Meals with the Mister, V. 1

Remember the camping cookbook Mister E bought me in between all of our miscommunications? He was obsessed with the hamburgers on the front cover and said that I had to make them for him if he bought me the book.

Not one to turn down a free cookbook, I agreed happily to make him the dang burger if that’s all that it took to make him happy.

For the patties, the recipe was really simple and I only had to combine lean ground beef with chopped bell peppers and minced garlic. While the patties cooked, I toasted whole wheat hamburger buns on the grill at the same time.

This is where I departed from the recipe in the cookbook. Their version of the burger would have had me top my patty with basil and call it a day. That’s it! Where are the condiments? Where’s the rest of the flavor?

So, I did a little soul searching in my fridge and pulled out my new favorite love from Trader Joe’s, Black Bean Roasted Corn Salsa.

Along with salsa, I topped my burger with cheddar cheese and avocado. And for the sides, I served up baked sweet potato fries and corn on the cob.

I understand that the burger out of the cookbook was intended to be made while camping, so it might not be a fair comparison, but I think my burger kicked the camping burger’s butt!

Now that I’m cooking more meals with Mister E, I’ve found that the best part of cooking for two is that there’s usually just the right amount of leftovers to get at least another meal out of it.

A few days later, we had the burgers again, this time topped with salad greens, the corn mixture from this recipe, ketchup, and mayo. On the side, we had corn on the cob again and potato chips.

Have any of you guys made burgers while camping? Would you go through the trouble of making a more “sophisticated” burger with red peppers and garlic in it while camping?