Turkey Burgers

I love burgers! My treat to myself the day after the cleanse was to make turkey burgers and, yes, they were as good as I expected them to be. Even Alice had her very own mini burger and ate the whole thing AS a burger instead of deconstructing it. WIN! The seasoning mix is my tried-and-true mix I always do except I added paprika and a touch of cumin. The rest of the ingredients I use for almost any meat. I used 1 lb. for the burgers and prepped the other pound for the Stuffed Peppers I made for dinner the next night.

Ground Turkey Burgers

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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1 lbs. ground turkey (I used white and dark bought locally)

1 tbsp. Garlic Garlic
1 tbsp. Onion Onion
1 tsp. Celery Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

1 tsp. Paprika
1 tsp. Cumin

Handmix the meat and spices. Work the meat really good so you can't tell it's "ground" anymore. Separate into 4 equal parts. Make a ball and toss back and forth from hand to hand to work out the air inside the ball. This really helps to compress the meat so it doesn't fall apart in the pan or on the grill. Flatten. Hot pan with just a touch of oil to keep it from sticking. Cook about 5ish minutes per side until juices run clear.

Top with ... whatever you can find!

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I was out of lettuce so I improvised my greens and add all the yumminess you see in the pic: avocado, sprouts, tomoatoes, tri-pepper mix, Baby Swiss (my first cheese in 11 days!) all on a whole wheat kaiser roll. I was in-between multi-grain cibata and kaiser and went with the latter for chewing sake.

Notes: I make damn good burgers. Nuff said.

Day ... Aw hell I don't know!

So the days are running into each other now. We finished the cleanse last Wednesday with great results. I was down 7 lbs. and Dave was down 10 lbs. I had lost 4.5" and 2" of that was off my thigh which was totally impressive to me. Dave lost mostly off his belly and chest (4" total) which is where he needed it. He only made it to the evening of Day 10 without a beer ... I held off until the next day LOL

I've had some good meals going on the past 5 days and some failures. I'm not even going to post the failures because ... they just weren't that good. I think I'll start posting individual posts for particular recipes though.

Alice is still trying all the food! I'm so excited that she actually asked to try things I'm using to make food, too. She asked for a bean sprout the other day ... didn't like it, but she tried it!

This entire process of eating fresh has been very time consuming but I'm happy to say that I am gettign faster. I'm letting things slide here and there to save me sanity (like not cutting veggies for the day until the morning when I'm rushing around getting ready for work), but it's allowing me to relax int he evenings a little bit. But really: I think that my overall energy level is higher. I don't feel nearly as run down and exhausted as I had been. I wake up in the morning feeling AWAKE instead of half dead and I want to say it's because I feel better inside and I'm seeing results on the outside. My runs are getting longer as I progress through C25K and I look forward to them instead of dreading getting on the treadmill.

So far, so good! I need to buckle down and finish off this last week+ and make some really good progress!

Day #9

Menu #9

Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Chicken on Salad with Sweet Onion Dressing
Dinner: Blackened Tilapia with Mango Salsa

Assessment Day 8:

I should NOT be weighing myself everyday. All that does is bum me out if I'm not lighter. Not craving so much as just wanting certain foods. Everyday is more of the same and it's ok :)


Blackened Tilapia with Mango Salsa




Recipe adapted from: Blackened Tuna Steak with Mango Salsa on AllRecipes.com

I thought about using salmon but went with tilapia for my fish this time. I made the "salsa" up the night before so it could stew in the lime juice and get yummy. Also added yellow, orange and red peppers so bulk it up and give it more flavors. For frying the fish, I went really light on the oil with just a splash in the pan. Who really needs THAT much oil for cooking meat? This was a gorgeous plate!

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Mango Salsa

1 fresh mango - peeled, pitted, and chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/2 Spanish onion, finely chopped
1 green onion, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil

Combine the mango, bell pepper, Spanish onion, green onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper in a bowl; stir. Add the lime juice and 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil and toss to combine. Chill in refrigerator 1 hour (I left overnight).

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Blackened Tilapia

4 tilapia steaks

2 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon red pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder (Onion Onion)
1 tbsp Garlic Garlic
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon olive oil for the pan

Stir together the paprika, cayenne pepper, onion powder, salt, pepper, thyme, basil, oregano, and garlic powder in a bowl. Remove the tuna steaks from the refrigerator and gently rinse with water and then dip each side of each steak in the spice mixture to coat.

Heat oil in pan. Cook 3-5 minutes. Flip. Cook another 3-5 or until the fish is no longer translucent and easily flakes with a fork. I also put a lid over it after the flip to ensure the meat didn't dry out while cooking all the way through.

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Notes: This turned out better than I had hoped! The dry seasonings on the rub helped to "blackened" the fish and roasted up really nice on the outside to give it a thin grilled layer. Making the salsa the night before was the way to go: I got home, pulled the fish out, seasoned it while the pan got hot, plopped the fish in, got the salsa out and plated while it was cooking and easy-peasy! There was dinner! Alice wasn't in a fish mood though ... and she wasn't liking the lime flavored mango .. but that's life.