Dressing up Ground Beef

Flowers are blooming. Planters are in the field. We’ve attended our first spring jackpot. All those things mean one thing. It’s May, and there is a lot coming up on our calendars! Everyone lives in a busy world with family and friends, work and church and a hundred other activities. Who has time to think about cooking dinner? Well my friends, I’m about to let you in on a little secret. You can cook a healthy, affordable, nutritious meal in minutes with one of my all-time favorites – ground beef. 

Ground beef is a nutritious and affordable option to make numerous meals that are sure to please even the pickiest eater. I use a lot of ground beef in the fall and winter months while making some of my favorite foods – lasagna, meat loaf and chili – but this time of year, nothing beats a freshly made hamburger right off the grill!

And so this week, we made hamburgers. Now some of you might think, what is so great about a burger?  Well, welcome to our spice cupboard – we have so many spices, rubs, herbs and marinades that we have one cupboard for said items!  

So I asked Stan to grill burgers the other night. We used 1 ½ pounds of thawed beef that he flattened onto a cooking tray before adding spices. We both like to turn up the heat, so he added chipotle seasoning, garlic pepper and a little Worcestershire sauce before mixing all the seasoning in with the beef by hand. I’m sorry I can’t give you exact amounts, as we have a dash and go method of measuring when it comes to a lot of our cooking.

We rarely season our ground beef the same way twice to make a tasty burger. Sometimes it just takes a dash of pepper and we’re happy. Sometimes we add ingredients like dry onion soup mix to jazz things up or we might add blue cheese for something slightly more exotic. Ground beef is especially versatile when you want a grilled burger. Check out this great hamburger recipe on the for Garlic-herb cheeseburgers.

Once the burgers were done, we pulled them from the grill, and dress them to our individual liking. He likes Mustard and cheese on his. I simply just love the flavor of the beef so much I eat mine with no bun and no condiments. One fun idea I’ve seen done many times is setting up a burger bar. This would be a great idea for a Mother’s Day lunch or graduation party. Include a variety of cheese slices, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, ketchup, mustard, mayo, bacon or any other fun item you and your guests might like for your burger.

I hope you find a fun way to spice up and dress up your burgers this grilling season.  What’s your favorite topping for hamburger?