Whew! What a weekend already! If someone can please explain to me how 8 hours sitting in a gymnasium can wear you down so much more than cooking, cleaning, chasing a toddler, providing taxi services, and all out running a zoo, I'd love to hear it! Miss Aleix had a volleyball tournament yesterday, which they took second place at (woohoo! Go Quincy!), and by the time I left there at nearly 6pm, I felt like I had been run over by a freight train. **sigh**I guess it's just that old age creeping in on me.... yikes! 

So this was the first weekend, for as long as I can remember, that I had no kids aside from the Little Tornado. I was so looking forward to bow hunting last night, but the volleyball tournament went far longer than expected and I settled for coming home, whipping up some Ah-MAZING cheeseburgers for the grill, testing out a new Sam Adams brew (just one, we aren't big drinkers), and chilling on the couch with my love. Was hoping for a second Tigers win last night in post season playoff action, but alas, the A's took the game by 1 run. 

I did make another batch of the cucumber salad I made a couple weekends back and fell in love with. I've been craving it like no one's business, and it fit perfectly with the burgers. 

In case you want to add some new flavor to your burgers, here's how I make them, and living at the lake, you *must* know how to make a good burger, it's the go-to food! 

Many people add an egg to their ground meat when preparing for the grill, but in lieu of egg, I substitute BBQ sauce. Add some bread crumbs, just enough to keep your patties together, Lawry's Seasoned Salt, seasoned pepper, onion powder, a bit of garlic powder or garlic pepper (this stuff is amazing on over easy eggs by the way), and then sprinkle in some mesquite seasoning. This will make you some amazingly delicious burgers! :) You can change up the tastes by adding things like pepper jack cheese rather than american or using Hawaiian sweet rolls instead of regular buns, which I did last night. You can also see in my picture I use wax paper between my patties, this makes The Hubby's grill work a tad easier, and this way I can simply put a sheet of wax paper on the top of the stack and easily push down to flatten and press the patties all at once. Time saver! 

and the companion to the burgers last night

This is simple and delicious! Cucumber salad, all it entails is apple cider vinegar, water, onion, peeled and sliced cucumbers, salt and pepper to taste. Delicious! 

And now I'm off to make my meal plan and grocery list for the week!