Crave Wednesday: Grecian Gourmet

This is my very belated Mother's Day recap.  I'm sure it will surprise exactly none of you that Mother's Day was extremely busy 'round these parts.  Because every day is busy 'round these parts.  It was full of wonderful things, but it made me realize that Mother's Day was definitely planned by a man.  Why else would it be scheduled for a Sunday when that means spending the evening prepping for the rest of the week?

The morning started out with a race, which I'll eventually get around to recapping.  (Consider this your cliffhanger!  Aren't you dying to know what happened?)

After the race, we headed out to breakfast.  Because I didn't even think about making a reservation until the week of Mother's Day (camping trip planning left me completely lacking in all other planning areas) all the restaurants in the area were booked.  But they were still taking walk-ins.  So we found ourselves at The Patio on Lamont. 

It was a beautiful day to wait outside.  Thatkid played a card game with Thatboy, while I corralled Thatbaby who had decided the stairs were his own personal playground.

Eventually we were shown to our seat, in the "baby" section of the restaurant.  I mean, I'm sure it was unintentional that the area we were sat in had a baby at every table.  If I sound annoyed, that's not my intent.  I actually think it's a fabulous idea, because no one is more understanding of eating out with a baby than another family with a baby.  We made quick friends with the table beside us who had a 14 month old and another on the way.  I reassured them that 2 kids wasn't a nightmare, while Thatboy filled their head with fear.  We're a good team.

After my race, and because it was Mother's Day, I decided to indulge in one of The Patio's morning libations - The Short Stack, featuring whiskey, butterscotch, oj, and bacon.

Thatboy and I decided to split the eggs benedict and the chilaquiles.  The chilaquiles were the clear winner of the two dishes.  Even Thatbaby loved them.  The chips, the chicken, and the eggs.

 After breakfast we headed up to Carlsbad to meet Thatmom for her Mother's Day celebration - strawberry picking!

We each picked a basket of red ripe berries, and ate a fair amount too.

After strawberry picking we went with Thatmom to grab some lunch for her.  The rest of us were still full from breakfast.  But not too full for ice cream after!  We went our separate ways and did a little supermarket shopping for the week.  By that time it was dinner time.  My plan had been to make dinner, but Thatboy thought we should go out for Mother's Day.  We were not the only people with this idea, and since it was last minute, the waits were insane.  So home for burgers it was.  Which isn't terrible.  I love a good burger, and I got to go out to breakfast, which was my mother's day request.

Thatkid and I love feta, and this burger uses it in the best way possible.  Paired with spinach, which is pretty much the best way to pair feta, it adds a completely different dimension to a "cheese burger."  The cool, garlicy tzatziki adds enough flavor that you won't even miss your ketchup.

Grecian Gourmet (From Cooking Light)

1 lb lean ground sirloin

4 Tbsp chopped red onion

  8Tbsp crumbled feta

1 cup fresh spinach, tossed with 1 tsp olive oil

4 oz tzatziki sauce

4 whole grain hamburger buns

1. Divide sirloin into 4 patties.  Grill the burgers for 3 minutes on each side, or until desired doneness.
2. Combine onion, feta, and spinach in a small bowl.
3. Place burger on bun and top with tzatziki sauce and spinach mixture.