No Buns? No Problem!

After two days of eating eggs for breakfast and salads for lunch and dinner, I needed a change. No lettuce (ok, maybe a little), no chicken, and something with substance.

Time to tackle Paleo Burgers.

I should give a quick disclaimer. These burgers have pineapple on them. I think a really hardcore Whole30er would avoid pineapple because it's a pretty sugary fruit. I decided after being super good and sitting through 3 restaurants with no menu options but a basic salad for me in the past 3 days, I didn't care. I was going for it.

So worth it! The recipe is coming up next, but first let me just warn you: these things are spicy! As in, Jon and I were breathing fire and had totally clear sinuses about half way in. They were delicious, but they were HOT. Next time I will be cutting the chipolte seasoning in half. I also couldn't find any avocados that were anywhere close to ripe so I found some guacamole that was approved and it was a great short cut.

Recipe from PaleOMG:

Prep time:  20 mins

Cook time:  15 mins

Total time:  35 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1lb Grass Fed Ground Beef
• 1 pineapple, cored and sliced (see my fantastic pics below)
• 1 yellow onion, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

For the cream

• 2 avocados
• juice of 1 lime
• juice of ½ lemon
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce (your favorite will do)
• 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Light your grill! I love grilling season.
2. Now you should first slice your pineapple. I have no idea how to cut a pineapple very well but I try, so you can look at my pictures if that actually helps.
3. Use a big knife to cut off both ends of the pineapple, then stand the pineapple up and slice the sides off. Then cut the pineapple in hamburger slices (remember hamburger vs hotdog in elementary school? good). And finish the pineapple slices off by using a smaller knife to cut out the middle and press it out. Like a donut hole. Cute.
4. Then slice your onions.
5. Place meat in a bowl, add seasonings and mix thoroughly. Like hard core. Get in there.
6. Make 4 burger patties and flatten them out a bit.
7. Place onions, burgers, and pineapple on the grill at the same time. Try not to place pineapple over direct flame because it can burn pretty easily, being sugar and all.
8. Flip when grill marks become present, after about 5 minutes and cook about the same amount of time on the other side of until burgers are cooked to preference and pineapple is a bit charred and soft.

While the ingredients are on the grill, make your avocado cream!

1. Cut avocados in half, remove the seed, then scoop out the insides and place in your food processor.
2. Turn food processor on and let the avocado begin to break down. After about a minute, while your food processor is still running, add the rest of the ingredients for the avocado cream and keep pureeing until smooth: about 1-2 minutes.
3. Place a burger down, top it with pineapple, then a grilled onion, and then a dollop of avocado cream on top!

Yum! Yum! and Yum! This recipe made a strong argument for never using a bun again. Serve it with sweet potato chips or some grilled veggies.