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.

Dia de Quatro

Menu #4

Breakfast: Fridge Oatmeal
Snack: Strawberries & Egg
Lunch: Spinach Salad with Leftover Chicken and Sweet Onion Dressing
Snack: Hummus and veggies
Dinner: Turkey Taco Wrap-Ups

Day #3 Assessment:

Day 3 ended up being better than 1 or 2 except for the fact I'M EXHAUSTED. I don't know if it's because my body is in overdrive or that I haven't had any downtime since I work, come home, clean up, make dinner, clean up, prep for next day, clean ... go to bed at midnight. Making food for my family is a PITA truthfully! I'm almost glad I don't have any sessions right now because I don't think I would have the energy to do it all right now.

And I'm craving vinegar. Since we haven't been eating processed foods, there is little to no sodium going into our diet and I think that my tastes are evolving to compensate by making other flavors more satisfying: like vinegar. I've never been a huge vinegar fan. Just a touch here and there. Right now, I could down a whole bottle and still want MORE. And having 4 types on hand is awesome, too. White, Red Wine, Basalmic (which is REALLY surprising since I've never liked it before) and apple cider all grace my cupboard for use currently.

Spinach Salad with Leftover Chicken and Sweet Onion Dressing



Ok, so using the leftover chicken (shredded) from last night, I put together a spinach salad, added green onion, sliced zucchini into slivers, and made up a fresh batch of the Sweet Onion Dressing. You can find all the details for the recipes on that on yesterday's post.

Notes: I think y'all know how in love with this dressing I am, so THIS was perfect, of course. I added a touch more vinegar to the mix than I had for the chicken and I was in heaven!

Turkey Taco Wrap-Ups



This is soooooooooooo pretty! Seriously, I was excited about the possible flavors and putting it together was even more eye and nose candy.

The recipe is based from Lettuce-Wrapped Tacos from Nutrition and Wellness Bytes Blog. What I did different: I used ground white turkey that I purchased from the local Farmer's Market; didn't use green salsa, salt or cilantro. I bought fresh romaine while at the market for the wraps.

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Cabbage Slaw Topping

2-3 cups red cabbage, chopped (try to get it thin - more slaw like)
1 cup cucumber, chopped
1/3 cup red onion, chopped
1/2 cup mango, diced
3 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Cracked black pepper to taste

Mix together and set aside to let the flavors mesh. Leaving overnight would make it stronger.
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Turkey Taco Meat

1 lb lean ground turkey
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp red pepper
1 tbsp red pepper flake
1 tsbp apple cider vinegar (this was a last minute addition to try and give it more flavor)

Lettuce leaves, for wrapping (Romaine or green leaf work well.)
Avocado, chopped for topping

Flavor meat in pan and cook through. Take place meat on a lettuce leaf topped with the Cabbage Slaw and avocado.
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Notes: Well, Alice kept trying to steal my mango! I was cutting it up and gave her some and she fell in love. Just another fruit to add to her menu (Buddy already eats mango as part of his line-up). She DID eat it after I put the balsamic on so I was very happy with that fact plus she had a few bites of turkey (WIN). Lettuce didn't hold in the filling very well; we shouldn't have filled them so full. Also, that turkey needed SODIUM. I miss sodium. It was REALLY good turkey, but if I could have seasoned it to my liking, it would have been better. Overall, VERY pretty dish and good. And I would definitely make the slaw the night before and let the vinegar break down the cabbage more.