Buffalo Turkey Burgers with Blue Cheese Coleslaw

I'm on vacation in Florida right now with my two kiddos, my mom, and some extended family. We're spending a week pool and beachside with three of her cousins and their families. It's a blast so far!! My boys were in the pool for over six hours today before we pulled them out to go to the dollar store to get some beach toys. Boy #2 fell asleep in the car on the way there and is still snoozing (so I volunteered to stay back here with him), and Boy #1 is back at it, either swimming or going to play on the beach, I'm not sure.

We had a four hour plane ride yesterday, and I was alone with my kids. In my mind, they'd spend the entire flight enthralled with various new movies I'd purchased for the trip and basically leave me alone except for the occasional DVD switch or another snack (you have no idea how much food I take along on an airplane ride...it stems from a mantra of "when in doubt, feed them" from when we traveled with our boys when they were babies). While they were busy being fixated with movies I was going to spend the flight updating my blog, be one of those people typing away on my laptop on the plane. Now, if you have kids you're probably shaking your head at me right now, and I don't blame you. I should have known better. No one wanted to watch a movie for more than 10 minutes, and I was constantly picking up a backpack so they could find something else to do or trying to come up with something to entertain them. My laptop stayed packed away in my backpack in the overhead compartment the whole trip.

Sigh.

But, I'm at least hoping to get caught up on some entries while on vacation. I mean, I can't spend an entire week laying by the pool or on the beach eating tasty food and having delicious adult beverages, right? Ha! Who am I kidding? That sounds awesome, so this may very well be the only post I do. We'll see. I can't let Boy #2 sleep too long or he'll never go to bed tonight.

So...

I recently found ground turkey on sale for BOGO, which I love. And then a day or two later I happened to see this recipe on skinnytaste.com and thought it would be a perfect addition to my meal plan for the week. I wasn't sure about the coleslaw on the burger but figured it was worth a shot. Plus I don't think I've ever been disappointed with a recipe I've made from her website! And one more thing, we really love anything deemed "buffalo" so it was worth a shot!

Buffalo Turkey Burgers with Blue Cheese Coleslaw
Source: skinnytaste.com
1 1/2 cups broccoli slaw
1/4 cup skinny blue cheese dressing (recipe below)
1.25 lbs 93% lean ground turkey
2/3 cup grated carrots (grate in food processor) 
1/4 cup seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs 
1 clove garlic, grated 
1 tbsp red onion, grated
1/4 cup Franks Hot Sauce
salt and fresh pepper
oil spray
5 slices reduced fat cheddar
5 whole wheat burger buns (I used Martin's 100 calorie Potato Whole Wheat Buns)

Directions: In a medium bowl combine broccoli slaw and skinny blue cheese dressing. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, carrots, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, hot sauce, salt and pepper.

Makes 5 equal patties, 5.5 oz each. Servings: 5 • Size: 1 Burger  
Calories: 358 • Fat: 15 g • Protein: 38.3 g • Carb: 22.7 g • Fiber: 5.6 g • Sugar: 5.9

Low Fat Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
6 oz fat free Greek yogurt
1 tbsp light mayonnaise
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and freshly ground black pepper

In a small bowl, mash blue cheese and yogurt together with a fork. Stir in mayonnaise, lemon juice, vinegar, and garlic powder until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes 1 cup.

Servings: 8  • Serving Size: 2 tablespoons •  Calories: 46.8 • Fat: 3.0 g • Protein: 2.8 g • Carb: 2.2 g • Fiber: 0.3 g 

*****

As I've mentioned before, my children are very anti-spicy food, so before adding in the Frank's I pulled out enough of the mixture for a burger patty each for them and set it aside. I was pretty liberal with the Frank's, but I really could have put more in it. Oh, and I skipped the garlic and onion and instead went for a bit each of garlic powder and onion powder. I'm lazy, and neither was enough of an amount to deal with using the real thing. We loved these burgers!! I will warn you, with the slaw on top they were very messy, but they were oh-so tasty. I would have eaten another if we'd had it, I loved it so much. The slaw on top was a great addition, too. Mellowed out the tang and heat of the Frank's and added an interesting texture. I think if you weren't a fan of blue cheese (which I just don't understand) you could easily substitute ranch dressing for the blue cheese dressing when mixing up the slaw. My kids were happy with their normal burgers, the husband and I were happy with our tasty buffalo burgers, so it was a win-win all over!!

Pimento Cheeseburgers

Not that long ago I bought a special America's Test Kitchen magazine, The Best of America's Test Kitchen: Best Recipes and Reviews 2011 I'm pretty much a sucker for any kind of special edition magazine they put out. I couldn't remember if I'd read through all of it, so I stuck it in when we went to CA a couple weeks ago. There are some fabulous things in it--of course--but one thing immediately jumped out to me:

PIMENTO CHEESEBURGERS

I heart me some pimento cheese. My grandma used to make it, and I loved it. I found out the husband loves it, so I started making it. This was years ago. Actually I think when my grandma found out that the husband loves it, she'd make it special for him. Anyway, we love pimento cheese. And a burger stuffed with it?! Awesome. I couldn't wait to try it. Plus I figured, sans bun, it would be a great dinner for one night while we were doing Phase One of the South Beach Diet. Technically you aren't supposed to have cream cheese, but there are only two ounces of it in the whole recipe, so I figured that was fine.

Pimento Cheeseburgers
Source: America's Test Kitchen

6 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated fine (about 1.5 cups)
1/3 cup drained jarred pimentos, chopped fine
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp mayonnaise
2 slices high-quality white sandwich bread, torn into pieces
1/4 cup whole milk
1-1/2 pounds 85 percent lean ground beef
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Mix cheddar cheese, pimentos, cream cheese, mustard, and cayenne in bowl until well combined. Drop four 2-tablespoon portions of pimento cheese mixture on plate and cover tightly in plastic wrap. Freeze until firm, at least 2 hours. Combine remaining pimento cheese with mayonnaise, cover with plastic, and refrigerate.

Combine beef, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper in large bowl and gently knead until well combined. Divide meat into 4 equal -portions. Mold half of 1 portion of meat around 1 piece of the frozen cheese, then surround this mini-patty with the remaining half portion of meat. Repeat with the remaining frozen cheese and 3 portions meat to form 4 hamburgers.

Heat vegetable oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until just smoking. Add patties and cook until well browned, about 6 minutes. Flip burgers, cover skillet, and continue cooking until well done, about 6 minutes.

Distribute cheese-mayonnaise mixture evenly on top of burgers, cover, and cook until mixture is slightly melted, about 1 minute. Transfer to plate, tent with foil, and let rest 5 minutes. Serve.

*****

I ended up finding the recipe online to copy instead of typing it all out. The magazine version has you grilling the burgers, but it was hot here yesterday, so I just did them in a skillet. I did the burgers a little differently, I skipped the bread and milk step and just used ground beef (actually I used ground bison) with some salt and pepper...I'm out of Worcestershire.

These. Were. Tasty. Wow. I only used a pound of meat, so I made three burgers, and the husband and I each had 1.5. We both loved them. The melted pimento cheese inside, the melted pimento cheese on the outside. I definitely thought the meat itself could have used a little more seasoning, but as long as there was some pimento-y, cheesy goodness on the bite, it didn't matter a whole lot. This will definitely become a favorite burger in our house!!

(Sorry, my camera was in the car so the best I could do was a picture on my phone.)

Green Chile Cheeseburgers

I've been intrigued by green chile cheeseburgers for quite awhile. I saw an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay where he made a version, and they looked SO GOOD! Then I got a Cook's Illustrated special edition that had a recipe for them, and ever since I saw that I knew I wanted to make them. I had originally planned to make these for a Friday date night dinner, but then I needed to reorder my meal plan a couple weeks ago and decided to have them during the week but just make regular burgers for my kiddos. I didn't know how spicy these would be, and the boy doesn't like spicy.

Green Chile Cheeseburgers
From Cook's Illustrated

3 Anaheim chiles, stemmed, halved lengthwise, and seeded
3 jalapeno chiles, stemmed, halved lengthwise, and seeded
1 onion, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch thick rounds
1 medium garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
table salt and ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds 85 percent lean ground beef
4 slices deli American cheese

Using a charcoal grill, gas grill or indoor grill pan, grill chiles and onion until vegetables are lightly charred and tender. Transfer vegetables to bowl, cover, and let cool 5 minutes. Remove skins from chiles and discard; separate onion rounds into rings.

Transfer chiles, onion, and garlic to food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Transfer all but 1/4 cup chopped chile mixture to empty bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste; set aside. Process remaining mixture until smooth.

Combine beef, pureed chile mixture, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in large bowl and knead gently until well incorporated. Form mixture into four 3/4-inch-thick patties and make shallow indentation in center of each.

Grill burgers, covered, over hot fire until well browned on first side, 3 to 5 minutes. Flip burgers, top with chopped chile mixture and cheese, and continue to grill, covered, until cheese is melted and burgers are cooked to desired doneness, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve.

*****

Our grill was out of commission when I made these, so I roasted the peppers under the broiler and skipped the onion. I added some onion powder to the chiles in the food processor to make up for it a bit. Ours were probably a little more on the hot side because I did the whole chile mixture between two burgers, plus I was only using a pound of ground beef. My only complaint was that I thought the burgers could have used two slices of cheese instead of just one, but if the chile mixture were reduced (or the amount it's supposed to be) one slice would probably be okay. These were definitely tasty and definitely a burger that will grace our table again at some point.

Claire's Smothered Turkey Burgers

I'm really not sure what else to call this recipe, but I think what I've dubbed it will work. In figuring out my meals for the week I was looking at recipes on the Whole Foods app on my phone (oh how I heart Whole Foods) and saw one that sounded good and easy. It was Mushroom and Swiss Patty Melts with Peas. Somehow, though, I combined that recipe with one I'd seen in a Cook's Illustrated magazine for salisbury steak. I could have sworn there was a gravy of some sort for the patty melts. So much so, in fact, that when I was grocery shopping I was surprised that beef broth wasn't on my grocery list to make said gravy. Although in hindsight I don't know why I thought there'd be a beef gravy with turkey burgers. Who knows. I'm not completely with it if I have one or more kids with me while I grocery shop. If you're a mom, you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, when I checked the recipe this afternoon to see how long it was going to take I was surprised there was no gravy included. When it came time to make dinner I decided I'd go ahead and make a gravy on my own. I love gravy, and once I had the thought of it in my head there was no way I was going without gravy tonight.

Claire's Smothered Turkey Burgers

1 lb. ground turkey
4 slices Monterey Jack cheese
1 Tbsp olive oil
8 ounce container mushrooms, sliced
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 cup beef broth
2 Tbsp beef gravy mix
Salt
Pepper
Onion powder
Garlic powder

Coat skillet with non-stick spray and heat over medium high heat. Add salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder to ground turkey. Mix well and form into four patties. Place patties in heated skillet. Cook 4-5 minutes per side. When burgers are flipped, place cheese slices on patties and let cheese melt.

Meanwhile, in another skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add mushrooms and onion and saute until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add beef broth to pan, reserving 1 tablespoon. In a small bowl, combine beef gravy mix with reserved tablespoon beef broth. Add to mushroom, onion, and broth mixture. Stir to combine and stir until thickened.

Remove patties from pan when cooked through and top with gravy.


*****

I really liked this. Ground turkey is just so bland to me, so the gravy really gave it a lot of flavor. Only the husband and I had gravy on ours. The boy doesn't like mushrooms or onions, so I figured he wouldn't be interested, but I knew he'd eat just the burger. The baby might have eaten it with the gravy, but he's in love with ketchup, so I figured he'd be fine without gravy as long as he had ketchup on his plate. I had originally planned on mixing some cornstarch with beef broth to thicken it up, but I couldn't find any in my pantry. I saw the container of brown gravy mix and figured that would work great--and it did! This was really easy to make and came together really fast, so it's definitely something I'll make again.

Turkey Sliders

While grocery shopping recently I saw packages of ground turkey on sale BOGO, so I figured I'd buy a couple. The husband is not a fan of turkey, but I'm forcing him to eat it anyway. I think it's growing on him. It's funny, he's a completely different eater than he was when we met. I wouldn't say he was picky then, but he was definitely particular about what he ate, and there were hardly any vegetables he'd eat. I'm so proud of him. :)

I didn't really know what to do with the turkey when I bought it, I just figured since we don't eat red meat very often it would be nice to have on hand. Then I thought of a recipe my friend Jen had made for sliders, so I thought why not do those but with ground turkey instead. Plus sliders are awesome!!

I'll post the link to the recipe Jen used; she modified it slightly from wherever she found it, so instead of a big long "adapted from Jen, adapted from so-and-so, adapted from another-so-and-so" you can go check the post on her blog if you're that interested.

Turkey Sliders
Adapted from Jen's White Castle Style Sliders

1/2 cup dried onion flakes
1 package ground turkey (I think it's 1.25 lbs)
1/2 teaspoon of Lawry's seasoned salt
6 slices of American cheese
12 whole wheat dinner rolls
Dill pickle relish to taste

Combine onion flakes, ground turkey, and seasoned salt in a large bowl and mix together. Spread the mixture in an 11x7 glass baking dish. Press evenly making one giant pattie.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Using a paper towel, pat the excess grease from the top of the pattie. Top with cheese slices, return to oven for 2 more minutes. Remove from oven, let set 5 minutes then cut into patties (I did 12 patties). Slice open and separate each dinner roll. Using a spatula lift pattie onto each bun bottom. Top each slider with some pickle relish on the bun lid and serve immediately.

*****

Oh man. OH MAN, were these good!! I gave the kids each two, and the boy ended up wanting a third. That's almost unheard of around here. And it was slightly disappointing because I was banking on him only eating two so I could have another one. Oh well. The only issue was that my turkey shrank up a lot...there was quite a bit of turkey shrinkage. Haha...shrinkage. Anyway, I figured it would happen, and it wasn't really a problem, just something to note.

These are something I will definitely be making again!

Mmmmm...sliders!


Mmmmm...sliders and baked kale chips!

Homemade Quick Black Bean Burgers

My friend Jen recently sent me a link to a list of vegetarian burgers/sandwiches from the Cooking Light website. I was looking for some vegetarian options in my meal plan recently and going through my Recipes folder in my email and saw that. These burgers sounded super easy and tasty. I wasn't sure what the husband would think because he says he doesn't like black beans, so I made him go hang out upstairs in the play room with the kids while I worked on them so he wouldn't know what it was. ;)

Homemade Quick Black Bean Burgers

1 (2-ounce) hamburger bun, torn into pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
1 (15.25-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 teaspoon grated lime rind
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten

1. Place bun in a food processor; process 4 times or until crumbs measure about 1 cup. Transfer to a bowl.

2. Combine 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, and beans in processor; pulse 8 times or until beans make a thick paste. Scrape bean mixture into bowl with breadcrumbs. Stir in rind and remaining ingredients. With moistened hands, divide bean mixture into 4 equal portions (about 1/3 cup mixture per portion), shaping each into a 3-inch patty.

3. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties to pan; reduce heat to medium, and cook 4 minutes or until bottom edges are browned. Carefully turn patties over; cook 3 minutes or until bottom edges are done.

Nutritional Information
Calories:182
Fat:12.3g (sat 1.3g,mono 6.7g,poly 3.6g)
Protein:6.6g
Carbohydrate:15.6g
Fiber:4.6g
Cholesterol:53mg
Iron:2mg
Sodium:448mg
Calcium:103mg

*****

I used two pieces of whole grain whole wheat bread instead of the bun. Oh, and I didn't have any fresh oregano, so I think I added in some cumin because I heart cumin and thought it would work nicely with the other flavors. The burger mixture was pretty wet and sticky, so I'd recommend a little non-stick spray on your hands to make it easier to work with and get the burgers in the pan.

I topped all the burgers with monterey jack cheese, then the husband and I also had avocado and tomato on ours. The boy doesn't like either of those, and the baby actually picked off the tomato and avocado and ate them on their own. He was not a fan of this dinner. The boy ate his well enough but wasn't happy about it. The husband and I both really liked these burgers, so I'd probably make them for a dinner we'd have after the kids are in bed. I liked these a lot better than some frozen veggie burgers I've tried, and I loved the chili powder and cumin in them.

Sorry for the half-eaten picture...I was so excited to eat I forgot to take a picture before I sat down at the table!

Aggie's Grilled Portabella and Brie Burgers

One of my most favorite cooking blogs is Aggie's Kitchen. I'm also a fan of her page on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. But not in a scary stalker kind of way--just I really like her blog and she posts some amazing sounding recipes!! So imagine my surprise when I logged into my account the other day to check on the blogs I follow and saw I had two comments that needed to be moderated--and both were from Aggie herself!!! Then I noticed I had a new follower and it was Aggie!! Oh man, I was so freakin' excited! I called my friend Jen as soon as I saw it because I know she loves Aggie's blog, too, and really she was the only person I knew that would be as excited as I was.

Aggie, if you're reading this, please don't think we're scary people and please don't unfollow me because of all this!! I'm just trying to share my excitement.

As luck or fate would have it, this was the very same day I had planned on making one of Aggie's recipes for dinner. Weird, huh? I know. So instead of flat out copying her post on it, I'm just going to link to it on her blog so she gets full credit. She has beautiful pictures of this tasty burger as well:

Aggie's Grilled Portabella and Brie Burgers

These burgers were amazing!! The one downside was that my grill ran out of propane shortly after I started putting zucchini and the mushrooms on it. Oops. TGIHAGP! (That's "thank God I have a grill pan" by the way.) Our burgers consisted of grilled zucchini, some roasted red peppers, portabella mushrooms, and copious amounts of brie because I heart brie very, very much. I was excited to find out that my local Safeway now carries portabella mushrooms in bulk so you can buy them by the pound instead of in the package. It's ridiculously cheaper that way. I got two big portabellas for $2.50 I think it was and the package of two was $4!! The husband suggested we have portabellas on a weekly basis now that I've discovered this.

Here's my picture of Aggie's creation:



I'm telling you...we don't mess around with cheese at our house!

Santa Fe Burgers

I just want you to know that I stayed up late last night cleaning my house so that I could update my blog today during naptime without feeling guilty about the state of my house. It was bad. So after the kiddos and husband were in bed I cleaned. Now I can get all caught up here. I think I have four posts to do, and I think I have pictures for most of them, or at least some!

For most of my meal planning last week I used a Cooking Light cookbook I forget to use. It's Cooking Light Superfast Suppers. It has some really good stuff in it, and all the recipes are quick to put together. Since I wanted to have mostly new stuff on the menu AND be healthy, I figured it was a great place to start.

I always have Boca Burgers on hand because the husband takes them for lunch a lot, so when I saw this I figured it would be a great dinner since we already had the protien piece, we had hamburger buns, salsa, and I had gotten several avocados from my produce co-op last weekend. All I needed was the cheese!

Santa Fe Burgers

4 (2.8-ounce) frozen meatless soy protein burgers
4 (2.8-ounce) whole grain hamburger buns
4 (3/4-ounce) slices 2% Monterey Jack cheese with peppers
8 thin slices avocado
1/2 cup chunky salsa

Cook burgers in a nonstick skillet according to package directions. Place 1 burger on bottom half of each bun; top with 1 cheese slice, 2 avocado slices, and 2 tablespoons salsa. Cover with top half of bun. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information
Calories:367 (23% from fat)
Fat:9.4g (sat 2.8g,mono 2.2g,poly 0.5g)
Protein:24.2g
Carbohydrate:52.5g
Fiber:9.6g
Cholesterol:11mg
Iron:4.4mg
Sodium:872mg
Calcium:314mg

*****

I happened to take dinner to my friend Jen on Monday night, and I took them Mexican Chicken Casserole. The husband was VERY disappointed that they got that while we were having Boca burgers. He didn't realize they were "fancy" Bocas, so I think he felt a little better once I told him that, but he was still jealous of their dinner.

These were really good burgers. I ended up mixing the salsa with a little mayonnaise for a creamier sauce. The combination of that with the pepper jack cheese was realy good, with the creamy mellowness of the avocado to balance it out. Yum!! I had planned on doing some kind of potatoes with these, but Jen's dinner ended up taking me longer to put together than I anticipated, so instead I made up some guacamole and we just had tortilla chips and guac on the side.

I'd probably make these again, especially since most of the ingredients are things I had on hand. It was a really good, really fast vegetarian dinner to add to my arsenal. The cookbook actually has a whole section on doctored up Boca burgers, so I may try out more of them. Surprisingly both my kids ate the Bocas as well. I wasn't sure what they'd think, but both kids ate their burgers just fine, although they just had regular ol' American slices on theirs.

Niman Ranch Burgers

Apparently I'm on some sort of Barefoot Contessa kick lately. My dinner plan for last night failed (more on that in my next post!!), so I quickly had to come up with something new to make at 5:30. I had made hamburger buns to use with my original dinner plan, so I figured I'd just go with some kind of burger. I remembered that my friend Jen B. had made these burgers and raved about them, so I pulled out my Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics cookbook to see if I had everything on hand for them. I did! Well, mostly but I'll get to that in a minute.

Niman Ranch Burgers

1-2 pounds ground Niman Ranch beef OR other beef (80 percent lean and 20 percent fat)
1 tablespoon good Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons good olive oil, plus extra for brushing the grill
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 sandwich-size English muffins, halved OR toasted hamburger buns of your choice
Good mayonnaise, for topping
Caramelized Onions, recipe follows

Directions:
Build a charcoal fire or heat a gas grill.

Place the ground beef in a large bowl and add the mustard, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mix gently with a fork to combine, taking care not to compress the ingredients. Shape the meat into 6 (3 1/2-inch) patties of equal size and thickness.

When the grill is medium-hot, brush the grill grate with oil to keep the burgers from sticking. Place the burgers on the grill and cook for 4 minutes. Using a big spatula, turn the burgers and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, until medium-rare or more, or cook longer if you prefer hamburgers more well done.

Meanwhile, break apart the English muffins and toast the 6 halves cut side down on the grill. Spread each half with mayonnaise and top with a burger and then with a heaping tablespoon of caramelized onions. Serve hot.

Caramelized Onions

2 tablespoons good olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 pounds yellow onions, peeled and sliced in half-rounds
1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large shallow pot, add the onions and thyme, and toss with the oil. Place the lid on top and cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes to sweat the onions. Remove the lid and continue to cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 25 to 30 minutes, until the onions are caramelized and golden brown. If the onions are cooking too fast, lower the heat. Add the vinegar, salt, and pepper and cook for 2 more minutes, scraping the brown bits from the pan. Season to taste (they should be very highly seasoned).

*****

I had to make a few slight changes. Like, I don't keep Niman Ranch beef on hand. I wish I could...it sounds fantastic! But, at $7/pound it's kind of out of my price range for ground beef. And I don't know where to get it here in Phoenix. I didn't have English muffins, but that was fine because I had made whole wheat hamburger buns with the intention of using them. Sadly I didn't have enough time for the onions to really caramelize, but they were almost there.

The husband had one burger as written in the recipe and one with ketchup, onions, and American cheese. He said the one with cheese was his favorite, but I think if I were to have cheese on it, I'd want something like Swiss or Monterey Jack, but I really liked them as they were--mayo and the onions. These were a really tasty, flavorful, easy burger to throw together! We will be having these again.

Tex-Mex Stuffed Burgers

Here's another recipe from the latest Cook's Illustrated I purchased, the Summer Entertaining one. It's so stinkin' hot here in Phoenix I am trying to turn to the grill for as many dinners as I can. Yeah it sucks standing out there in the heat at the hot grill, but at least my house isn't heating up from the oven or stove. Although, I do have plans to use the stove for some potatoes I'm making to go along with this (another recipe from this issue). I had completely forgotten this is what I had planned for tonight, so I got really excited when I checked my menu plan for the week and saw this listed for tonight.

Cook's Illustrated Tex-Mex Stuffed Burgers

1.5 pounds ground chuck
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
4 tsp minced canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce
4 tsp yellow mustard
4 tsp taco seasoning (from packet)

Break beef into small pieces in medium bowl and add cheese, cilantro, chilies, mustard, and taco seasoning. Using fork, toss until evenly distributed. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions, lightly pack into 1-inch thick patties and grill on hot side of grill, uncovered, until well seared on first side, 2-4 minutes. Using a wide metal spatula, flip burgers and continue grilling, about 4 minutes for well done. While burgers grill, toast buns on cooler side of grill, if desired.

*****

I'm really excited to try this. Apparently so is the husband because he set his Facebook status that he's excited for Tex-Mex Burgers. Usually when I use chipotle chilies I use one or two then freeze the rest and forget they're there, so this week I planned on using chipotles later in the week so I avoid that problem. I think the only change I'm making is that I'm not using ground chuck, and I'm only using a pound of ground beef. Dinner can't get here soon enough!

*****

These were very tasty burgers. Although, they needed a little something more...either a slice of cheese on top or some kind of creamy sauce. The husband put ranch on his and liked it, but I thought that seemed weird. Maybe some kind of sour cream sauce or a chipotle mayonnaise? I don't know. I'd definitely make them again, though.

Grilled Burgers

Saturday we were hanging out watching the LSU/Bama game and decided we were tired of soy burgers and wanted real meat. Bama took the lead, so I chose that as a good time for the boy and me to head to Walmart to see what we could find...since some choice words may have come out of the husband's mouth. They had lean hamburger for a reasonable price, so that's what I got. Oh man, were those burgers ever good!

Claire Knightly's Awesome Grilled Burgers
1 pound lean ground beef
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix
1/2 cup red wine

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Form into patties. Grill until done.

*****

Normally we just top them with American cheese and some ketchup (if we have other fixings we'll use them, but generally we don't), but I still had some gorgonzola left from pizzas a few weeks ago, so we did two with American cheese and two with the gorgonzola. Oh man, the gorgonzola with the bit of wine in the meat--so good! Jerky John only left half of one of those for me to eat...actually I only had a half of each kind! Yup, one for me--THREE for him! Although, in his defense, he only had 2.5 that night, he had the last half of the gorgonzola one (that was supposed to be mine) at some point the next day. I obviously didn't hide it in the fridge well enough!

Gyro Burgers

I discovered the coolest thing the other day--the website for Boca products has websites! Granted I had never been to their website before (www.bocaburger.com), but there were a ton of good sounding recipes, and you can search based on product. Nice! We buy the patties at Costco, so we always have those on hand. I thought this one sounded pretty good, and we had most of the stuff for it already.

Gyro Burgers
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen BOCA Meatless Original Burgers
1/2 cup fat free sour cream
1 clove garlic, peeled, minced
4 medium foldable whole wheat pita breads
2 plum tomatoes, sliced
1 cup shredded lettuce
1/4 of a medium unpeeled cucumber, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup crumbled reduced fat feta cheese

GRILL burgers as directed on pkg.
MEANWHILE, mix sour cream and garlic until well blended.
COVER pita breads with tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber; drizzle with sour cream sauce. Top each with 1 burger, cut in half. Sprinkle with feta cheese.

****

I'm actually not sure if we still have tomatoes or if we used them all with the pizzas. Not a big deal. And I think I may grate up some cucumber to add in with the sour cream to make it more of a tzatziki (sp?) sauce. If only I had a Trader Joe's nearby, I would just run out and get some from there because theirs is pretty good.

Burgers, Saturday 9/1

Since we had our usual pizza on Friday night, I figured no point in posting. Did them the same as always and they were great. It was fun to have a pepperoni one and a canadian bacon & pineapple. Hadn't had either of those pizza flavors in awhile. Yes, I call pizza toppings "flavors." I don't know why, but I always have.

Anyway. I figured we couldn't NOT have grilled burgers at some point over Labor Day weekend, even though we rarely eat red meat anymore. I'd bought some super lean hamburger on sale at Walmart a few weeks ago and stuck it in the freezer, so we had the stuff on hand. They were so freakin' good. We make great hamburgers. Here's how I do them.

Claire Knightly's Awesome Grilled Burgers
1 pound lean ground beef
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup mix
1/2 cup red wine

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Form into patties. Grill until done.

*****

Simple, huh? They taste so good. I had always done the burger recipe on the Lipton onion soup box, but there's a restaurant here in Phoenix called Wineburger and they baste the burgers with red wine while they cook. So I thought, why not switch out the water on the Lipton recipe for red wine. And we've been doing it that way ever since. We buy those little "single serve" size bottles of wine that come in packs of four. We use about half of one of those bottles with each batch.

I also made potato salad to go with it, but it was the one from the mayonnaise jar. Nothing too exciting there!