**Food Friday** Rain, Rain Go Away...

Any coastal Oregonian knows that this time of year is synonymous with rain. By rain, I mean torrential down pours that can go on for hours and carry away small dogs (yes, Melodie that means you).

 

Since it will be another six months before we see the sun, I thought I'd share a grilling recipe. Note the beautiful green grass in the grill picture and lack of puddles everywhere.

 

These burgers are another one of my recipe mash ups, where I thought, hmmm, what if I did this recipe but added this, this and that? Ninety-nine percent of the time it ends with us ordering take out, but this one was actually rather edible.

 I think barbecue sauce makes everything better.

 

*drool**sniffle**drool**sniffle* I don't think I've ever made something so tasty looking. Will be breaking out this recipe the first sunny day we have. Even if that's in May.
 

Barbecue Ranch Turkey Burgers
Printable Version

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 Tbl minced onion

1 package ranch dressing mix

1 minced clove garlic

1 Tbl seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

BBQ sauce

Sliced cheese

Mix first six ingredients thoroughly and let sit at least an hour (I do an hour in the fridge and then a half hour at room temp-I think because Rachael Ray told me so). Preheat grill over who knows what temperature. Not a very high one or a very low one, somewhere in the middle (medium perhaps?). Form 4 to 6 patties depending on size preference. Grill 5-7 minutes and flip coating done side with BBQ sauce. Grill another 5-7 minutes and flip to coat other side. Let grill another two minutes before adding cheese of your choice.




What's your favorite thing to throw on the grill??

Food Friday

In February, I signed up for my work's Biggest Loser Challenge. I would say it was to embrace a more healthy way of living, but in reality the grand prize is a $100 gift card once a month for a year. Since Husband has to pay for his own gas for work and I like to eat, I became highly motivated.

Except I wasn't. For the first month, I did okay, but that isn't cutting it as this is a company wide competition and after last week's weigh in, I dropped way below where I wanted to be on the leader board (as in nowhere near being a leader at all). So I've decided it's time to kick it into high gear. With the help of the sparkpeople.com website (find me at coconut85) and my biggest loser buddy, Mrs. Next Door Neighbor, I'm looking to lose 25 pounds by May and bring home the gas.

In doing so, I've had to adjust my eating habits. Part of the SparkPeople process is tracking what you eat and since I'm kinda kickstarting my (overly large) behind into gear, I picked recipes from their sister website, SparkRecipes.com to make. Eventually, I'll figure out how to incorporate recipes from other sources but for now, as I stare down that 25 pounds with my hand hovering above my metaphorical fat blasting gun, I'll stick to what works. Feel free to ask me how I'm doing, what I've eaten or how many times I've gone to the bathroom (eight glasses of water goes right thru me).

Baked Lemon Chicken

 I'm kind of into all things lemon right now. Lemon water, lemon chicken, lemon chiffon cookies....mmm cookies...

Cilantro Chicken Tacos

Added brown rice because apparently I'm a lemming and that's what everyone says to do.

 I promise these tacos were nothing special. Just add taco seasoning, garlic and cilantro to the chicken and voila! Taco. Must remember to put cilantro in EVERYTHING.

Ranch Cheddar Turkey Burgers

That's right baby! The UDG has conquered the grill!

Remember this post? I do. Like it was yesterday, which made tonight's dinner taste that much better. Take that flimsy ignition wires.

So there you have it. Hey that's two posts in one week. I'm doing pretty good for coming off an unexpected sabbatical. But I have decided since I'm now a full time Night Auditor at the Hotel (read: graveyard slave), two times a week is all I can handle. That means I'm scratching the Meatless Monday posts. I promise I'll try to make it up in the other two. Well maybe not promise, more like gesture grandly.

Oh and let me know if you have any tasty, healthy recipes. Emphasis on tasty.

*Meatless Monday* A Ladle A Day

I broke my new grill today. Five hours and I still have to light the #%$%^ thing manually. My older brother, the Middle Child, suggested that perhaps I should have read the instructions. I suggested he come over and be the first person to light the grill.

It was cold and rainy and since my apartment sometimes smells like cat pee as a result (seriously people, cats do it inside!), I decided it was a soup day. A Parmesan corn chowder day. Quite possibly it could've become a Parmesan corn chowder and homemade bread day but my new oven is SUPER charged, so it might be a while before anything from the oven makes its way into a post.

Chowder is like the Oregon state food.

Finished product! And all I have leftover is one bolt and one nut...

Feed me!

I Give Up

Why is this grill only 75% finished? Well let me tell you. After 5 hours, two mistrials, and feeling my blood pressure rise to unsafe levels, I snapped the ignition wire. For the first time in my life, I literally saw red. And orange. And black. There may have been primitive screaming.
Rocket science: 1
Me: 0