Wednesday Dinner: Onion Mushroom Burgers with Mashed Potatoes
I love coming up with new recipes and new ways to try some old-time favorites with a new twist. If you have been following my weight loss journey you know that I have a serious problem getting enough protein in my diet. So, I decided to add a little ground beef to my menu. The problem is that I really don’t like the taste of meat. It makes me gag to think that I have to eat beef.
So tonight I tried to create a burger that was more like a Salisbury steak and paired with some of my favorite veggies: mushrooms, onions, and green peppers.
Burger Recipe
Mushroom Sauce:
- 1 pint Baby Bella Mushrooms
- 1 large onion
- 1 large bell pepper
Saute this mixture starting with the onions and then adding the green peppers and then the mushrooms. Cook on medium until the green peppers and mushrooms have released all of their liquids. ( I learned this techniques from the Iron Chef competitions). Remove from pan.
Burger Seasonings (I cook by smell so the measurements are all palm -sized)
- Black pepper
- Ground Thyme
- Paprika
- Garlic Powder
- Red Pepper
- Cumin
In a bowl combine all of the dry ingredients and mix well. Mix half of the dry mixture into the ground beef. Form your burgers (4) and “flour” each burger patty with the remaining dry seasoning mix. Cook burgers in pan (8 minutes on each side if you like yours well done).
For Sauce
- Mushroom, Onion, Pepper mixture
- 1 cups of hot water with a beef bouillon cube dissolved
- .5 cup of Balsamic Vinegar
Remove the burgers from the pan and add vinegar and water/broth. With fire on medium scrap bottom of pan and mix well. Add MOP mixture and bring to a slight boil. Add… Continue reading
Exercise Any Way You Can
Happy Holidays everyone! If your Christmas (if you celebrate it) was half as good as mine then you should be very happy! This year we decided to add a dog to the mix- a beautifully well-tempered dog named Bucket (my daughter named him). Isn’t he adorable?! While we made this decision so that my daughter would have a playmate, we did so also because of the exercising benefits.
We live in as apartment and since making the decision to work from home I have become somewhat of a shut in. I homeschool my daughter and then work as a writer, web designer, Blogging Consultant, and am co-founder Moms of Hue and the We of Hue Network the rest of the time. I have very little reason to leave the house outside of doctor’s appointments and the occasional family outing. This has proven to be disastrous to my health as I have gained weight which is in direct opposition to what I need to do. So, the decision to get the dog came from a need to force myself to brave NY winters and get my butt and my daughter’s butt outside.
And it has.
We live on the second floor but have to climb about 35 steps to actually get there- 20 to get to the front door of the building and then another 15 to get to my door. I have been climbing those steps twice daily at the least since bringing Bucket home. In addition, my daughter and I, along with buddy walk roughly .25 miles when we take him out for his afternoon walk. In addition, in the morning we have begun walking an additional .5 mile and plan to work our way up to 3 miles. As you can see, I have already… Continue reading
Fun and Dairy Free
Went to the nutritionist. Another attempt to get my weight under control. She believes that I am insulin resistant and sent me to the Endocrinologist. I also have to have my thyroid checked. Those appointments are forth coming. After going over what I eat with her, she made me realize a few things:
- I do not eat enough. I barely taking in 1000 calories a day and because of this my metabolism is stalled.
- I do not eat enough protein. I really don’t like meat so I avoid it at all costs.
- I need to work on building muscle as opposed to cardio only.
I was actually relieved to hear these things as they seem fixable. She put me on a diet- I have to eat tuna for breakfast and set an alarm clock to remind me to eat every 4 hours. I am making a conscious effort to follow her guidelines in terms of eating. As far as working out goes, she wants me to build muscle. I am starting that tomorrow as I have not been feeling well all week.
My husband and I have decided to give up dairy too. My daughter – 3 – suffers from bloating and flatulence every time she drinks milk of eats ice cream so rather than put her through this, we are giving it up. I’m feeling really good about this decisions as the benefits of a diary-free diet extends far beyond just bloating. We – both my daughter and I – suffer from allergies and asthma and dairy is a known agitator of both.
In other news, I also had my IUD removed and the GYN suggested that I wait until after I have Gastric Bypass (did I mention that I wanted… Continue reading
Fight the Frump
Taking my cue from Michelle at The Integrated Mother, who took her cue from Jessica at Jessica Knows, I have decided to Fight the Frump. I have struggled with weight for the last 10 years. Prior to that I was heavier than most, but atletically built and in shape. I played sports, loved to walk, and ate crap but worked out. My eating habits have not changed much since, but what has changed is my activity level. Throw that together with a bout of depression and eating diasorders, and I have been a ripe mess for some time.
My plan this year is to chang that. I want to lose some much needed weight, but I also want to get my family fit. My husband has high blood pressure (albeit not that high) and his family health history is a frightening tale of the problems of obesity. My daughter deserves a life of health and even more so, she deserves to have parents who will be around to enjoy it with her.
And so we begin.
I am enlisting several tools to help me on my journey to Fighting the Frump.
SparkPeople (Link): offers a great diet plan, recipes, member groups, and more. My name is Momontherise here.
PeerTrainer (Link): offers a great food lof for daily use. You can create small groups of up to four people to help keep you motivated or larger teams to do the same. Both can be private even if you still want your log to be public.
Others
View my page on Modern Mom Challenge