Can you say "nacho" without replying "naCHO cheese!!"? I thought I might outgrow that phrase, but it never ceases to make me smile.

Winter Grilling: Sweet Chili Turkey Burger

Happy New Year! I hope you all are well and warm!  We've had a fabulously uneventful first few days of 2015.  I am sad that the girls go back to school on Monday...our break flew by!

Right now that winter is in full force here in Michigan, I'm dreaming of a tropical vacation.  In December I got a tweet to enter a video for a site called Dream Jobbing. For this opportunity, the winner is sent to HAWAII for 7 days to take a culinary tour and create three inspired recipes for King's Hawaiian bread.  UM, yes please!  My video is officially up and you can vote DAILY (pretty please!!).   

About the video: do you know how hard it is to keep kids and dogs quiet for even 10 minutes? Impossible.  This was my first video with my new camera...get excited for more this year! 

We absolutely love King's Hawaiian bread.  The mini buns are a staple in our house for my pulled pork.  Since we all love pineapple, I thought it was high time I created a Hawaiian burger!  Don't be scared of the sweet chili sauce, it's very mild and simply adds a kick of flavor.  The girls gobbled these up without complaints!  

It's time to dust off your Foreman grill (or go outside if you're one of those lucky folks without seasons...) and get grillin!

Sweet Chili Hawaiian Turkey Burgers

What you need:

• 1 package LEAN Jennie-O ground turkey
• 4 King's Hawaiian burger buns
• 2 tablespoons Maggi Sweet Chili sauce 
• Also amazing in stir fry! 
• 3 pineapple spears
• 1 teaspoon honey (to glaze pineapple)
• 1 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 2 teaspoons Montreal Chicken seasoning, low-sodium
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• Mayo
• Swiss cheese slices
• 4 slices honey ham  (or Spam!)
• Optional: fried egg 

1. Preheat oven to 375 to toast buns later.  Plug in Foreman grill. 
2. In a large bowl, add coconut oil, chili sauce, Montreal chicken and garlic powder. Whisk until combined. (This is the BEST way to fully combine seasonings for burgers, FYI!)
3. Add ground turkey and kneed with hands until combined.  Form into 4 large patties. 
4. Add pineapple to grill and brush with honey.  Grill until browned, set aside on cutting board to chop later.
5. On the buns, spread a light layer of mayo. Toast buns 5-6 minutes in oven.  
6. Add burgers to grill and cook through. 
7. To assemble burger: add chopped pineapple, slice of ham, slice of Swiss cheese.  Use a foil tent to melt cheese.
8. Once buns are toasted, add mayo on bottom and place cooked burger on top. 
9. To take it to the NEXT level, throw a fried egg on it.  Ricky adds eggs to everything!
10. Pretend you're in paradise and enjoy your burger!  Aloha!

Pretty please take a moment to VOTE and I'll love you forever.  

How-to Make Turkey Burgers {And Freeze Them Too!}

When we say "burger" in our house, it's 90% of the time turkey--we just aren't huge red meat eaters.  For non-turkey fans, I feel there is a misconception that they are super dry, hockey pucks.  SO not true!

There are a few varieties of ground turkey to purchase: Lean (93/7), Extra Lean (99/1) and a fattier variety that uses dark and white meat (85/15).  Most of the time, the lean variety is preferred.  It's very healthy, but still has a bit of fat to it.  If you are subbing for a beef recipe, I highly recommend Lean over Extra Lean, which can be dry.

 

My favorite tip for getting perfectly seasoned burgers is to get a big bowl out and put all seasonings in BEFORE adding the meat.  Since I use steak sauce and spices, I want to make sure they are all blended well.  Otherwise some burgers will be salty, while some could be under seasoned.  It's truly a life saver!

Speaking of spices, I tend to use 2-3 but if you don't have a huge spice collection AT LEAST use Montreal Chicken seasoning.  It has tons of tasty spices in it and will give it some good flavor.  The steak sauce adds a depth of flavor and some moisture the ground turkey needs.

Since this is just the basics, once you make these burgers you can play around with other seasonings.  We love spicy turkey burgers with black beans and jalapenos, or Jerk flavored ones. Have fun so you don't get bored!!


Here's what you'll need (for 4-5 burgers)

• 1 package Jennie-O lean ground turkey
• 1 teaspoon each: Montreal Chicken Seasoning, Hamburger spice, Garlic Powder
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire 
• 1 teaspoon A1 Steak Sauce
• Buns and favorite burger toppings

1.  In a large bowl, whisk all seasonings, steak sauce and Worcestershire together
2. Add ground turkey and mix until all spices are evenly distributed. Try to avoid over-mixing, though! 1 minute should be plenty
3. Shape into patties, leaving a thumb indentation in the center. There should be 4 large patties or 5 medium sized.
4. Two options:

• To Freeze: place patties on a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze 4-5 hours or overnight. Once frozen, place in a baggie.  I really love the Ziploc perfect portions bags to individually freeze items like burgers and chicken.  It makes it much easier to pull out one or two burgers at a time.  After putting them in the perfect portion bag, I place all of the burgers in a gallon sized bag.  You can grill frozen or defrost.
• To Grill: use a Foreman or regular grill and cook completely, trying to avoid pressing down on the burgers (it releases all of the juices!).  The thumb indentation made when you formed the patties will keep the burgers from turning into a softball shape.

Other turkey recipes you'll love:

• Turkey Tacos
• Turkey Italian Sausage + Lentil Soup
• Turkey Chili Mac
• Turkey Meatballs

What's your favorite ground turkey recipe?