Blueberry Spinach Burgers - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

It's that time of the month again... NO! not that time but Crazy Ingredient Challenge time and I hope that you will like what I came up with using Blueberries and Spinach.

Blueberry Spinach Burgers

This month when I heard the ingredients that were picked for our Crazy Ingredient Challenge - I thought no problem.  This will be easy.  But then as I was thinking what to make I decided that I needed to think outside the box as blueberries and spinach aren't crazy ingredient, they work well together - perfect together in a smoothie, perfect together in salad.... Yes, they work together so to make this a challenge I needed to do something different.

The other challenge I had was that I was at my husband's apartment when I was thinking about what to do with these ingredients and well his kitchen isn't mine at home... so I had to be able to make something that I wouldn't have to go and buy a whole bunch of kitchen supplies.  So, what do I make?

My first step was to figure out what to make.  I opened his freezer and found some ground beef that he received from a co-worker and thought BINGO.. I don't use ground beef that often so  another challenge - to make something that would be edible and that my husband would think was good to eat.

I think I passed with flying colours... These burgers were awesome!  They had so much flavour.  Also the best part ~ hubby liked them and said he would eat them again if I made them.

My next step was to figure out what type of spices would go with beef, blueberries and spinach.  I knew I would have to use anise if I wanted my hubby to like this recipe... yep, we put anise in everything and I also decided that basil would another ingredient (yes, I had some fresh basil and I needed to use it up before it dried out).  I also had found some Montreal Steak Sauce Mix a few days ago and wanted to try it.... Score! Score and Score.

Third step was to try and figure out how to get the blueberries and spinach into the ground beef.  I knew that they had to be pureed somehow but how do I do it without a food processor. We have a smoothie maker at the apartment so I though maybe that would work.. I threw in the blueberry and spinach into the smoothie maker and gave it a whirl.... FAIL!  Even though I used frozen spinach that I thawed out it didn't work... I knew that I needed some liquid so I added a tablespoon of water - didn't work and then I added an egg... SUCCESS!  The only problem was that after I added the egg and ran everything through the smoothie maker, it was very liquidy.. (yes, I know that isn't a word but it works), so the burgers didn't really hold very well together but they worked.

Ingredients:
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup blueberries
1 tbsp Montreal Steak Sauce Mix
1 tsp anise
1 tbsp basil
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumb
1 lb ground beef
Bertolli Balsamic Glaze
1 -2 tbsp Oil

Directions:
Puree spinach and blueberries. *
Add Montreal Steak Sauce Mix, anise and basil.
In bowl, mix ground beef, bread crumbs, egg and spinach blueberry mixture together.
Divide into 6 equal parts and make into patties.
Drizzle Bertolli Balsamic Glaze over patties.
In frying pan, heat oil over medium heat.  Add patties and cook until done to taste.

Serve on bun with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, avocado.

*Cook's Note - I used frozen spinach that I thawed but I think fresh spinach would work better.  I also think that if I had used a food processor this recipe would have worked better and that is what I will use next time.  The smoothie maker did work just had to much liquid.  I will let you know how things turned out the next time I make them with the proper kitchen supply.

Each month our facebook group pick from a group of ingredients for our Crazy Ingredient Challenge and this month I feel that although the ingredients weren't so much of a challenge my recipe was a challenge as I had think outside of the box to prepare this recipe.  A challenge that was a hit in our household.

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