Cheeseburgers with Grilled Onions paired with Grilled Vegetables

With temperatures in the low 90's today and my house in the high 80's, there was NO WAY I was cooking inside tonight. It was definitely a night for grilling. So this evening I tried out two new recipes, the cheeseburger recipe is from weightwatchers.com and the grilled veggie recipe is from recipezaar.com. I think the cheeseburgers were lacking a little in flavor, next time I will probably add a little Worcestershire or soy sauce for some added flavor. Matt claims to have become the official "rater" of the meals for the blog and was disappointed I didn't remind him to rate the chili from yesterday. He gives this meal 3.5 stars out of 5 because of the zucchini which he apparently isn't a big fan of. Feel free to add or subtract different veggies based on your personal preferences, it sounds like next time I will be leaving out the zucchini!

Cheeseburgers with Grilled Onions

1 pound uncooked lean ground beef (93%)

1 medium garlic clove, minced

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

1/2 small red onion, cut into 4 thin slices

1/2 tsp olive oil

1/8 tsp dried oregano, crushed

1/4 cup low-fat shredded cheddar cheese, sharp variety

4 items reduced calorie hamburger rolls (I use the Arnold's Select Multi-Grain Sandwich Thins)

1 small tomato, cut into 8 thin slices

Preheat grill to medium-hot heat

In a medium bowl, gently combine beef, garlic, salt and pepper; form into four 1/2 inch-thick patties. Place on grill and cook 4 to 5 minutes on one side; flip and continue cooking until desired degree of doneness, about 3 to 4 minutes more. Sprinkle each burger with 1 tablespoon of cheese; cook until cheese melts, about 1 minute.

Meanwhile, brush both sides of onion with oil. Grill until bottom is lightly browned, about 3 to 4 minutes. Flip onion and sprinkle with oregano; grill for 2 to 3 minutes more.

Lightly toast open-faced buns on grill. Place burgers on buns and top each with onion and tomato slices. Yields 1 cheeseburger per serving, 6 WW points were serving.

Grilled Vegetables

Olive oil flavored cooking spray

1 medium sweet red pepper, seeded and sliced

1 medium green pepper, seeded and sliced

1 summer squash, thinly sliced

1 zucchini, thinly sliced

1 cup red onion, thinly sliced

12 oz canned artichoke hearts, without oil, drained (I substituted one package of baby portabella mushrooms because we like mushrooms better than artichokes)

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp table salt

1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

After slicing all of the vegetables, mix them all together and then place them in a grilling basket. Coat vegetables with the cooking spray; sprinkle with the thyme, salt and black pepper.

Cook on grill until they are tender and golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 25 to 30 minutes. Yields about 3/4 cup per serving, makes 8 servings. 0 WW points per serving, but if you eat 2 or 3 servings like we did, it would be one or two points.

41 calories, .2g fat, 3.5g fiber, 9.4g carbohydrates, 2.1g protein.