12/13/2025
So we made (and pre-made to freeze for another meal another day) a bunch of lentil burgers today. Aaaamaaaaazing, as usual. As I was cleaning up, I enjoyed another one of those moments of gratitude....
If you are still a meat lover, you no doubt have found yourself preparing a great ground meat mix of beef, onions, garlic and other spices, maybe your "secret ingredient" (like a spice or grain or whatever). And then you pre-form all the patties to be cooked, like, right now...
Then you are looking at this set of formed uncooked burgers and you send them or take them out to the grill. Left behind are all the utensils and cooking boards and mixing bowels and condiment jars, etc. that you used to prepare these amazing burgers. But in the back of your mind, you're thinking, I've gotta make sure I clean that bowl reeeealllly good. You don't know what is in there, right? Salmonella? e Coli? f***s? Heaven knows what, amiright? Clean that up, for sure!!
Why did this thought occur to me? Because I still live with that dread, leftover from a lifetime as an omnivore. I've been in both places. As I was cleaning up this evening, the reassuring thought once again occurred to me that all that is in this bowl is lentils, carrots, onions, oat flour, garlic, ketchup, soy sauce, and some spices. Sure, I want to clean it well, but I don't have to worry about that miniscule bit I may have missed, or the things I may have contaminated inadvertently when I touched them while cooking: The refrigerator handle, the spice and condiment bottles, etc.
And I have future dinners pre-made. And I have lots of protein, lots of fiber for my healthy gut... No dread. No worries. Alllll good!!!!
I know you are probably resisting this... But hear me when I tell you... everything is better. Really. You should try this for a while just so you can say you've been in both places, too. So you can know what you don't know now. You will never regret it. And you may even avoid those "food poisoning" episodes, as rare as they may be.
