Tasting Tuesday: Blended Burger Project

Hi, friends,

I hope everyone is having a lovely Tuesday. My days have been a bit topsy turvy the last couple of weeks as Husband has been waking up to a 4AM alarm clock and my online classes have allowed me to spend my afternoons typing up assignments in coffee shops. I miss seeing Husband since he now goes to bed at 9PM, but I also am enjoying a brief break from my long commutes. You win some, you lose some.

I’m very excited to tell you about something I just learned about: the Blended Burger Project. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll quickly notice that I am a big fan of a big ol’ cheeseburger. Preferably one with a pile of bougey toppings. But I’ve also been hearing so much about how all the cows raised for steaks are worse for the environment than the harmful emissions from planes, trains, and cars combined! It takes SO much energy to raise, slaughter, and process cattle so I totally understand why some people are laying off the red meat as another way to care for the planet. I’ve also read that all my efforts to do things like recycle and use energy efficient lightbulbs are so minuscule compared to the impact I could make from skipping out on my weekly burger.

BUT HAMBURGERS ARE SO GOOD!! And the brilliant people at the James Beard Foundation know this. So they are helping us carnivores out while also trying to help out the planet by introducing the Blended Burger. Want to know what it is? It’s mixing 25% of ground mushrooms into your beef before cooking your burger. THAT’S ALL! I already eat mushrooms ON TOP of my burger, so it seems like a no brainer to put mushrooms IN my burger! Not only is it better for the environment, but it’s better for you! You get another serving of vegetables in your day and you won’t even notice.

The lovely folks at James Beard Foundation and the Mushroom Council invited me to a delicious lunch at Bluebeard in Fountain Square last week. I got to try a Blender Burger in action, complete with all the fancy, local toppings that my spoiled self craves. It was delicious. I’m sold. Please bring me more blended burgers always.

So, now there’s a contest for the best burger and you can read all about it here. You can encourage your favorite local chefs to create their own version of the Blended Burger and submit their entry to the James Beard Foundation for fabulous prizes. Chefs get to practice nutrition and sustainability all while selling hamburgers. SIGN ME UP! You can also make your own Blended Burgers at home! Just mix in at least 1/4 chopped mushrooms into your ground meat. You can experiment with different types of mushrooms and see what flavors you like best. All the mushrooms, all the time. This seems like such a small change to result in such a big impact.

Attending the event at Bluebeard got me thinking about the voice of my blog. I usually just highlight things that I like or places I’ve been wanting to try, but this idea of changing our environment through food has got me interested in what other amazing sustainability projects are out there. I’m really interested in learning more and featuring more proactive organizations and products on my blog. After all, recycling is hard, but eating burgers is easy.

That’s all, folks. Who is going to try a Blended Burger??