Pesto Turkey Burgers

A friend of mine, who happens to be an excellent cook, shared this recipe with me. In fact, she invited me over for lunch and made them for me! I've made this several times since then - it's one of my favorites. Not just because of the taste either - it's an incredibly fast and easy recipe. Andrew raves over these burgers which is saying a lot - honestly, I should change his middle name to "Picky".


Ingredients:

1 lb uncooked ground turkey
4 Tbsp basil pesto
1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt

4 ciabatta rolls, or rustic Italian bread
4 slices cheese (mozzarella or provolone)
fresh basil leaves, arugula or spring garden mix (we usually use plain old lettuce)
tomato slices


Directions:

In a bowl, combine turkey, pesto, Parmesan cheese, garlic and salt. Using a fork, mix until ingredients are blended. Shape into 4 patties. Place patties on a grill and cook 10-13 minutes or until turkey is no longer pink, turning once halfway through grilling. If you like, you can place the cheese on top of the patty to melt.

If you like, you can brush the bread with olive oil and place on grill. We've noticed that ciabatta bread is actually a little tough to chew, so you might not want to toast it. Sometimes I skip past the whole Italian thing and just put the burgers on a kaiser roll. It's all personal preference of course.

Also, the recipe calls for 3 cloves of garlic. Holy cow, that's a lot of garlic for 1 lb of meat!  Well, in my opinion it's a lot of garlic - a little goes a long way for me.  Again, it's all personal preference - I only use 1 clove of garlic, but you may not want to change it at all.

This is a really fantastic meal - you're gonna love it!

Pear Salad with Walnuts and Gorgonzola

I haven't actually tried this recipe but it looks so good! I found it in an LDS Living Magazine and wanted to share it as warm days WILL be upon us soon. At least here in Utah we have hope of it!
I have had salads very similar to this and they were wonderful so I'm sure this one will be also.

4 handfuls of salad greens washed and dried
2 Anjou pears, washed and sliced into eighths
1/2 cup dried currants or raisins or what ever dried fruit you like
2 ounces Gorgonzola cheese
1 cup candied walnuts

Dressing:

2 T. lemon juice
2 T. rice wine vinegar
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1 T. raspberry syrup
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Divide lettuce onto 4 chilled plates and top with sliced pears and currants or raisins. Crumble the Gorgonzola cheese evenly over the four salads. Top with candied walnuts. Other fruit may be added as shown in the picture.

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for the dressing. Whisk together and season with salt and pepper.
To serve, drizzle the desired amount of dressing over the salads.

Fluffy Pancakes

I wanted to make heart shaped pancakes for our Valentine's day dinner, and I didn't want to use Bisquick. I just thought I should put a little more effort into it than that. So...I pulled up the Taste of Home website again and found this yummy recipe. Definitely worth the extra effort!

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup shortening, melted

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Combine the egg, milk and shortening; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Pour batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto hot griddle (I didn't need to grease mine). Turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes and edges are dry. Cook until the second side is golden brown.

Yield: 8 pancakes

*When making pancakes, the most important thing to remember is not to overmix the batter! I know - it's tempting to get all those lumps out of there, but those lumps are what make it fluffy (just be careful not to leave gigantic lumps). The baking powder bubbles pop while cooking and there you have it - fluffiness! At least, that's what I learned from a cooking segment on a morning talk show :) The other thing that was suggested was to only turn your pancakes once. I've followed this advice ever since and it's worked every time.

Making heart pancakes was super easy - thanks to MarthaStewart.com. All you need to do is fill a pastry bag with the batter (use a plain, round tip) and pipe it onto the griddle in the shape of a heart. Do the outside first and then fill in the middle - easy peasy!

Beef Stew

When my husband and I were first married I was on a quest to find a great recipe for Beef Stew.  After trying several recipes, I finally came up with one on my own that we still love!

Ingredients

1 lb stew meat

Pan searing flour

5 cups water

1 packet McCormick Beef Stew seasoning

1-2 beef bouillon cubes

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup frozen peas

3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

Directions:

Trim fat from stew meat and coat with pan searing flour.  Brown meat in a frying pan with about 1 tbsp oil.  In a large pot, combine the water, beef stew mix and bouillon cubes. Bring water and seasonings to a boil, then add meat.  Cover and simmer.  While the meat simmers, prepare vegetables, then add to the pot.  Simmer until vegetables are tender, about 15-20 minutes.  Enjoy!

*You can also make this in the crockpot.  I put everything in around lunchtime and it's perfect by the time my husband gets home from work.  I've also used leftover roast rather then stew meat, and both are equally tender.  

Berry Good Dip

I get all kinds of email newsletters from parenting sites - most of which I only glance at before deleting. Don't ask me why I keep subscribing! However, this time I saw a link for recipes and decided to take a look. I wish I could remember which site I found it on, but I'm sorry to say I can't. The good news is: I found a great new recipe!

I should also let you know that I misread the recipe to begin with and didn't realize it until I looked it up a second time. I thought that it called for 12 oz of Cool Whip rather than 12 oz of whipped cream cheese. Not exactly sure how my brain messed that up - guess I was skimming the recipe rather quickly. Oops! It was a good mistake though - I brought the dip to a dinner with friends and they loved it.

Here's what you need:

12 oz whipped cream cheese or 12 oz Cool Whip. Really - either one is yummy!
Berry jam (any kind you like)

Mix the two together and enjoy with your favorite fruit!

If you're using cream cheese you'll need 3 Tbsp jam. If you take the Cool Whip route, just keep mixing in jam until you like the flavor.

Bacon-Almond Green Beans

Here's another fantastic recipe from Taste of Home. I was looking for some way to dress up my veggies for dinner, so I hopped online and started browsing. One look at the ingredient list for this dish and I knew it would be yummy! It was a big hit - in fact, Chris told me that from now on this is how he wants his green beans to be prepared. We'll see about that...

Ingredients:

1-1/2 pounds fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2-1/4 teaspoons soy sauce
2-1/4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
4 to 5 tablespoons real bacon bits
4 to 5 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted (I substituted walnuts)

Directions:

Place beans in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil; cook, uncovered, for 8-10 minutes or until crisp-tender

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for 1 minute or until sugar is dissolved

Drain beans; add to the skillet. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with bacon and almonds; toss to coat. Serve with a slotted spoon.

Yield: 6 servings

*I was positive that I had sliced almonds in the cupboard, but when I pulled out the ingredients for this dish there weren't any to be found! Luckily, I had some walnuts so I used those instead. Awesome! I think either way would be delicious.

Veggie Noodle Side Dish

Ramen noodles. Does the mere mention of it make you shudder? It reminds me of my early days in the kitchen, cooking lunch for my siblings. Back then though, it was just the noodles and broth. I think we've all had enough of that particular dish to last a lifetime.

I thought it was time to step it up a bit, which is why I was willing to try this recipe after finding it in Taste of Home. Have I mentioned that it's a favorite magazine of mine?

Anyway, I could tell my hubby was apprehensive and in the end I enjoyed it more than he did, but I think that was due to the fact that this dish includes zucchini and squash - two things he dislikes. Maybe if I used brussel sprouts instead... I know - I can't believe he likes them either. But to each his own!

Ingredients:

• 1 small sweet red pepper, julienned (I actually used frozen roasted peppers - yummy!)
• 3/4 cup cut fresh green beans
• 3/4 cup thinly sliced fresh carrots
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion (I'll be honest - I left that part out)
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 package (3 ounces) ramen noodles
• 1 yellow summer squash, sliced
• 1 medium zucchini, sliced
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon fajita seasoning mix

Directions:

In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry the pepper, green beans, carrots and onion in oil for 4 minutes. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package directions (discard seasoning packet or save for another use).

Add the remaining ingredients to the vegetable mixture; cook and stir until vegetables are crisp-tender. Drain noodles; add to vegetables and toss to coat.


Serves 4