Keeping Mondays Mellow

It’s official, we have now entered into the first week of the Lenten Season. While some Catholics still abstain from meat on Fridays, all Catholics adhere to this observance during the 40 Days of Lent. So I guess we need to get in those burgers while we can.

We’ll get to that in a minute, I promise. Lent is such an important part of our journey home. Yes, we should try to be Christ-like every day of our lives, no doubt. But the Lenten Season, with its prayers, readings, observances and focus on penance truly is such a blessing in that we are forced to really take stock. Where are my shortcomings? What have I failed to do? It’s easy to say this or that was a bad move. It’s harder to realize when we choose to stand still, that in itself can do more harm than taking action. Inaction has its consequences. Whether or not we mean to, by doing nothing, by choosing not to rock the boat, we allow a wrong to go unchallenged. I regret those times in my life when I did nothing, said nothing, almost as much as those times when I have spoken out in anger. When you love words, you can paint beautiful pictures. You can also tear someone to shreds. While I still loose my temper from time to time, I’m getting better at walking away (or stomping away whatever the case might be) before I say things I know I will regret. This Lenten season it’s not so much my temper that I need to wrangle with as it is my sitting on the sidelines. Yeah, that just might need to be my mission this year – to pull my head out of the sand one grain at a time.

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Hey, this is a cooking blog, right? Then it must be time to get in the kitchen. A few years back, Kiddo gave me an Air-Fryer for Christmas. I’m not sure if it was really for him or me, as we both use it often. Air Fryer Hot Dogs are great. What about burgers? Would a burger end up all shriveled and dried out? The health benefits of an air fryer is obvious – you cook with heated air rather than hot oil. We’ve been talking about eating healthier without going overboard. Life is too short to pass on the Hamburgers. And Fries. And Milkshakes. And chocolate cake. Oh my, now I’m hungry!

So glad we’re cooking something not altogether healthy, but very much delicious. We’ll make up for this with a little penance on Friday.

Air-Fryer Burgers
3 (third-pound) frozen Hamburger Patties
Montreal Steak Seasoning to taste
Cooking Spray
3 large Hamburger Buns
Butter as needed
3 Green Leaf Lettuce Leaves
1 large Beefsteak Tomato
Ketchup as desired
Mustard as desired
Mayonnaise as desired

Season frozen hamburger patties with steak seasoning on both sides. Spray the Air-Fryer basket with cooking spray. Spray the top side of the hamburgers with cooking spray.

Set Air-Fryer to 400-degrees with 16 minutes cooking time. Once the timer has counted down to 12 minutes, pause. Place seasoning patties in the basket. Continue to air-fry for the remaining time.

While the burgers air-fry, split open the buns and spread butter on the cut side. Grill buns until golden. Wrap in foil to keep warm.

Rinse lettuce, pat dry. Slice tomato, set aside. When the burgers are ready build your burger as you like with lettuce, tomato and desired condiments.

Serve with Oven Baked French Fries and enjoy.

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The LORD said to Moses;
“Speak to the whole assembly of the children of Israel
and tell them: Be Holy,
For I, the LORD, your God am Holy.
Leviticus 19:1-2