hmp: spinach goat cheese turkey burgers

It was such a beautiful day today that I knew it was the right day to break out our new grill at the apartment.  We thought that turkey burgers would be the perfect option.  After looking through a bunch of recipes online I decided that we should try Spinach Goat Cheese Turkey Burgers.

The recipe is very simple and adapted from Allrecipes.com

Spinach Goat Cheese Turkey Burgers (Yields 4 burgers)

1 1/4 lbs. lean ground turkey

5 ounces (1/2 box) frozen chopped spinach

2 ounces plain goat cheese crumbles

1 T. no salt added garlic and herb seasoning mix

4 Deli Thins or Slimwich buns

Thaw spinach and remove excess water by squeezing by hand and/or between paper towels.

Mix together turkey, goat cheese and spinach and sprinkle seasoning mix on top.  Mix together by hand to combine ingredients and distribute seasoning.

Form well-packed patties.

Grill patties for approximately 15 minutes until they are cooked through, flipping once – or more as needed.

Serve patties on buns.

For us, the burgers alone were perfectly moist and delicious but if you’d like you can dress them up with a sauce – maybe pesto, tomato bruschetta or even spicy mustard or barbecue sauce – whatever you like.

What is your favorite non-beef burger to make?

What’s your favorite grilled food?

hmp: lunchtime burgers

The Homemade Meal Project is back!  After having no time to cook anything for what seems like weeks, we finally made a full homemade meal.  Granted it was just burgers but we still cooked it from start to finish.

After a very sweaty and intense yoga session, I called Todd and said “I want meat.”.  He obliged and ran to the store to pick up some lean ground beef and by the time I got home, the burgers were on the grill and he had a potato and veggie mixture cooking on the stove.

The potato and veggie mix was actually a frozen mix that I picked up yesterday, one of Alexia‘s new products – or at least new to me.  I’m confused as to whether Alexia product are organic or not, I thought they were but it may be that only some of their products are organic.  Either way, they’re all “natural”, whatever that means, and that’s always a good start.

I had also bought a few ears of corn so I popped those on the grill and about 15 minutes later, we were sitting down to a grilled lunchtime feast.

I always douse my burgers in ketchup because I’ve never liked any other toppings on my burgers.  This time, I attempted to make a smiley face with my ketchup but it came out looking a bit demonic, sorry about that.

For dessert I had a mini cupcake leftover from last night’s half-birthday surprise.

I allowed myself a post-lunch nap and now we’re just sitting around waiting for paint to dry.  Literally.  We’re working on our one and only try DIY project for the wedding and so far, it’s not so promising.  Hopefully it turns out wonderful and beautiful though.  Keep your fingers crossed!

What do you top your burgers with?

hmp: grilled pizza

The Homemade Meal Project return tonight with grilled pizzas.  It was a relatively nice day in West Michigan (read: not snowing or ice cold) so Todd and I decided to pretend it was summer and fire up the grill.  I swung by Nantucket Baking Company on the way home from work and bought pizza dough (and some chocolate chip cookies…).

At home we worked the dough and turned it into pizza crusts.  After spraying the crusts with olive oil, they were ready for their first round on the grill.

Once on the grill, you begin by cooking only one side.  When the bottom is cooked, you remove the pizza dough, flip it over and add toppings to the cooked side.

Todd chose pizza sauce, mozzarella, goat cheese, bacon and mushrooms to top his pie.

I went for mozzarella, goat cheese, pineapple and bacon with pizza sauce on half.  No mushies for this girl, no way.

Having the grilled side up when you add toppings allows the bottom of the pizza to cook when you return the pizza to the grill.  The cheese melts pretty well with the grill lid closed.  After about 3 minutes, voila – pizza pie!

Doesn’t that look delicious!?

Grilled pizza is so delicious and really simple.  We just used store-bought sauce and fresh cheese and toppings.  It was so nice to grill outside, it really felt like a (chilly) summer night.  Add in an Oberon and it was the perfect kick-off to a relaxing weekend.

What’s your favorite grilled meal?

Do you prefer homemade pizza, delivery or pizza from a restaurant?

P.S.  I bought myself tulips the other day.  Aren’t they pretty?