Day 39: Heather's Turkey Patties, an Original

As threatened here, I'm posting an original recipe that I created out of desperation. I love a burger. And since trying to become healthier, I've come to love a bunless burger, a nice fat patty on a bed of lettuce with a little goat cheese and black olives and veggies. However, having THAT many beef patties is good for no man or woman. And, I'm a bit of a snob and never met a turkey burger that remotely satisfied a burger craving. So, I set about making my own. The result? A flavor insane patty that took me back to my youth where I grew up in Turkey. It's become one of my favorite original concoctions, and even the Teens like it. And since I'm about to go pin this sucker on Pinterest, I haven't broken my Cooking My Way Through Pinterest theme!

At first, my olive loathing husband and daughter were wary of the black olives in it, but after a few bites, decided they couldn't even taste them. I, however - a olive LOVING woman- can taste them just fine.

So anyway, here's my recipe for Heather's Turkey Patties.

Ingredients:

(makes 4 patties)

1 lb lean turkey meat ground (Butterball)

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp chipotle chile pepper

1 tsp crushed red pepper

¼ cup diced green pepper

¼ cup diced yellow onion

1 TBSP chopped black olive

¼ cup chopped spinach leaves (about 8 baby leaves)

What to do:

Ready? This is the hard part!

mix together ingredients (Be careful not to over mix or you'll get dry, tough patties)

and form into 4 patties. 

Grill until cooked through! 

Note: You can bake these or cook them on the stove but so far, I've found grilling them makes them taste so much better.

This recipe is roughly 160 cals per patty.

Day 18: Bacon Egg Cups

Original Source: Fat Girl in a Skinny Body

Find the recipe HERE

As I said before, My Guy takes care of weekend breakfasts around here, and this is no exception.

Each cup is about 100 calories so I'm taking it upon myself to categorize it as healthy too! (Only because of the high protein, low cal!)




The verdict:
On the website, the author posted that readers had commented about partially cooking the bacon in advance. I'd recommend that. The only real downside to this recipe was that the bacon was a little chewy and "clear" in parts. A crunchier bite might make this one a total winner. For 100 calories a pop, I'm totally willing to try it again! Especially if he's the one cooking it!

TA DA!

Day 12: Frosty Protein Shake

Original Source: Meals and Moves

Get recipe HERE

This one's going to be short and sweet. No need for a picture (and honestly, there was no time). But mine looked pretty similar to this, just a bit darker. Maybe I used more cocoa powder. Regardless, the thickness comes from an ingredient called xanthan gum, which I certainly didn't have in the house.

But since a lot of upcoming recipes call for this anyway, I decided to hunt it down. It wasn't hard. I found it at a local health food store. They have it in jars for about 10 bucks, or little packets (much like active dry yeast pouches) for about 60 cents each. I went that way. Also, because I felt victorious for just finding this stuff, I used only it and skipped the guar gum since it was merely a suggestion. 

Anyway, this tastes NOTHING like a frosty. It tastes just like a plain chocolate protein shake. The only thing I can guess is she named it after the texture. My Guy and Teen Boy liked it well enough, but the name led to expectations that I think, in turn, led to disappointment. I'm not sure I'll ever make it again, but at least now I know I can toss in some of that xanthan gum to give shakes a more ice cream texture!