Slimming World Big Mac in a Bowl Recipe

If you are a dieter like me, you will know the dark days I'm about to speak of. The days where you dream of freshly baked bread, drowning in butter, or fried chicken, or cake. And everywhere you go you see bad food. Your colleagues heads turn into donuts. And you just want to face-plant a bowl of mashed potato.

But that isn't conducive to looking like Beyoncé my friends.

I have dark days, once or twice a week. I get grumpy and the thought of eating ANOTHER salad makes me want to cry. Or at least have a paddy like I did to Mark on Monday, when I wanted toast and my behaviour was reminiscent of Bill's when he wants chocolate cake.

Today. Oh boy, today was a test. It was #NationalBurgerDay. My social media feeds were alive with all of the cow, and all of the cheese, and all of the fancy brioche buns. All I could think about was stuffing a burger in my mouth.

I tweeted about my predicament:

It’s #NationalBurgerDay today. Says the girl who can’t eat the carbs. — Charlotte Taylor (@CharlTaylor) August 27, 2014

As every normal person does when suffering from carb withdrawal. And my friend Taryn replied and changed my life.
Try the Slimming World Burger in a Bowl she said.

And so I was all over Google after that.

But I was met with a plate of mince on lettuce with torn bits of cheese slices all over it. And I wondered if this good be the Anti-Burger Salad she spoke of. I made a note of the recurring ingredients and resolved to make it look a bit sexier when I got home. It sounds daft, but for me, my food has to look good, as well as taste good and be good for you. Because that makes dieting all that bit more easier. Especially when all I could see were cheesy burgers.

And I think I did a pretty good job.

Ingredients

Serves one as a big salad for tea.

250 grams Extra Lean Beef Mince (extra lean means it's free on Slimming World and you could use Quorn too).
One finely chopped onion.
Three Cheese Slices - I used Low Low ones.
Iceberg lettuce - half cut into bite-size pieces.
A few mini gherkins sliced.
Four tablespoons of Thousand Island Dressing - the Kraft one is recommended (and would be 2 syns) but I used a Waitrose one I had to hand.
Garlic salt and pepper.

Method

If you have a decent non-stick pan, use it. You won't even need one spritz of a cooking spray. I prepped my vegetables as above and filled a nice bowl with lettuce, ready and waiting for the good stuff.

Add your mince and onion to your pan and cook on a medium heat until the mince has brown and the onion softened.

Meanwhile, slice up your cheese slices into strips (don't drag your knife, just press it into the cheese to cut to keep it clean). Sprinkle your lettuce with some of your sliced gherkins and cheese, and then add half of your dressing.

Check your mince and onions and cooked. Season with garlic salt and pepper to taste and then stir in the rest of your cheese. It sounds odd, but you get a lovely creamy burger-tasting mouthful this way. Let this cook on low until your cheese melts a little and then transfer on top of your lettuce.

Top with the remainder of your dressing and some nicely sliced gherkins and then eat like a pig.

You don't need to feel guilty. There's no chips. Burger bun. Or greasy lips afterwards.

You just feel full and really bloody smug.