Juiciest (Zucchini) Cheeseburgers Ever

The sun is out, the baseball game is on, my family is home, and burgers are on the grill. Perfection my friend, let me take a moment to tell you about these amazing burgers. You have to try them! They are loaded with flavor and a surprise. What surprise? You ask. A vegetable, I reply. You know me. I am always looking for a better, healthier way to eat something I love. If I can figure out how to get double the amount of veggies into pizza and burgers - that means I get to eat them more often. Heck yeah. See its not really a mom thing, its a I-love-pizza-and-cheeseburgers-thing. Super scientific. 

I know everyone isn't vegetable-centric like me (even adding zucchini and carrots into chocolate chip cookies - truth), but by adding this mild tasting vegetable, once cooked you can't tell its there, AND gives the lean meat some much need moisture - you'll end up with the juiciest burgers in the world! 

My cheeseburger with sliced juicy tomatoes, fresh crunchy spinach, lots of mayo and mustard 

So I have this thing with eating rare ground beef. Its not the trendy or even what is happening on tv with cooking shows. But I just can't. Steak is another subject entirely. So in my house I always cook ground meat well or well done. It seems safer to me. So that being said, sometimes we ummm have some pretty dry burgers. I hate admitting to real life stuff like this but I can picture how many times ketchup is poured onto burgers to help make them juicier. Sigh. But, alas, this burger I made tonight needed no such help. And yes it was cooked well done. Zucchini is the star secret vegetable that no one will be able to guess, but will make even a well done burger seem like a million bucks. 

Other reasons to make this burger include the idea that you get 5 huge burgers from only 1 lb of meat, which should save $, it will save you some calories, and increase your intake of vitamin c, vitamin a, calcium, vitamin b-6, iron, fiber, and magnesium - all things found in zucchini. Sounds tastier than that mineral-y tasting multi vitamin.... So so make it already. 

Juiciest (Zucchini) Cheeseburgers Ever

Recipe adapted from: Skinny Taste

Makes 5 Burgers 9 (4-5 oz each)

Prep time + cook time : 10 minutes

Ingredients: 

1 zucchini grated on a fine grater into a clean kitchen towel 
(so you can wring out the water)

1 lb lean ground beef (also good with ground turkey)

1/4 cup of panko bread crumbs

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp ground garlic

1 Tbs red onion also grated on a fine grater

5 slices of cheese, I used colby jack - but use your favorite

5 whole wheat buns

Additional condiments: ketchup, mustard, lettuce, fresh spinach, sliced tomato......

Olive oil

Directions:

1. Mix everything together in a mixing bowl

2. Form 5 patties

3. I put a few drops of olive oil on the formed patties to help them not stick on the grill/bbq

4. Cook them for approx 7 minutes over medium. 

5 Once you flip them once put the cheese on top to give it time to melt. 

6. Put the buns on the grill soon after that to toast them up. 

Serve with watermelon, chips, potato salad, corn on the cob or any 

other summer time favorites

From my delicious Az bbq to yours!