Bacon Ranch Eggplant Burgers

I know some people are already talking about being anxious for Fall but even with the Mississippi humidity being close to unbearable, I am still soaking up every ounce of summer!  If you are still loving "cook-out season", this recipe is a must try!  Lots of flavor from local, seasonal ingredients with none of the guilt.  I adapted this recipe and added a little pizzazz to the original from the Fixate cookbook.

I make a big batch of the ranch dressing on Sundays and use it throughout the week but feel free to cut the recipe in half (or even 1/4) if you are just using it for the burgers!  As much as I love ranch, I hate all the yucky ingredients in your normal store bought kind.  This is a great balance with no artificial ingredients or chemical junk!

Bacon Ranch Eggplant Burgers

Adapted from Fixate 

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1 Eggplant, peeled and sliced into 1 inch rounds

1/2 lb Ground Beef (or Ground Turkey!)

1/4 Onion, thickly sliced

2 Slices Bacon

Olive Oil

Homemade Ranch** (Recipe below)

Directions:
Peel eggplant and slice into 1 inch rounds.
Brush with olive oil and set aside.
Form beef into burger patties, similar in size to your eggplant rounds.  (You will want two eggplant rounds for each patty.  Number of burgers will depend on size of your eggplant!)
Season burgers as desired and grill until done, ~5 minutes on each side.
Add bacon, eggplant and onions to the grill.
Grill eggplant ~4 minutes on each side.
Stack your burger: eggplant, burger, ranch, bacon, onion, eggplant and enjoy!

21 Day Fix Container equivalents: 1 Red, 1 Green

Homemade Ranch

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese

2 TBS Greek Yogurt

1 1/2 TBS Almond Milk, unsweetened

2 tsp Lemon Juice

1/2 tsp Onion Powder

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1 tsp Parsley

1 TBS Green Onion, finely chopped

Directions:
Place cottage cheese, greek yogurt, almond milk and lemon juice in the blender and blend until smooth.
Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until well mixed.
Store in the refrigerator in a sealed container (I use a mason jar)

21 Day Fix Container equivalents: Red OR Orange