Turkey Burgers

 

Annie had these at a friend's house and loved it. They are a fun change, we like them. Also air fry some sweet potato fries. It's a must. This meal comes together sooo fast. Rob says they're good if you think of them as a sandwich, not a burger. ha.

Turkey Burgers 

The Ultimate Turkey Burger! Made with everyday ingredients and they taste just as good as a beefy hamburger! They take less than 10 minutes prep and 10 minutes cook time, meaning you can have dinner ready in 20 minutes, talk about must have recipe!

Servings: 4 (i make 5)

Prep10minutes minutes

Cook10minutes minutes

Ready in: 20minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 16 oz. 93% lean ground turkey, I recommend using Jennie-O*
• 1 Tbsp plain dried breadcrumbs (I use Panko)
• 1/2 tsp salt, or as desired
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper (optional at my house)
• 1/4 tsp (heaping) garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp (heaping) onion powder
• 2 Tbsp light mayonnaise
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• one egg
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Fresh Lemon Juice

Instructions

• Add ground turkey to a medium mixing bowl. Sprinkle in breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Add mayonnaise and drizzle in Worcestershire sauce and egg.
  
• Gently toss and break up meat mixture to evenly blend. Don't overmix or they'll be tough. Divide into 4 equal portions and shape into patties about 1/2-inch thick. I like to coat them in Panko before I grill.
• Preheat olive oil in a 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat for a few minutes. 
  
• Add turkey patties and sear until golden brown on bottom, about 4 - 5 minutes, flip and continue to cook until cooked through, about 4 - 5 minutes longer. Center should register 165 degrees on an instant read thermometer. Squeeze fresh lemon juice at the end.
• Serve warm in hamburger buns or lettuce leaves with toppings of choice.
  I like to toast a good quality bun (walmart brioche or Artesano), add mayo, iceberg, and american cheese. My friend doesn't even bother with buns. 

Notes

• *I've tried making these with other brands of ground turkey and they are too sticky. Jennie-O turkey isn't so wet and easy to work with. I agree with this.
• Good toppings include mashed avocado, red onion, sliced tomatoes, dill pickle coins, ketchup and mustard, light mayo mixed with ketchup, or bacon and provolone cheese if you want to splurge.

Grilled Chicken and Veggie Skewers

We had these last night and I loved them.  Fast sunday dinner always tastes soooo good.

I did all the tomatoes on one skewer and all the zucchini on one skewer and all the mushrooms on one skewer...and so forth, so that it would cook evenly.  Plus I don't love to mix my chicken with veggies on skewers.

Grilled Chicken and Veggie Skewers
Recipe by Our Best Bites

Ingredients:

1 lb. chicken breasts, cut into small, bite-sized pieces

1 each yellow and green zucchini squash, cut in half (if large) and sliced

8 oz. small whole mushrooms, stems removed

1 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper (or combo of 2 or more), chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 small red onion, carefully cut into bite-sized chunks (try to keep as much of the pieces in tact as possible, but don’t stress it if they start to fall apart)

Sweet cherry tomatoes

1 recipe of Zesty Italian Dressing (below) or 1 bottle of Berenstein’s Italian Dressing

Prepare Zesty Italian Dressing:

1/4 c. white vinegar

1/4 c. lemon juice

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. dry mustard

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. seasoning salt

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes (this really doesn’t add much heat; it’s better with it!)

1/4 tsp. black pepper

4 cloves garlic

1 c. canola oil

1/3 c. Parmesan cheese (either fresh or from a can)

3/4 tsp. Italian seasoning (add more if needed)

In a blender, combine vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, mustard, salt, seasoning salt, black pepper, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Blend. While blender is running, slowly add oil in a steady stream. Turn off blender and add Italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese. Pulse blender 2-3 times to combine herbs and cheese. Remove 1/2 c. of dressing for basting during grilling and set aside.

Place cut-up chicken in a shallow dish and pour a little less than half of the remaining dressing over the chicken. Place in refrigerator for 2-3 hours or until ready to use.

Place chopped veggies in a dish (a 9×13 pan works great) and pour remaining dressing (except for reserved 1/2 c.) over the veggies. Toss gently to combine. Set aside.

If using bamboo skewers, soak in water for about 30 minutes.

When chicken is done marinating, skewer veggies and chicken (you’ll have far more veggies than chicken, so keep that in mind when assembling your skewers; I use about 3 pieces of chicken per skewer, but as many vegetables as I can get on there).

Preheat grill and then cook skewers for about 10-12 minutes over medium heat until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender-crisp, turning at least once.

Grilled HOney Mustard Rosemary Chicken

This was delicious.  Perfect for grilling and memorial day and summer.

Perfect for sunday.  I marinade it while we are at church, serve with a green salad and roasted veggies.  Makes for an easy after Sunday dinner, especially if you are on top of things and prepare veggies and set the timer on your oven to start before you get home.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, coarsely chopped (my neighbor has a rosemary plant, so I just sneak over and snip some sprigs, but it would probably be good with dried.)
• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
• Lemon wedges for serving

Directions:

1. Whisk together the olive oil, mustard, honey, garlic, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Place the chicken in a gallon-size ziploc bag and pour in the marinade. The mixture will be pretty thick; that's ok. Press out excess air, seal the bag and then gently mash the bag with your hands until the marinade mixture evenly coats the chicken. 
2. Refrigerate for at least one hour or up to 24 hours. 
3. Preheat an outdoor grill to about 350 degrees and cook the chicken for 6-7 minutes per side or until the internal temperature registers 165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Tent with foil and let rest for 5 minutes. 
4. Drizzle fresh lemon juice over the chicken and serve (or serve the lemon wedges alongside).  (I forgot to do this and we still liked it.)

Flank steak

Andy's grandpa always used to make flank steak supposedly, it's kind of tradition in his family. I've never had it, but I have his recipe and have made it a few times in the last year. Super easy. I'm sure there's a better, more complex recipe somewhere out there, but this is so quick and really good.

Poke holes every few inches in steak with a fork. Sprinkle thyme on a flank steak and cover with soy sauce (I marinade mine in a ziplock bag, you can do it in a cake pan too). Let marinade for 4 hours or whatever. Grill. Cut very thinly against the grain-this cut of meat is very very lean and can be tough, so this step is absolutely necessary.

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

This is no original/earth shattering recipe, but since they were so good, I thought that by posting it here, you will be inspired and encouraged to try it :). We had these for Reese's birthday dinner.

I bought sweet potatoes thinking we would have them mashed with dinner, but just the thought of my stove/oven being on made me sweat. Since we were grilling everything else, I decided to try grilling these. It's my new favorite way to have sweet taters.

I just searched for a recipe and found one to help me out here. But here's mine because I didn't have all the spices it called for. I baked them instead of boil them to "parboil" them. I'm sure they would be good with just s&p too.

Here's what I did:

Grilled Sweet Potatoes

3 medium sweet potatoes (or however many you want)

1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp brown sugar
2 T apple cider vinegar
1/4 c evoo

Start by slightly cooking sweet potatoes in the oven (ya, ya ... I defeated the purpose of grilling them to avoid using the stove, but it wasn't on for long so it was ok). I cut a "slit" in the middle of each potato to help with even cooking/softening. Place sweet potatoes in 400* oven. Cook until potato is softened, but not cooked the whole way through ... I honestly have no idea how long this took b/c I was busy doing other things. Maybe 15 min??

While potatoes are in the oven, mix the salt, spices, sugar, vinegar, and oil together in a small bowl.

Once the potatoes are softened, remove from oven. Peel potatoes and cut in 1/4 in slices. Brush both sides with spice mixture.

Grill until cooked through and have pretty grill marks.

Devour.