When my friend Becky told me about this zucchini/courgette trick, I kind of scrunched my nose up at her and was wholly unconvinced.  However, I have faith in her cooking abilities and instincts and while it’s no great secret that I hate zucchini, I figured this was a way to try and incorporate some additional vegetables into my day, while tricking my body in to eating zucchini.

Before I get in to the nitty gritty of our dinner tonight, I have been asked to take a time-out to tell you about my friend Yvonne’s fundraising.  Very recently, Yvonne’s family said a final farewell to her cousin, David Helenski, at the way-too-young age of 30.  To honor him, and also all of the lives that he has touched along the way, YHadam’s Yarns will be making a donation in his name on April 12th, (his birthday) to the Connecticut chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association. 20% of all purchases made between now and April 12th will go towards this donation, she will also be accepting straight donations from those who do not wish to purchase anything at this time. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Last night’s dinner was another ‘pick a number’ moment with Col, I’ll admit, it’s working much better than I thought it would.  It’s quite a lot of fun trying something different every day.  As they say, variety is the spice of life!

I won’t belittle y’all by typing out a full recipe for a burger as many of us know how to put together a basic ground beef patty and many more of us are very specific about how a burger should be made.  I will, however, tell you what I put in my burger (this time, as it often changes).

• 98% lean ground beef mince
• Salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste, a smidge of chilli powder
• 1 small zucchini/courgette – grated/shredded and patted dry with kitchen paper to absorb excess moisture
• 1 beaten egg for binding

Mix it all together in a bowl, mold in to ‘burger shape’ with your hands and hey presto! You got yourself a burger.  I find burgers  (check this page)to be somewhat bland and boring, so I like to spice them up a little, I added some Canadian bacon, a ‘fried’ egg and a sprinkling of cheese from my HeA daily allowance of dairy.

What did I serve it with?  Well, I was starving, hadn’t eaten much all day – I also couldn’t decide what I wanted with it, so I had a bunch of stuff, a small portion of Heinz beans, some pickled beetroot (which I joyfully found at my farmers market), I fried off some onions and green bell peppers in a little Pam and I roasted some butternut squash ‘fries’ in the oven with some potato cubes – like I said, I find burgers boring, so I like variety on my plate! (Needless to say, I didn’t finish it all, there was a lot of food there and the zucchini really bulks out the burgers so they are pretty filling!)

As many of you know, butternut squash is something I’ve only discovered fairly recently, it only *just* falls on the right side of the ‘too sweet for Las’ border of food.  To make the butternut squash fries you just do the same thing that you do to make regular SW fries, slice them into strips, spray with Pam and roast in a hot oven (400F – 450F) for 15-20 minutes – they are a regular in our rotation, it’s a great way to increase SF veggies and reduce the carbs (even though they are ‘free’) on your plate.