Our 4th of July Feast

Around the world, nothing says American more than McDonald’s and hamburgers. This year, I thought “Why fight it?” So I went with it…  with a twist. We had a bunch of people over for a mini burger buffet. Apparently mini burgers are called sliders – no idea why, but aren’t they cute?!

One of the things you can’t really get in Belgium is a good old traditional hamburger bun. So I decided to make my own. I modified  Brown Eyed Bakers recipe, subbing out one of the cups of flour for 1/2 cup corn flour (not corn meal), 1/2 cup wheat germ, and replacing the sugar with an equal amount of brown sugar (brown sugar makes everything better). In order to get the mini buns I divided the dough into 36 pieces instead of 12. It took a decent amount of time, but it was totally worth it! These buns are amazing.

Then I started on the burgers. We had a couple of vegetarians coming so I went with

• black bean & mushroom burgers
• quinoa burgers
• chicken & spinach burgers
• tex-mex burgers
• classic beef burgers

The black bean burgers were a hit, but difficult to make. They kept coming apart in the pan. The quinoa burgers are a standard from our attempts at Meatless Mondays – a recipe I totally love and would recommend. The tex-mex burgers were a brainstorm of my own and turned out to be hubby’s favourite. I made them with a mix of ground pork and ground beef, threw in onions, garlic, and a few tablespoons of homemade taco seasoning before shaping them into patties. My favourite though were the chicken & spinach burgers – ground chicken, chopped spinach, garlic, onion, parmesan cheese, and an egg to hold it all together, yum yum!

Once the burgers were set, it was time for the fixings. I cut up cute little cheeses, cucumbers, and tomato slices, and got out the condiments. Friends brought the rest of the feast: pasta salad, potato salad, veggies & dips, brownies, ice-cream, and the biggest baddest watermelon I’ve ever seen. We had an awesome spread:

And the best part? (Besides the awesome people that is)… the forecasted rain held off until after we finished eating!

Here’s wishing America a happy birthday, may she rise to the challenges before her with grace and wisdom, coming again to honour and exemplify the values on which she was founded =) I may not be the biggest patriot, but God bless America!