back sunday and I’m not sure what we will do for New Year’s this year! Andrea and Nate will be in Chicago so we won’t be having the usual party with them, I’m not sure if we will host a party or if we will travel somewhere as well.

Sunday!

The two men in my life sure are adorabley mushy with each other aren’t they ?

Banana’s Foster Stuffed French Toast For Two ( take 4)
I used real eggs this time- 1 whole egg, 3 egg whites, 1/4 cup milk… whisked until super frothy. Slightly toasted bread, dipped then put into a hot pan, sprinkled with cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.. Delicious! … Then I scrambled the eggs in another pan.. Took out the french toast, sliced banana into the pan… turned off the heat and flipped em after a few seconds ( based on smell)

Yum- Jeff officially loved it!

So I didn’t exactly have lunch because I woke up at 10, went to the gym, came back and then made “brunch”. Worked with Jacob 1-4, then got home and had a slice of cranberry mango bread with peanut butter as a hefty snack.

Body:
Bike 10 miles at the gym 23 minutes
Yardwork mowed the lawn and trimmed all the hedges ( my arms and hands are so sore from that! ) It took me a good hour+.
Walk w. Jeff and Jack 30 minutes

Yoga 30 minutes

Mind:
Read some of Jacob’s programming etc. for work during the week.
Suduko!

Soul:
Yoga and walking with Jeff was definately the highlight! I collected pinecones with Jacob and painted with them, and played with fake food-
Desperate housewives now!!

Dinner:
So… I started out making “Taco Salads” ground turkey meat, with black beans, onion, tomato, red pepper, green pepper with taco seasoning in pan.
I burnt the first tortilla and nearly started a fire, so I went in to get more and the lettuce- well i found the lettuce going bad and another bag of cut up sweet potato fries that needed to be cooked by today! So…. I threw the fries in the oven instead of the tortilla… Well then I thought I would make “chili cheese fries” only like “taco salad sweet potato fries”…

So I layered the fries with the cheddar, the meat and veggie and beans and then added extra salad stuff around it. Plus a big scoop of non fat greek plain yogurt (TJ)!
YUMMM!!! with extra hot sauce and some lentils too.
SO FULL!