At our party last weekend, we knew one thing was a non-negotiable: BURGERS. Just in case you’ve been living on McDonald’s and aren’t up on the health news, burgers are often linked with clogging up the ol’ pipes and keeping you refilling your Prevacid Rx.  So, how did we succeed so intensely at making burgers that didn’t taste like a weird amalgamation of tire rubber and wheat grass, without tipping the calorie scale? BUFFALO MEAT.  Yes, you heard correct. b-u-f-f-a-l-o.  

Buffalo meat is like the holy grail of grilling—tender, juicy, red meat that is super lean. And oh my god so so good.  Their smell alone was so good in fact, that little old “I’ve been a vegetarian for 7 years” me, broke down and had to try a bite. (I’m sure I’ll be hearing an earful from PETA tomorrow.)  Also, don’t worry, we did not leave the more pious vegetarian’s adrift, I made the BEST veggie burgers of my life, hands down, and promise to share that mind-altering recipe tomorrow.

Anyway, back to meat.  The best part about buffalo, it’s NOT expensive. It was only $1 more a pound than the hamburger at Whole Foods, so you have no excuse to avoid it. And because Jackie and I are cheap and health conscious, we made smaller burgers for our guests.  I promise you, you do not need a monster sized burger to satisfy!

I basically don’t have a recipe to share with you, because we just seasoned our burgers with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and plopped them on our grill pan with a little Pam. We served our burgers sandwiched between 100-cal multigrain english muffins and offered our guests some lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup, dijon, and BBQ sauce to top their little pieces of burger heaven. 

Here is a comparison though of the nutrition facts of a 2.6 oz bison burger with an english muffin vs a 2.6 oz 17% fat hamburger with a regular bun. 

Buffalo Burger: 204 calories; 4g fat; 1.2g saturated fat; 21.2g protein; and 8.4g fiber

Hamburger Burger: 290 calories; 14.2g fat; 5.4g saturated fat; 17.7g protein; and 0.9g fiber.

yum yum yum yum 

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On a side note about food safety…

We quickly discovered that cooking burgers indoors can be a safety hazard. As our apartment filled completely with smoke, the whole hacking party was forced to run for their lives…

Hmm kind of odd our fire alarm never went off…!  

Lessons learned:

A.) Baking burgers might be a better plan than using the grill pan indoors. Meat + Heat = Smoke. Or, if you are one of the few lucky New Yorkers that has a backyard, go ahead and grill those burgers as god and our country intended.  Just remember that buffalo has less fat to protect it from heat, so it shouldn’t be cooked directly on the flame at such an intense temp.

B.) Check your fire alarm batteries, please.  You don’t want to kill yourself and your neighbors in pursuit of a low-fat burger.

C.) With a little booze, and a lot of fan power…the raging never stops!

Baked Tortilla Chips

Servings: 16 chips

Serving Size: 1 chip

Yield: 128 chips

16 corn tortillas

Cooking spray

chili powder, sea salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut each tortilla into 8 triangles using a sharp knife or pizza cutter.
3. Place as many triangles as will fit on one layer on a baking sheet
4. Spray triangles lightly with cooking spray
5. Lightly coat triangles with chili powder, sea salt, and pepper to taste.
6. Cook each baking sheet in the oven for about 10 minutes or until chips start to turn light brown and crisp up.
7. Place finished chips in basket and enjoy!

Nutrition Facts (16 chips)

Regular Tostitos:172 calories; 8.6g fat; 1.2g saturated fat; 2.5g protein; and 1.2g fiber.

Our Recipe: 150 calories; 3.5g fat; 0g saturated fat; 2g protein; and 2g fiber.

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Tangy Black Bean Dip

Servings: 8

Serving Size:1/4 cup

Yield: Approx 2 cups

1 can black beans

2 T well-mixed tahini

3 T freshly squeezed lime juice

1 T olive oil

2 minced garlic cloves

1 t ground coriander

1 t ancho chile powder

1/2 t ground cumin

¼ cup chopped cilantro

coarse salt and pepper to taste

1. Rinse beans in the sink. 
2. Add all of the ingredients into a food processor or blender except the cilantro and salt and pepper.  Blend mixture together.
3. If the mixture is too thick, add 1 T of cold water at a time to smooth the consistency. 
4. When blended scoop into bowl and stir in cilantro.
5. Season to taste.

Nutrition Facts

74 calories; 3.9g fat; 0.5g saturated fat; 3g protein; and 3.1g of fiber.

*Recipe Adapted from  Trish Lobenfeld and Amy Topel (2009)

Rx: Instead of frying up your fish tacos and layering them with sour cream and tons of cheese, grill or sautee the fish and add lots of yummy salsa and veg.  Also we used tilapia for our tacos, but you can use any white fish like cod, halibut, or bass too.

Shredded Tilapia Fish Tacos

Servings: 8

Serving Size: 2 tacos

Yield: 16 tacos

2 pounds tilapia

2 t chili powder

1 T olive oil

2 cups fajita peppers and onions (see below for recipe)

3 cups corn salsa (see below for recipe)

1.5 avocados sliced in thin strips

16 corn tortillas

salt and pepper to taste

4 cups mixed baby greens

8 t queso fresco

1. Heat olive oil in sautee pan over medium-high heat until oil starts to shimmer.
2. Place fish in pan, giving each filet enough room to be flipped
3. Flip filet when cooked side becomes golden brown and cook the other side until fish is tender, opaque, and cooked through.
4. Shred tilapia with a fork and place in a medium size serving bowl.
5. Lay corn tortillas directly on stovetop over low heat. Flip using metal tongs when tortilla becomes warm and slightly browned on one side. When both sides are slightly cooked,  lay warmed tortillas between paper towels on a plate.
6. Assemble each taco.  Inside each corn tortilla place 2 oz fish, 1/8 cup fajita peppers and onions; 3 T corn salsa, 2 slices avocado, ¼ cup mixed baby greens, and 1 t of queso fresco.

Nutrition Facts (for 2 tacos)

Old Recipe: 770 calories; 41.2g of fat; 6.1g of saturated fat; 39.8g protein; and 4.3g of fiber.

Modified Recipe: 387 calories; 12g of fat; 2g of saturated fat; 25.3g protein; and 7.4g of fiber.

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Colorful Corn Salsa

Servings:  8

Serving Size: 6 T

Yield: 3 cups

3 small shucked ears of sweet corn

¼ cup cilantro

2 jalapeno peppers

4 diced roma tomatoes

½ diced red onion

juice of 2 limes

2 minced garlic cloves

salt and pepper to taste

1. Carefully drop corn into a large pot of boiling water.  Cook for about 5-7 minutes or until corn is slightly soft.
2. Run the cooked corn under cold water to cool it.  Then, using a small knife, hold the corn cob vertically and run the knife down the side to shave off the kernels.
3. Mix corn kernels, tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, garlic, and lime juice in a medium size serving bowl.  Season with sea salt and pepper.

Nutrition Facts

42 calories; 0.5g of fat; 0g saturated fat; 1.6g of protein; and 1.6g of fiber

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Fajita Peppers and Onions

Servings: 8

Serving Size: ¼ cup

Yield: 2 cups

1 green bell pepper

1 red bell pepper

½ onion

1 t olive oil

1. Slice peppers and onion into 1-inch strips
2. Heat olive oil in a pot over medium-low heat until the oil starts to shimmer.
3. Cook onions and peppers slowly until they are nice and tender.  Put into serving dish.

Nutrition Facts

15 calories; 0.6g fat; 0.1g saturated fat; 0.3g protein; and 0.4g fiber.