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Sooner or later you'll serve hamburgers or cheeseburgers.   Fast food critics pick out the hamburger as one of several deadly sins.  But this isn't necessarily true.  We have hamburgers every once in a while, without guilt.  And even my picky granddaughter AND her even pickier friends, the neighbor's kids, eat them with gusto.  (They don't know what's in them.)

First instruction:  pick out the leanest beef you can find, and ask the butcher to grind it on the spot.  If you can see it being ground, that's even better.

Healthier Hamburgers

Mix together:

1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped very fine (Note #1)
1/4 green pepper, chopped very fine
3 garlic cloves, minced
hot pepper, fresh or minced (optional)
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1 egg white
1/4 tsp ground turmeric or ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried oregano

olive oil

buns
low-fat or lite mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
thinly sliced tomatoes
lettuce, preferable darker leaf lettuce, washed and dried
mustard, catsup or pickles if desired

For cheeseburgers:  sliced fat-free cheddar cheese

Free Survey

Mix the meat, onion, green pepper, seasonings, flaxseed and egg white together thoroughly.  Heat small amount of olive oil in a non-stick pan.   Form thin patties slightly larger than the buns, and sauté on heat just high enough to keep them from releasing juices.  Be sure burgers are cooked through.  Just before they are finished, top with a slice of cheese.

Put mayonnaise, catsup, mustard or whatever you wish on buns, add burger and all the tomatoes and lettuce the person will allow.

These hamburgers hold together pretty well on a grill, too.

Note #1:  I chop the onion and garlic (and hot pepper if you use it)  in a food processor until fine, then cut the green pepper into small pieces, add to onions and continue processing briefly.  The flaxseed will absorb the liquid the processor produces.