Tasty Turkey Burgers

Sadly, with the upcoming move I've had little to no time for creative endeavors in my kitchen. This past weekend, Mark and I went home to knock a few wedding planning items off of our agenda. As usual, we returned to Chicago with two grocery bags full of goodies. My mom sent me back with a homemade turkey burger that was so delicious, I couldn't resist sharing her secret!

 

These freeze extremely well and would be a great make-ahead meal. Since the recipe serves eight, just take the uncooked patties that you want to save for later and individually wrap them in foil or wax paper, place into a Ziploc bag, and freeze. Remove the patties from the freezer the night before you plan to eat them, and you'll have a dinner ready in 15 minutes! The best part is, these have great nutritional stats (about 260 calories per patty), so you can indulge in a small portion of oven-baked fries for a guilt-free dinner!

 

Tasty Turkey Burgers

2 carrots, cut into 1-inch lengths3 stalks celery, cut into 1/4 in cubes
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic
1 lb. ground turkey
1 large egg
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
3-6 tbsp Red Hot Wing Sauce (such as Buffalo Style)
1 tbsp Creole seasoning
8 hamburger buns (toasted in the oven)
8 slices Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (optional) 

Pizza Pocket

Many of you know that Mark and I will be moving to San Francisco shortly, so I'm trying to get rid of the food in our apartment and not buy much. This can make coming up with a creative dinner idea a little tricky, but tonight's creation was delicious! Chicagoans will understand my love for Pockets, a salad, pocket and calzone fast food-type restaurant. I usually order the greek salad, which is out-of-this-world good. The salads come with bread (or a pocket, if you will). Call me crazy, call me cheap, but after reading Bethenny Frankel's books, I know to save leftovers and try to use them! So tonight I had a leftover pocket of bread. Not much to work with, however I did pick up a couple of portobello mushroom caps yesterday figuring I could do something with them.

As the train rolled along the tracks, my creative wheels started turning (and my stomach started growling...) on my way home from the office. I started thinking that I could quickly marinate a mushroom, then add cheese, turkey pepperoni and some marinara sauce and pile into my pocket- voila! It took me about 25 minutes from start to finish to put this together, and I was quite satisfied with the result. If Mark reads this, he'll be very mad and jealous that he missed out on Pizza Pockets, so I guess this is a test to see if he's reading my blog :)

Pizza Pocket

1 portobello mushroom cap
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
Garlic salt and pepper
1 pocket/sub bun/hamburger bun (whatever type of bread you have will work)
8-10 turkey pepperonis
1/4 cup marinara or pizza sauce
1 slice provolone cheese

1. Preheat broiler.
2. Whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic salt and pepper. Pour over mushroom and let marinate 10 minutes.
3. Place mushroom under broiler for 5 minutes. Turn over and broil for another 5 minutes.
4. Top the bottom of the bun with the mushroom, stem side up. Pour marinara/pizza sauce into mushroom. Add pepperoni, cheese and top with the other side of the bun.
5. Broil for 5 minutes and enjoy!

Tip- I really don't have much in my fridge now, so this is pretty basic. You could easily dress this up by adding sauteed onions and bell peppers, different types of cheese or even sausage. Sometimes we forget how great simple recipes can be if we use our imagination (and free sides that come with takeout...). Stay tuned, I might have some fancy-schmancy peanut butter and jelly recipe up next!

T-Lish Coffee

Flavored coffee is so delicious, but sometimes I just want to MAKE flavored coffee rather than going out to BUY it (you can tell it's getting cold in Chicago!). My sister, Kristen, was telling me about how she adds spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as orange zest, to her coffee grinds. Since Halloween was this past weekend, I was inspired to make some type of pumpkin-flavored coffee. I had this great pumpkin tea from World Market, and came up with an ingenious idea- coffee flavored with a tea bag. This seemed like a simple way to give my coffee a little flava boost!

T-Lish Coffee
1 tea bag (I would try vanilla or pumpkin, or some other type of sweet tea)
5 tbsp coffee grounds
4 cups water

1. Add tea bag and coffee grinds to coffee maker. Add water (as you normally would) to coffee maker.
2. Brew
3. Enjoy- it doesn't get much simpler!

I'm definitely a sweet coffee lover, so adjust depending on your preferences. If you like a more bitter coffee, add more coffee grinds, and skip the sugar. This is a simple way to jazz up your java. It's simply TEAAAA-licious!!