burgers for dinner

The summer season is once again over and soon I will miss the warm and sunny days. Having grown up and lived in a very tropical environment, I would say that I prefer even extreme hot and humid days to the cold winter season. I'm thankful that we live in a more temperate than colder zone and there's absolutely no reason for me to complain. Summertime in Manila reminds me of trips to the beach or escaping Manila heat and driving to the cooler climate of Baguio City in the Northern part of the country. Of course there's also simple summertime picnics at a nearby park or right in the backyard. I think an all time favorite backyard picnic food here in the US is grilled hamburger. I take the time to make these hamburger buns using the basic recipe I have for rolls. I just shape them into hamburger buns and sprinkle sesame seeds on them before baking. For the hamburgers, I usually add some finely chopped onions and minced mushrooms to the ground beef and season it with salt and pepper. I've found out that the addition of the onions and mushrooms makes the burgers more tender with a lesser tendency to overcook and dry out. But this is just how we like our burgers. Dinnertime hamburgers are so easy to fix. A grill pan works great and cooks the burgers really well. I must say we haven't bought fast food hamburgers since we started making our own burgers at home. I usually have lettuce leaves, tomato and cucumber slices with an assortment of condiments on the side for this very simple and enjoyable meal.