Bun-less Burgers

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written. I went to a conference in Long Beach, CA this past week and finally feel like I’ve recovered. Since we were staying at a hotel a little distance away from the conference center we did a lot of walking. I averaged about 17,000 steps a day, a three times my normal 5,000 a day.

Being in a new city and at a conference with colleagues means a lot of eating out. Lunches, dinners, and drinks together. Well I have celiac disease (I eat gluten free) which can get tricky when you are always eating out. Thankfully there is a lot more awareness of gluten now and most restaurants can accommodate a gluten free diet. There are still countless issues and points I could raise but the one I want to focus on is bun-less burgers.

My issues is the lack of logic used when creating a bun-less burger for someone. My experiences range from fast food like McDonald’s to sit down places like Island’s Burgers, and almost all of these experiences have been frustrating.

There are basically two options when presenting someone with a bun-less burger:

1. A patty with toppings on top/bottom/side

 2. A patty on/under/wrapped in lettuce and toppings on top/bottom/side

Both of these are acceptable options, when done correctly. Here are the issues I have encountered with each of these options.

When presented with option 1, simply a patty with toppings, logic seems to leave the picture completely. While your burger might normally be made with a piece of cheese on bottom and on top of the burger, placing a piece of cheese between the burger and the plate is a bad idea. This is even worse when getting fast food and the cheese is placed directly on a piece of paper or cardboard. In case you aren’t understanding why the cheese on the bottom is so bad, I will explain. That piece of cheese is warmed up by the hot patty, then it melts, melted cheese sticks to things. I then have to spend the majority of the time pulling paper off of my burger.

When presented with option 2, a patty wrapped in or placed on lettuce, logic is also frequently lacking. While placing the bun on a piece of lettuce might look pretty, it serves almost no purpose, if you try to cut the burger with a knife and eat it with the fork, it is an impossible feat to get the lettuce on the fork as well. The lettuce just soaks up the grease from the burger making it soggy and even harder to eat.  You might try to overcome this by placing the piece of lettuce on top of the bun. You do get rid of the problem of never being able to eat lettuce with your burger, but you now can’t see the burger and have to blindly attack the burger hoping that under that piece of lettuce there are a few toppings and if your lucky, even some burger.  The best option here in my opinion is to wrap the burger in lettuce. The wrap allows the person to actually pick up their burger like everyone else around them gets to, and helps take care of the problem with toppings (I am coming to that next). However, please, please! do not go crazy on the amount of lettuce here. My mouth is only so big, lettuce does not compact the way that bread does. My mouth literally has to be able to fit around the whole thing, or I end up making a bigger mess then a toddler.

Oh, toppings. Toppings are another issue, but they relate to my last point about not making the lettuce wrap too big, too many toppings also make the burger too big. Toppings can be great, and can really enhance a burger, but unless your burger is wrapped in lettuce, they are mostly likely going to slide right off that burger. HERE is where melted cheese is the solution! If you place the cheese on top of the burger, then the toppings on the cheese, it helps them stay on, and avoids the sticky mess of cheese on a plate. Also it is best to leave the ketchup/mayo/mustard/sauce on the side. I love when I still have the option of dipping my bun-less burger in some toppings, but have been extremely frustrated when ketchup is dripping all down my hands.

As you might have realized, a bun-less burger isn’t the easiest thing to get at a restaurant, and can easily turn into a frustration. It doesn’t mean simply cranking out the same burger but omitting the bread. It takes some logic, it takes some rearranging, but it CAN be done well. My advice is to take a second, before you start slapping everything on a plate, and think “if I was eating this without a bun, how would I prefer it”. Please remember that most of us aren’t eating this way by choice, we aren’t trying to make things harder for you, we are simply trying to make the best of a difficult situation for us.

My favorite option is a lettuce wrap, not too thick, with cheese and grilled onions inside, if that’s not a good option, then simply a burger on a plate (with the cheese on top!) and toppings on the side is a great option. Now if only I could get all the restaurants to read this!

Crafting away this weekend

This weekend was full of so many crafts! I loved it. My church ward put on a Super Saturday Christmas craft day. They had lots of cute crafts you could make including centerpieces with candles and cinnamon sticks, kissing balls which were string balks filled with mistletoe, ornaments you could fill, and so much more. I made an advent calendar, which we were lacking and I love the way it turned out.

Then I borrowed a sewing machine from an awesome church friend who also let me raid her fabric closet. I’ve been on cloud nine thinking of projects. My first project was a cover for our dog’s kennel, and a pillow for the inside, which my husband helped with. I made it with a cute paisley pink fabric. As the weather gets colder, we decided she needed a warmer place to sleep. Here are some pictures:

Take Time to Be Well

Why is it that when we need a sick day, not a I’m hacking up everywhere, but a day to rest and recover, that we feel that we can’t take one? If I’m not, doctor’s note sick, I feel like I have to just push through. Or at least I used to feel that way, I still feel some of that guilt but I can push past it because I know this quote is true:

I’m not saying that every time the Monday Blues comes along you should binge watch your favorite show and not move off the couch, I’m saying that you need to take a break when you and your body are getting overwhelmed. We all have obligations we have to meet, things that still have to get done, but it is okay to only do the minimum and take a break.

I have celiac disease, and I went through a very long period where I was sick more days than I was healthy. I am so grateful that I don’t have to deal with that on an everyday basis anymore, but I’m also grateful for the lessons I learned from being sick. I listen to my body and my spirit now. There are times when life still feels like just too much to handle, but I know how to get past those times now.

And yes, every once in awhile, that means taking a rest day.

with love – Sarah

No Strings Attached

I recently realized that I will have over a month off for Christmas.  My initial reaction was “Yeah! This will be awesome” and then I remember how quickly I got bored last year during the break. In an attempt to keep the cabin fever at bay, I decided this would be a great time to explore some new projects. But what projects??

I thought about cooking, but my kitchen is not well equipped for such things. We only have one glass dish, one cookie sheet, a pizza pan, and a cheap hand mixer that’s not very reliable. I want to do more sewing, but I don’t have a sewing machine yet (*wink*wink*). I do have 5 left over things of yarn from a recent project.

Does anyone know what you can do with this type of yarn? I threw away the labels so I’m not exactly sure what type they are. The only projects I could find online were some string art and yarn balls. There has to be more options available.

I would love to have some projects (or even some work) over the break.

What do you like to do?

with love – Sarah

Me

In my opinion laundry is the worst chore. You never seem to actually finish it, and there are way to many steps involved. It probably comes as no surprise to you that I am avoiding the pile of laundry staring at me as I write this first post. However, the real reason for writing is that I want to discover who I am, what my passions are, and what I want to do with my life.

I am currently in my 7th year of college, yes you read that right, 7th. I’m a second year graduate student currently working on my masters. I’m sure at some point I will fill you all in on the details associated with that, but since I’m burned out from working on another draft, I’ll skip that for now.

When I started school I was often asked what I wanted to do. I had no idea, everyone said “oh that’s fine college is where you figure out what you like”. Well I’ve realized that even seven years into college I’m still not sure what it is I want to do. I’ve made choices that sounded (and probably are) good, but I’ve never felt that I’ve figured out what my passion is. Now, I’m determined to start figuring it out.

I’m am adventurous, I love to try new things especially if it involves the outdoors. I love my puppy Robin, she’s a mini australian shepherd and scared of her own shadow. I am a newlywed, our may wedding was wonderful and the happiest day I have ever experienced. My goofiness level tends to correlate with how tired I am, and my favorite word is poop! It always makes me chuckle. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and I find joy and peace through the gospel.

I hope you will enjoy my adventures, but also that you will comment and share the things you have learned and how you have figured this thing called life out

with love – Sarah