**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.

I ams what I ams

Let's face it: Betty Crocker I am not. I'm not even close to being on the same kitchen plane as my Maternal Unit (who coincidentally, won a Betty Crocker Homemaker award when she was in high school; this apple fell so far from the tree we're not even the same fruit any more).

However, I don't pretend to be some culinary genius or crafty great. My creative juices flow as far as writing down a few clever phrases here, adding a half edited picture and calling it a blog. I wish I had the aptitude to spend hours in the kitchen, perfecting recipes and then putting them on display for all the world to see; after all, I certainly had the time when I was unemployed. I just don't have the desire to force myself to be in a four foot by two foot space without monetary reward.

There would, I suppose, be the pride in having other people make my recipes. The flip side of that would be the worry of ramifications if I mistyped "T" instead of "t" and someone put 2 tablespoons of yeast in their bread, which caused it to overflow in their bread machine, which let to a short in the electrical system, which shut down the fridge, which caused the milk to go bad (anyone else seen this commercial? with the laptop and the power goes out and zombies. Makes me throw up a little in my mouth every time)...I just don't think I could live with the guilt of knowing that one of my recipes caused the Zombie apocalypse.

So I spend hours pouring over Allrecipes.com and actual cookbooks and food bloggers blogs to find things to make that Husband will eat. Every week there's a menu and I'm sound in the knowledge that none of it will give me a desire to eat Husband's brains. The desire to kick him when he leaves his wet work jackets on my kitchen table, well that's another story.

My first foray into DIY food-the Cheese Turkeyburger

So, are you a completely gourmet cook, indulging your family in your every culinary whim? Or do you rely heavily on takeout menus and food that comes in reheatable Styrofoam containers? Or does your kitchen prowess lay somewhere in between?

Food Friday

Now that we're moved in and settled, I was able to plan and execute a menu. It was glorious and since I can only run the dishwasher about once a day (I have to walk Melodie while the dishwasher is running or else she shakes like a leaf the entire time it's going), there was a little creativity in the cooking process. Without further ado, Food Friday.

Friday: Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Pizza crust from scratch with garlic butter

Ready for the heat

Time for my close up

Golden delicious

Might have taken every pot/pan in my kitchen but so worth it

 Sunday: Bacon Cheese Frittata

Cheesy eggy goodness

Perhaps it needs more cheese.

Done!

It was good but not great. Husband suggested adding hash browns, proving that he's more than just a pretty face.

Monday: Parmesan Corn Chowder

Pacific Northwest Comfort Food

Tuesday: Easy Mexican Chicken and Beans from Betty Crocker's Chicken Cookbook

Beans, Mexi Corn, Rotisserie Chicken, Taco Seasoning...any questions?

This sound became an oozing delicious mess on my plate. That'll teach me to buy tortillas somewhere other than Costco.

Wednesday: Cheese Turkeyburgers

I kind of made this up as I went along

Topped them off with Havarti cheese

Thursday: Bacon, Mushroom and Extra Sharp Cheddar Potato Crusted Quiche from For the Love of Cooking

Potato crust

Every body into the quiche!

Not burnt, just overly done (stupid oven).

Biscuits and quiche.

All recipes will be posted on the "What's Cooking?" page, so be sure and check it out.

One Stroke Too Many Cook

In the past few years I have had to learn to stop when a project is done. I have the nasty tendency of taking things that are perfectly fine and adding one bedazzle too many. Broccoli at my house goes from just another green veggie to perfection in CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!! SAUCE!!!!!!!!!!!! (I couldn't resist; did I mention I used evaporated milk in my cheese sauce? I dreamt about it last night).

Tonight I made turkey burgers but in true UDG fashion they weren't just turkey burgers, they were actually delicious turkey burgers. Kind of. This is the 2nd time I've made this recipe and it still tastes like meatloaf. Now don't get me wrong, I love meatloaf. LOVE IT. Once my mutti taught me how to make it, I was in heaven. I just don't want my burgers to taste like it. I want them to taste like burgers. Like burgers burgers. I miss red meat.

Potato salad to the rescue. Three ingredients: potatoes, Hellman's mayonnaise, and mustard. Paprika to make it look pretty. Enough leftover for lunch. Tomorrow is another day.

Oh how I love my Foreman.

I should've used a smaller plate.