Cheeseburger Salad
I was having a craving for a cheeseburger, but I just picked some fresh lettuce from my winter garden so I decided to make this cheeseburger salad instead. It has all of the typical cheeseburger ingredients; ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, red onion and avocado. If you don’t want to use ground beef, you can use ground turkey or bison. I recommend using meat that is grassfed and organic. This post talks about the differences between meats that are grass fed, organic, natural and free range.
Dairy technically is not allowed on the paleo diet, which is what I am focusing on with this blog, but many paleo experts, such as Mark Sisson of The Primal Blueprint and Caitlin Weeks of GrassFedGirl, believe that it is okay to include small amounts of it in your diet if you are not allergic or sensitive. I actually am horribly allergic to dairy products made from cow’s milk so I use goat cheese instead. Goat cheese is easier to digest and tends to cause less reactions in people. It is more expensive, but you can get really good deals on it at Trader Joe’s and Costco. If you cannot tolerate any dairy, you can use bacon instead to give this recipe extra flavor or just use ground beef alone.
Another important note is that I recently found out that the majority of olive oil on the market is not real. According to a recent University of California at Davis study, two-thirds of all olive oil tested turned out to not be what they said it was. Many of the olive oils were rancid, some were made with very low quality olives, and some were even cut with soy oil! I was completely horrified. Here is the link to the article. Please try to read the whole article, but basically, the olive oils which tested to be of high quality are California Olive Ranch, Corto Olive Oil, Kirkland Organic, Lucero (Ascolano), and McEvoy Ranch Organic. I unfortunately had some Whole Food olive oil in my house which I immediately threw out and now I only use California Olive Ranch and Corto.
Cheeseburger Salad Recipe
- ½ lb. ground organic grassfed beef
- ½ cup grated cheese (I used goat gouda from Trader Joes)
- ½ head of lettuce
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- ½ of a red onion
- ½ of a avocado
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- Olive oil
- Vinegar
- Himalayan Salt
- Bacon (Optional)
- Chop all of the vegetables.
- Grate the cheese.
- Melt the coconut oil into the pan.
- Cook the ground beef until it is browned.
- Put the lettuce on the plates, followed by the other vegetables.
- Pour on the oil, vinegar and add salt to taste for the dressing.
- Put the ground beef on the cheeseburger salad, and then top it with the cheese. Enjoy!
Cheeseburger Salad – Ingredients
Cheeseburger Salad – Ground Beef
Cheeseburger Salad – Enjoy!
