bbq-blue cheese burgers w/ tomato-blue cheese slaw

Burgers. Kicked up burgers in this house are a staple. Never used to be that way though. Hubby (who is not yet a foodie I might add) used love McGross burgers. Imagine my shock when I found that out. Here he is thinking the big mac sauce is the bomb. The what? No no. Took me a few years to get him to like burgers with layers of flavors and textures. The first one I gave him he de-constructed it only to leave it de-constructed. Everything was scraped off, until he had bun and beef. What is it Linus says? "ohhh bother". So fast forward five years ahead and hubby now loves my burgers, well not all; I can't get too funky....yet. I can go a little funky as long as the basics are in there: like cheese, tomato, and a dressing. Last night was a proud moment in my foodie life. My hubby who comes home late at times, reheated his burger and put it together without me there to guide him through how to assemble it. You see when I make gourmet burgers (or gourmet anything for that matter) I store his burger separately, making sure to leave said bun and toppings on separate plate: the cold plate; while the burger and cheese: the hot plate are on another plate. This is all for the ease of heating up and proper assembly back together. What? All foodies do this right? LOL And normally I reheat all this for him when he comes home AND put it together ready for eating. But last night, he did it all himself. Knew exactly how to reheat the hot parts and pile on the cold parts. Pretty cool huh? Slowly but surely my hubby is turning into a foodie. Now if I could just get him to learn how to roll sushi we'd be happy happy.

These juicy kicked up burgers are very easy to make. Nothing more than a burger stuffed with a good, giant hunk (or 2) of aged blue cheese in the middle, fry or grill, last 5 minutes of frying or grilling (I recommend grilling) pour on the bbq sauce and let it caramelize. Put on toasted, buttered bun, then top with tomato-blue cheese slaw. Done and done. Easy right?

bbq-blue cheese burgers w/ tomato-blue cheese slaw
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1 lb. ground beef (I prefer grass fed, humanely raised, safe beef from Whole Foods Market)
8 generous Tablespoons of quality-aged blue cheese (2 TB's per burger)
barbecue sauce
toasted & buttered buns

for the slaw:
2-3 chopped tomatoes, no seeds
thousand island dressing
a couple handfuls of chopped blue cheese (or more)
broccoli or regular chopped slaw (cabbage)
salt & pepper to taste

For the slaw: mix all ingredients in a bowl. Cover and let chill in fridge till ready to use.

Get your cast iron pan, fry pan or grill ready. I highly recommend using a grill--it helps the bbq sauce to harden and caramelize.
Form 4 beef patties, split in half, place about 2 TB of the blue cheese in middle, close up good, seal edges.
On the last 5 minutes of cooking the burgers add on the bbq sauce and let it harden and caramelize on both sides.
Place on toasted bun, then top with the chilled tomato-blue cheese slaw. Should make 4 burgers.

Note: high quality blue cheese with melt right into the meat. The flavor will be there, you just won't see the ooey cheese.