CAULIFLOWER & BACON SOUP & HOMEMADE HAMBURGERS

catch up....

CAULIFLOWER & BACON SOUP

1 large cauliflower, cut into large florets
bacon, maybe about 4 or so rashers, with fat removed and diced
1 large onion, diced
small amount olive oil
chicken stock (i used 3 cubes but my cauli was huge!)
black pepper
water
1 tin evaporated skim milk

heat oil, fry onion and bacon for a few minutes
add some water, then cauli
top water up so it comes about 2/3 of the way up the cauli
add stock cubes and pepper
cook until very soft and starting to fall apart
puree with stick blender, add evap milk and puree to mix.

based on a weight watchers recipe. i highly recommend you DON'T do this one in the slow cooker, the taste of the cauli is incredibly strong and not all that pleasant!

surprisingly the kids all ate 2 bowls of it for lunch!!!



HOMEMADE HAMBURGERS

500g extra lean mince
1 onion, cut into quarters
1 carrot, ends cut off and cut into inch pieces
1 egg
around 2/3-1 cup of instant oats
garlic if desired

using thermomix chop onion, carrot and oats (and garlic), hmmmm speed 6-7 for maybe 5-10 seconds
add mince and egg and mix using reverse and speed 2-4 until well mixed

if possible chill mix in the fridge

use tupperware burger maker thingie (i forget what it's called!) to make burgers - whatever you don't use can be frozen raw or cooked

if possible chill in fridge again before cooking (i say if possible as i never remember to leave enough time to chill it at all lol)

fry in a pan sprayed with cooking spray or a little oil until nicely browned on the outside and cooked through.
you can also fry sliced onions if you like

we served ours on toast because we had lots of sliced bread and nothing else to use LOL but generally i would use rolls from my local bakery (because the burger buns you buy at the supermarket have preservative 282 in them). i've tried making my own rolls but they haven't been very successful :(

toast bottom layer of whatever bread you are using. top with onions if cooked, then a slice of cheese and grill til cheese is melted.
top with sliced tomato, beetroot (we used the organic ones i cooked the other day) and lettuce, some sauce of your choice and serve. you can serve with chips if you like but i think the burgers are too yummy to spoil with chips LOL

you can make a million variations of this of this of course, with herbs or spices in teh meat patties and various sauces or different cheeses on the burger. geoff loves his with a fried egg and bacon it as well.

any leftover cooked patties can be frozen (as above) or crumbled up and used in bolognaise or similar.

bigger versions of photos and more photos here (i don't want to put the original pics here, the file size is ginormous!)