i steam a good ham

for your reference, please see this gem.  i found early on this diet that ground beef will satiate many of my crazy carby cravings.  i'm not sure why it does this.  but i'm assuming its because of the mental association of bun with burger.  anyway, boy and i have had a lot of burgers over the last couple months.  they're easy and they're great for the diet.  here i share with you today my process for baked, spicy, cheese stuffed burgers.  cook + prep time: 1h, yields 4 servings, 0.75 carbs per serving.

ingredients:

0.5 cup chunky hot sauce
1 lb lean ground beef
6 oz spicy cheese

• preheat oven to 350F.   i decided to bake burgers to decrease on grease mess.  also, when you're stuffing with cheese, the baking strategy keeps the cheese all in one place rather than leaking all over a frying pan or all over your grill.  baking is low maintenance.
• as you can see, this is a super easy one.  for this i use pepper plant hot sauce, one of the best things ever invented.  i discovered it a few years ago, served on all tables at the Big Sur River Inn.  i highly recommend it for all things needing spice.  because of the nature of this sauce, i add no other seasoning to the meat; the sauce has it all.  anyway, combine hot sauce and beef in a bowl.  you might have to use your hands to do this well
• slice your cheese thinly.  you could also grate it, but i find its easier to handle and makes less of a mess if you leave it in slices, though it melts more evenly grated.  your choice.  i'm using an organic habanero cheddar.  its awesome.
• evenly divide the meat into eight separate parts and flatten each of those eight parts like tortillas.  on four of the pieces, evenly distribute the cheese.  cover each of the four patties with the remaining four patties.  almost like you're making a cheese sandwich, but instead of bread you're using beef!  squish together the sides of the patties so that the cheese can't leak out and smooth out your edges.  the end result will look something like this

• place burgers in the oven for ten minutes.  after ten minutes, increase heat to 450F and flip burgers.
• cook for an additional ten minutes then remove from the oven and let rest for at least three minutes.

when burgers are done they won't be all caramelized nor charbroiled.  they'll look like super moise beef patties which is what they are.  we served our burgers on top of a toasted slice of last weekend's bread with some Trader Joe's frying cheese, and a spinach caesar salad.

this was a super delicious, super easy, super cheap meal.  we hearted it.  

i don't think i'm gonna say that thing about another day on the dang diet anymore.  it's kinda lame.