Food “UnChained” – BBQ Ranch Burger

I went out on a date night with my hubby last week and thought of it as a perfect way to take part in this Restaurant Challenge. A fellow foodie blogger who writes and cooks over at Crazy Foodie Stunts came up with this great idea of recreating a dish from our favorite local chain restaurant. All of the people that are taking place in this awesome event are foodie lovers like me and are spread all over the place so we were aloud to pick any chain restaurant and choose a dish to remake into a healthier better version. Hence the name of our group……”Food Unchained” LOVE IT!

So hubby took me out to a place we love called T-Bones. There are a few locations, one specifically near us, and also one near where we camp every weekend, so when a date night popped up, we took full advantage and we were off to T-Bones. I couldn’t wait to peak at the menu and see what I could remake to a healthier, more fit dish for me and my family.

While I glanced through the menu I sipped on a Hypnotiq Raspberry Lemonade. (yes with vodka!) It was so good and it was so hot out that I sucked this pack way too quick LOL….don’t worry I remade this drink for you to enjoy too!!

I finally chose a dish that would be familiar to me as far as “healthifying” a dish. YES a burger!! It was actually part of their summer menu as well. It was called a BBQ Ranch Burger. Maybe I took an easy route because their wasn’t much to change, enough to make it healthier. This dish was served with Bacon, Avacado, Lettuce and Tomato. I opted for no cheese to keep the calories down but you could add it if you wanted. It was also served with French Fries. I really couldn’t taste the BBQ sauce or much of the ranch so I was also able to bring that flavor out more too! Here is what I ate last week at the restaurant.

Sorry the pictures weren’t too good but we were sitting at the bar (yes because when we don’t have the kiddo we take advantage of the bar!) the lighting was dark and I only had my cell phone. I can’t even see the burger! Can you? Here is what I came up with.

Substitutions:

Ground Hamburger – Ground Chicken
Bulky Roll – Low Fat/Whole Wheat Roll
Bacon – Center Cut Bacon (pre-cooked)
French Fries – Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients: 

1 lb. of Ground Chicken
1/2 a packet of Ranch Dressing Seasoning (Hidden Valley)
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt & Pepper
3 Tbsp. of BBQ sauce (use your favorite), for topping
1/2 an Avacado
1/2 Tomato, sliced
4 pcs. of Center Cut Bacon, precooked

What to do:

Mix the ground chicken with the Ranch Seasoning, BBQ Sauce, garlic and salt and pepper to taste.

Make 4 medium shaped balls and flatten them into patties.

Grill them until desired temp. Be careful at this point, we used tinfoil because I knew that using ground chicken it doesn’t stay together as well as hamburg or ground turkey.

Meanwhile prepare avacado, bacon, and tomato to top the burger.

Once they are finished top with avacado, bacon and tomato and use your favorite BBQ sauce for your condiment.

Can’t forget the awesome chips, I found these at a local health food store, they are by far my new favorite!!

Look at that beauty!!

OMG I totally succeeded in this transformation because I tasted the ranch and the BBQ sauce was the best topping!!

Let’s not forget the inside of this beautiful burger!!

Don’t forget to check out other people’s Unchained Recipes!

And yes now onto my healthified version of the Rasberry Lemonade drink that I sucked down in literally 5 min. oops did I say that?? Whoopsy!! Hey I said I was kiddo free would you expect anything less!

I lightened it up, unfortunatley it’s not as good when you do that but the restaurants recipe is as follows:

Hypnotiq Raspberry Lemonade- A mix of Hypnotiq, Raspberry Smirnoff and lemonade…..don’t forget the rocks!

My version is pretty simple:

Hypnotiq Rasberry Lemonade – A mix of Hypnotiq, Raspberry Smirnoff and Zero Vitamin Lemonade Water…..on the rocks!