Fast Food, HungryGrad style...

When immersed in a project as time-consuming, mind-numbing, and draining as your candidacy proposal, the time one has to mess around in the kitchen is drastically reduced. So when you decide that going to the gym and worrying about food later is better than cooking and not going to the gym, you need a backup.

Mine? Dr. Praeger's veggie burgers, available at Costco in large quantities. They are veggie brugers that buck the trend of people trying to forcibly change veggies into meat. They are patties of plant parts smushed together, green and unabashedly vegetable. The ingredient list says it all. The highlights are the fact that you get 25% of your daily fiber in one burger. Personally, I like to think of fiber as intestinal exfoliation. They're a little high in sodium, and they have a little fat, but it's not the end of the world when you look at the vitamin exchange. So it's more bang for the caloric buck.

So I heat up a pan (nonstick works even without grease in it) but otherwise a little olive oil is nice. They say you can grill them, but I've never tried because they seem a little too mushy and soft. They get a really nice crust in cast iron if you have it. Otherwise, remove from package in the freezer, put in moderately hot pan, fry until brown on one side, flip and repeat.

I take toasted bread, pour some balsamic on it so it soaks in, put burger on one slice, put slices of tomato and raw onion on top, add feta cheese, and last night I had some fresh dill, so I added some of that too, and then I ate it open faced, with partially melted feta toppling off. Madd tasty, yo.

And madd fast. The bread is a little crunchy, burger and cheese are warm, creamy, and soft, the vinegar goes "zing," and the tomato and onion add some flava and moisture, and the dill is just nice and cool-tasting. It makes you feel better. It's healthy. It's fast. It's got lots of veggies and fiber. It's warm. It goes equally well with milk/juice/water and beer/ wine. It can be riffed out of its mind. It can be inspired by Asian, Italian, Mediterranean, Provencal, etc. cuisines all depending on what you throw it on, and what veggies/sauce/starch you put it on.

I can visualize brown rice, veggie burger, a Thai inspired sauce (soy, lime, fish sauce, honey/brown sugar) with fresh basil, mint, watercress if you can find it, tomato, and cucumber. Turn it Israeli by putting it in a pita with finely chopped cuke, onion, tomato, and a little parsley, squeeze of lemon and tahini or hummus. Do it with brie, sauteed mushroom (you already have the pan dirty from the burger), and throw fresh baby greens (aka, lettucey things) and tarragon on it on a baguette. Hell, throw some red wine into the pan with the 'shrooms and let it reduce and pour it on top. Tres bien, no?

Hellz yes. This is how I do fast food. With a little glass of wine for after the gym. ;)