If your attention span already has been stretched to the limit by all of the burgers you've grilled this summer, stretching your patties can be the perfect solution. Adding fillers to ground meat, such as breadcrumbs, oatmeal or white rice, is an old-fashioned trick to save money. Today's add-ins, though, not only are economical, but make meals more gourmet and break boredom.

Seasonal fruits and vegetables, fresh herbs and spices and grains that provide flavor (like nutty barley, earthy wheat berries or herbal-tasting spelt) are easy ways to make a difference. Various ketchups, barbecue sauces, mustards, relishes and other condiments added right to the mixture, instead of just on the side, are also savvy solutions.

Heartening traditional fillers can be an additional improvement, like using whole-grain cinnamon-raisin breadcrumbs, steel-cut Irish oatmeal or brown or wild rice

Molding your masterpieces from meats (ground in store or at home) with slightly different flavor profiles can also provide change, such as using turkey, lamb, pork or Italian or other flavored sausages.

Try your hand at some of these specialties. Use three quarters meat and one quarter fillers. All ingredients are to taste. The USDA recommends that ground meat and ground poultry be cooked to an internal temperature of at least 160 F.

SUMMER FRUIT ON THE GRILL

Patty meat: Ground lamb. Fillers: Finely minced nectarines and pineapple, cooked brown rice, flaked coconut, curry powder.

VEGGIES HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

Patty meat: Ground turkey. Fillers: Finely minced kale, red bell pepper, cilantro, spelt, ground ginger, freshly ground black pepper.

SMOKIN' HOT

Patty meat: Ground beef. Fillers: Ground steel-cut Irish oatmeal, hickory-smoke barbecue sauce, finely chopped sweet gherkin pickles, dash of cayenne pepper.

GONE NUTS

Patty meat: Ground chicken. Fillers: Finely ground almonds and hazelnuts, minced spinach and parsley, Chinese five-spice powder (found in most supermarket seasoning aisles).

MORE THAN A HILL OF BEANS

Patty "meat": Crumbled packaged veggie patties. Fillers: Mashed cooked black beans, quinoa, finely minced basil, store-bought or homemade pesto.

AFTER-WORK GOURMET COOKBOOK SHELF

If you wish summer were never-ending, a good strategy is to become familiar with Food Network personality Katie Lee's "Endless Summer Cookbook." It is one of my perennial favorite seasonal cookbooks. Sometimes we get boxed in to certain ideas of summer, such as mainly grilling or entertaining outdoors. Lee thinks outside of the box, presenting excellent breakfasts, light meals, cocktails and desserts, among more usual staples. Some standouts: rolled shrimp, goat cheese and dill omelet, frozen blueberry daiquiris, green goddess corn on the cob and minty watermelon lemonade pops.

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

Photo credit: at Pixabay