I hope everyone is enjoying a relaxing 3 day weekend! We have some great friends up to visit, which means I had enough people to rope into playing charades. Oh yes I did. And they brought us a sweet gift!

I swooned all over this Whole Foods basket extravaganza and we all thoroughly enjoyed our mini cheese tastings. Have you ever tried Robusto cheese? It’s slightly caramel-y and has tiny salt crystals and is pretty much amazing. That’s my official foodie taster review, so clearly I have no future in food description.

Having friends that are like-minded is helpful when wanting to not be a total lush over a holiday weekend. We all decided a group run was a good idea and knocked out 3.6 midday miles.

Balanced out by a decadent steak dinner.

And wine.

There was plenty of pure lake bumming, too.

For all of us.

And it just isn’t the end of summer without a proper burger on the grill. I decided to jazz things up a bit.

• 2.5 lbs natural ground beef
• 1/4 c minced red onion
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
• 1/2 cup minced apple
• 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
• salt and pepper

It was a combo I made up based on what we had around the house and the burger received rave reviews. Though it didn’t have an overpowering flavor, the apple gave it subtle sweetness, which was a perfect contrast to the sharp cheddar and all the add-ins ensured that the burger stayed juicy.

Winner.

Looking for a truly unique burger?

Try either this cottage cheese turkey burger or the salad burger and let me know what you think. These both are pretty original looking ideas and I’d love to try them both out!

What’s your favorite burger combo?