June 14th - Veggie Burger at Work - BBQ Veggies and Pork Chop @ home

I caved and had a Veggie Burger and Curly fries at work. It was a rough Monday and I knew that a Tuna Wrap would not get me through.  There would be carnage if I did not have something deep fried.  It was an experiment and it will not repeat.  The 'oven-baked' Curly Fries were super oily and soggy.  The Burger was on a big Whole Wheat Kaiser Roll and dressed with lots of Pickles, Tomates, Salsa, Mayo and Mustard.  That was all the best of the burger really.  The burger was one of the patty variety, of the different categories of Veggie Burgers, it is my least preferred. It was one of the mashed vegetable with a binder type that is like taking a chewed up TV dinner, spitting it out, binding it with an egg and frying it.  You can see the Carrot and Pea pieces and is always spiced with some sort of curry.  This one was terribly dry and pasty.  I'm over it. Tuna Wraps or Salad Bar from now on when I am not near Sushi for lunch.

Having gone over the top for lunch, I was not super hungry for dinner.  D wanted to BBQ. I suggested to D that he have a some meat for dinner and I would just have some BBQ roasted vegetables.  D suggested to me that I have an Avocado too.  He said they were ready and he'd had one for lunch and they were good! I made myself a simple Avocado Salad while D BBQ'd.

We shared some BBQ Roasted Dill New Potatoes and Zucchini sliced length wise. The potatoes are small, ping pong ball sized, but even then, it is better to par steam or nuke them so you don't waste too much time on the BBQ.  D poked them with a fork and nuked them for 4 minutes. Toss or rub the vegetables with Olive Oil.  We used a BBQ vegetable basket for the potatoes and place the slices of Zucchini right on the grill.  The stir the potatoes a few times.  They should take about 5-10 minutes.  The Zucchini will not take that long, about 1-2 minutes a side.  Season right after they come off the grill with fresh cracked Black Pepper and Coarse Salt and squirt with some Lemon.

D's Moist-maker Brined Pork Chop was what D had.  He brines for at least half an hour in Sea Salt water.  It helps the BBQ retains moisture.  It takes about 3-4 minutes a side.  The centre should be a dulled, faint pink in the middle, like strawberry milk.  You can go a bit whiter greyer but D considers that overdone and will probably be quite dry.  If you are concerned, use a meat thermometer and check the internal temperature for safe doness, 155-160F

Avocado Basil and Dill Salad

1 large Avocado
1 Lemon, juiced
5 leaves Fresh Basil
1 T fresh Dill
1 t Olive Oil
Fresh Cracked Pepper
Coarse Sea Salt

I started and finished this post and then tried to edit a photo and then BOOM, whole post gone.  Stupid glichy Blogger editor.  Anyhoo, I was going to rewrite the very easy way to slice an Avocado for this purpose, i.e. salad or sandwhich.  But then I thought, it would be better to visualise.



Place the slices in a bowl or plate spread out.  The Avocado is already quite rich so you don't need much oil, so sprinkle the 1 t of Fruity Olive Oil over the slices.  Then squeeze the Lemon directly over the avocados too.  Sprinkle the chopped Basil Leaves and Dill over and season to taste.  C'est tout!

YUMMO.

We drank a Ravenswood Zin which I could have sworn I'd photographed before but nope!