Thank You Ray Ray

Do you ever just stop for a second and look back on what you've been feeding your body for the past few weeks and just think "ugh what was i thinking!?"

I swear, I've eaten a farm of chicken in the last week.

Not a lot of veggies. Just a few lettuce-y side salads. No good-for-your-belly plain greek yogurt. And waytoomuch chocolate. I've hit up the froyo shop like twice a week for a month now. Seriously, so much sugar. And so much Diet Coke that I've willingly gone to bed with raging heartburn more than once.

Dear self, you feel like crap when you eat like crap. So knock it off.

At least I can draw the correlation, right?

Sometimes you just gotta get back on track. Today's recipe comes from RayRay. Love her. 

Ricotta Smothered Mushroom Burgers with Onion-Olive Jam
for four


4 giant portabellas
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp EVOO
1 large red onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 rounded tbsp tomato paste
1 c. nonfat ricotta cheese
1 tbsp prepared pesto (tj's has a great one!)
1/2 c. chicken stock
1/3 c. roughly chopped greek/kalamata olives
4 crusty substantial rolls of choice
2 large handfuls arugula
S&P

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Drizzle mushroom caps with 1 tbsp EVOO, all of balsamic, and S & P. Toss to coat.

Lay mushrooms gill side up on a baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice red onions. Cry.

Heat remaining EVOO in a saute pan. Add onions, garlic, and tomato paste and saute over med-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring often.

In a bowl, mix together ricotta and pesto. Yum.

Chop olives.

Toss olives into onion mixture with chicken stock and a pinch of salt.

Return heat to high and let the juices reduce and all ingredients get cozy with each other.
When it's ready, it will look like this:

Layer mushroom, a healthy dollop of ricotta, and a handful of arugula on bottom of roll. Spread jam over top roll. Squish together and die of taste bud happiness.

I may or may not have eaten this meal with potato chips, removing any credibility from that whole preface. And possibly this entire blog.

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:

Not a Burger

This christmas I got a spiral slicer, which I never knew I needed until I made oven fries with it. With the help of my sous chef (mom), we spiraled sliced a ton of regular and sweet potatoes. I like the sweet, she likes the normal boring potato.  Russet potatoes have a higher water content than sweet potatoes, so they spiraled better, but the sweet potatoes still tasted great.

Just spiral em up, toss with EVOO and sea salt, and baked at 400F for as long as it takes to make the potatoes crispy and yummy... like an hour or so.

The best part of the spiral slicer is that you end up with this mushroom looking piece in the end that's like the bonus oven fry.

I have big plans for that spiral slicer on this week's menu.

To go with these oven fries/chips?

Black Bean and Brown Rice Burgers

Makes 12 Patties

2 WW P+ each!!! <----- that's a crazy good deal

Ingredients

• 2 cans black beans, drained
• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 tsp each
• cumin
• seasoning mix (I used TJ 21 Seasoning Salute)
• garlic powder
• onion powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 eggs
• cooking spray

Instructions

• Mash black beans with a potato masher until you have a 50/50 ratio of beans to mush

• Add rice and seasonings and mix well
• This is where you should taste for Salt and Pepper needs
• Add 2 eggs, mix well
• Heat a frying pan over medium high heat
• Use a 1/4 c. scoop to make patties - any bigger and they may break when you flip

•  Cook 2-3 minutes on each side, then flip

•  Have a cocktail for all your hard work

I served my burgers with shredded 75% reduced fat sharp cheddar, avocado and roma tomato.

 Also, I whipped up a light "Secret Sauce". Here's the secret:

• 1/4 c. greek yogurt
• 2 tbsp dill relish
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tbsp yellow mustard
• S & P to taste

Secret's out.

I plated these with bread, but promptly ditched the bread after one bite. These were better eaten open faced with a fork! Why add extra carbs to this carbolicious meal...

Regardless of the carbo-thon, this meal was vegetarian, a great source of fiber, whole grain, and protein from the black beans and cheese! Also, if you opt for sweet potatoes, there is beta-carotene, vitamin c, and all the other goodness that comes from sweet potatoes.

Can we talk about how well cumin compliments sweet potatoes? The cumin in the burgers + the sweet potatoes on the side = so good!  

Also, you could bake these burgers in the oven. Just form patties with the 1/4 c. scoop and bake at 375 for 15 minutes or so. 

Happy Sunday!

PS Thanks for the spiral slicer, Swedes!

Everything Burgers

Today's recipe is inspired by Rachael Ray's "Everything Salmon Burgers" featured in the Big Orange Book (Bob).

The recipe is a play on everything bagels and lox and cream cheese. Of course, I did a little lightening up with my buddy greek yogurt. I was craving a burger and this salmon version did the trick. Making the patties from scratch was super easy and far more tasty than any fresh or frozen salmon patty I have ever purchased at the store. It's worth the extra 5 minutes of effort!

Everything Salmon Burgers


Ingredients

• For Burgers
• 1 pound fresh salmon, skin removed, cut into chunks
• 1 tbsp grill seasoning (like Montreal Steak or similar)
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp dried dill or 1/4 c. fresh dill
• Cooking spray
• For Spread
• 1/4 c. light whipped cream cheese
• 1/4 c. non fat plain greek yogurt
• 6 green onions, diced
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• juice of one lemon
• Kaiser rolls, or other roll of your choice
• Lettuce, tomato, red onion for topping

Instructions

• First we want to make the spread so all the flavors have time to come together
• Combine all ingredients for the spread, stir well, and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes
• Place salmon chunks in food processor and process until ground
• Place in bowl and combine with remaining burger ingredients
• Form patties of your desired size
• Heat a pan over medium high heat, spray with cooking spray
• The salmon has so much oil that it will not stick to the pan
• Cook patties for 4 minutes on each side or until lightly brown
• Serve with spread, lettuce, tomato and onion on the roll of your choice

Spread ingredients ready to be mixed.

mmm salmon

These burgers went perfectly with a cucumber onion potato salad that I will share with you at a later date....

Happy noshing!

Ethnic Burgers

I could call these Mexican Burgers, but I'm not sure they truly represent Mexico, so I'm going to be P.C. and call them Ethnic Burgers. I don't want this blog post to come back to me in ten years (when I'm rich and famous) and to be painted as culturally insensitive by the media that will definitely be obsessed with me.

Anywho! Tonight's meal is inspired by my favorite obnoxious, manic food network star, Ray Ray.
We're on a first name.

yup, that's my face on the right there!

Her recipe, in 365: No Repeats is called Fajita Burgers. Also ethnically safe. We have that in common.

 I read the recipe once, then decided to go my own way with it.  I used ground turkey, bulked it up with mushrooms for flavor and moisture, added lime, and topped my burger with guac and shredded light mexican blend cheese. Here's the deets!

Ethnic Burgers

Makes seven 4 oz. patties - 4 WW PP+ each

Ingredients

• For Burgers
• 1 package extra lean ground turkey
• 1 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms
• 1 clove garlic
• Zest and juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 c. fresh cilantro
• 1/2 package trader joe's crazy good taco seasoning, or the taco seasoning of your choice
• a dash of salt
• For Peppers and Onions
• 2 large bell peppers - 2 different colors, sliced
• 1 yellow onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 1/2 c. salsa verde of your choice - I used Trader Joe's. Duh.

Instructions

• For Burgers
• In a food processor, combine mushrooms and garlic and process until finely minced but not mush
• Dump out mushrooms into giant mixing bowl
• Use food processor to process cilantro until chopped(I heart food processors!)
• In said giant mixing bowl, dump in taco seasoning, zest and juice of lime, ground turkey, and a dash of salt
• Mix with your hands until completely incorporated
• Separate into 7 patties or however many you like
• Cook however you please. I cooked on the stove top. Since they are so lean you will need cooking spray.
• Meanwhile in Pepper/Onion land....
• In a large saute pan, heat oil over med-high heat
• Toss in pepper and onions
• Saute until softened and startin to caramelize on the edges
• Toss in garlic and saute until softened
• Pour over salsa verde
• Reduce to low and let the mixture get all yummmyyy

Hot tip! I was using rectangular shaped rolls (oxymoron?) so I shaped my burgers as such. Nothing stupider than a burger that doesn't fit the bun . . .

I topped by burgers with cheese and guac. I think I said "so freaking good!" nine times. The mushrooms keep the meat super moist and the lime zest adds so much flavor. For such lean meat, these tasted incredible.

On the side, I cooked a bag of frozen sweet potatoes in the oven, then tossed them with a bit of cilantro and taco seasoning to add some ethnic flavor. I dipped them in a mixture of salsa and fat free greek yogurt. (50/50).  This dip could also work as a sauce for the burger... and is super low calorie!

Thanks for the inspiration, Ray Ray! But I win this round. Booyah.