I Don't Think You're Ready For This Jelly

I'm pretty biased when it comes to jams and jellies. Give me strawberry, or give me nothing else. I mean, the others are good and tasty and all, but nothing satisfies like a strawberry jelly. My favorite is TJ's brand, but I may have created a new monster.

The problem with jelly is that even if it's naturally sweetened with fruit juices, it is still just a sugary fruit carb bomb, usually on top of a carb like toast. And while I don't have anything against carbs, per se, I don't see any nutritional value in jelly.

Until now that is.

Chia seeds create a natural gel when they are moistened. I make a mean chocolate chia pudding a la OhSheGlows, but just recently learned of chia jam. PB&J will never be the same. If you need a reminder of why we love chia seeds, go here.

Strawberry Chia Jam
 makes 2 cups


1 bag frozen organic strawberries
2 heaping tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp agave syrup or honey

Let frozen berries defrost overnight in the refrigerator, or leave on the counter for a few hours.

With the bag still sealed, use your finger tips to crush the berries.

Snip the corner of the bag and pour crushed berries into a jar or something that will seal well and keep in the fridge.

Stir in chia seeds.

Sweeten to taste!

Refrigerate for 1 hour to give chia seeds time to gel.

Then eat as you wish. I like mine with greek yogurt, cereal, and nuts as a treat or a light breakfast.

Ch-ch-ch-chia!

It's All Greek to Me

There a really popular pin on pinterest right now of a hamburger that is stuffed with cheddar and wrapped in bacon. It looks ridiculous. Ridiculously good. But as you probably know if you've read this blog more than once, I don't let myself eat stuff like that because 1. it's a slippery slope, and 2. nobody ever finishes a meal like that and says "i feel so good about myself right now!" So naturally, that haunting pin stayed in my food thoughts for days... how can I eat that without dying immediately?

Well nobody says you can't have healthy stuffed burgers.

Tips for healthifying ANY recipe:
1. Substitute FAT with FLAVOR (spices, herbs, and other naturally flavorful things like stinky cheese)
2. Lean out the meat. There's no need to use full fat meat when you're adding other flavors.
3. Top it with something tasty. (see Tzatziki recipe below and you will not have any questions)

Let's make some stuffed greek turkey burgers, eh?

Olive and Feta Stuffed Turkey Burgers w/ Tzatziki
 4 servings


Ingredients

• Patties
• 1 package lean ground turkey breast
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp dried dill
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1-2 tbsp EVOO
• Filling
• 1/2. c fat free feta
• 1/2 c. pitted greek olives
• Tzatziki
• 1 c. 2% milkfat plain greek yogurt (the little bit of fat here is totally worth it for mouth feel)
• 1/2 c. shredded persian cucumber (or any small cuc)
• 1 clove garlic, grated
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried dill
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions

• Make the tzatziki first, or a few hours ahead, so all the flavors have time to come together
• Grate cucumber over a kitchen towel, then squeeze out extra moisture over the sink

• You should get a few tablespoons of liquid out of every 1/2 c. of cucumber

• Grate garlic with a microplane or fine grater

i want a microplane for my birthday. plz.

• Stir all ingredients well and put in fridge covered until ready to eat

so good.

• In a food processor, combine feta and pitted olives

sodium party!

• Pulse until you have a tapenade-like consistency. Set aside.

• In a large bowl, mix turkey breast with oregano, dill, garlic pow, salt, and pepper

that's an appetizing photo.

• Lay out a few sheets of wax paper on a cold counter
• Form sixteen evenly sized balls with the turkey meat and place on wax paper with 4-5" between each other. Pink slime anyone?

• With another sheet of wax paper and your palm, flatten the meat pancakes. Yum.

• Place 1-2 tbsp of olive-feta mixture on 8 of the patties

• Top the olive-feta topped patties with another turkey patty

• Using a sheet of wax paper to keep your hands clean, press the turkey patties together, sealing the edges like ravioli

• Heat a pan over med-high heat with 1-2 tbsp EVOO
• Fry patties in batches so they aren't crowded in the pan
• Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side or until brown and crispy

• Then return all patties to the pan, reduce heat to medium, and put a lid on it for 5-8 more minutes, or until patties are cooked all the way through
• Serve with whole wheat pita, tzatziki, and a big green salad!

 Winner! These were so good! I can't wait to try more versions of stuffed turkey burgers. Really, the options are endless. Goat cheese and sun dried tomato? Bleu cheese and apple? Oh hells yes.

Hot tip on salad dressings: If you have a full fat dressing that you like but don't like the fact that it is full fat, dilute it with vinegar, buttermilk, and/or water. Trader joe's has a creamy feta dressing that is yumtastic but at 110 cal/serving, it's not so yumtastic on my thighs. So I diluted it with 50% red wine vinegar. If you don't like vinegar so much, dilute creamy dressings with buttermilk or milk and oily dressings with water or a water/vinegar mix. You could also dilute a full fat with a low fat, like fat free ranch with full fat ranch. Got it?

Look at this and try to tell me you're not hungry:

Wine Butter

If a=awesome and b=awesome, then a+b= really really awesome. At least that was my reasoning with the wine butter that is patiently waiting to be consumed in my fridge.

This recipe comes from one of my favorite blogs, How Sweet It Is. Though she used the butter with bleu cheese biscuits (YUM), I plan on using this butter as a compliment to christmas dinner, spread on toast, cooked with veggies, maybe even with eggs one day! This is definitely a special version of butter that packs a crazy punch of flavor and is perfect for special occasions.

Wine Butter

Ingredients

• 1 bottle pinot noir or your favorite red varietal
• 2 sticks salted butter, softened
• fresh ground black pepper

Instructions

• In a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat, reduce entire bottle of wine to less than 1/2 cup
• This will take about 30 minutes
• Let wine reduction cool to room temp
• Whip softened butter with a fork, drizzle in cooled wine mixture
• This is where it gets tricky. I had to nuke my butter for 10 seconds to get it liquified before the wine would mix. Then place in fridge, set a timer, and whip the mixture every five minutes until you're happy. You're basically emulsifying oil and vinegar here, so have some patience. It works best to use my microwave method then let it set back up in the fridge. Not all of the wine will absorb in to the butter, but that gives the finished product a nice marbled look, so don't worry!
• Season with pepper
• Line a mold with plastic wrap - I used the lid of a butter tray, but you could mold the butter into anything you'd like
• Press in butter and fridge for several hours before unwrapping to serve

full bottle

going...

going ....

going...

gone!

Wine Butter would make a nice take along for any dinner parties or a homemade gift to any foodie friends.

Last night I enjoyed this wine butter mixed with panko and parmesan, stuffed into crimini mushrooms. Shout out to the cutie who put that magical meal together! 

Eat responsibly!