Recipe for Inside Out Caprese Bison Burgers

From Mr. ELEB:  "that's another recipe you can make ANY time you like!"  In other words, I think he liked these caprese bison burgers.  If you don't have access to ground bison (buffalo), you can use ground turkey or ground beef (lean).  If you haven't tried bison, I highly recommend it.  You can read more about bison here (and order some really yummy meat).

Recipe for Stuffed Mediterranean Turkey Burgers

Mmmm, little pockets of goodness tucked inside a moist, delicious turkey burger!  These are a little too fragile for the grill.  They cook up quickly in a pan with a little olive oil for browning.  Make sure not to overcook or they will be dry.

Recipe for Green Chili Turkey Cheeseburgers

It's grilling season just about everywhere now.  Of course, we're spoiled here in Hawaii with the ability to grill just about any day we like!

Recipe for Stuffed Turkey Burgers with Goat's Cheese and Roasted Red Peppers

We love stuffed turkey burgers so I'm always trying to come up with a new "surprise" for the stuffing.  The answer is often as simple as what is in the fridge and pantry.  This week, goat's cheese and a jar of roasted red peppers.

Recipe for Blue Cheese, Pistachio, and Cranberry Turkey Burgers

It's only been a week since Turkey Day, I know.  Trust me, these turkey burgers pumped up with tangy blue cheese, salty pistachios and dried cranberries are worth a trip back to the turkey case at your grocery store. Or are you like me and always keep a package of ground turkey breast in the freezer?

Recipe for White Bean and Salmon Burgers

The photo didn't turn out very well (they really weren't burned) but this white bean and salmon appetizer did!   I made the bite sized ones for an appetizer to take to a dinner party and then Mr. ELEB and I had "regular" sized patties the following night for dinner.  Great both ways!

Recipe for Sweet and Sour Grilling Glaze

Mr. ELEB chuckles sometimes when he sees me standing in front of an open pantry or refrigerator door.  I understand why…you can almost see the steam coming out of my ears as I’m looking at what’s in front of me and concocting possibilities in my head.  He also laughs because he knows that he might get something really yummy, occasionally something yucky.  Well, he lucked out on this most recent experiment!

It was burger night-I had defrosted some ground buffalo-and I was pondering what to do in front of the open fridge door.  I didn’t a want cheeseburger so I was trying to come up with ingredients to make the burgers interesting.    I had a bottle of white wine open (imagine that), some garlic, ginger, and I spied the bottle of ponzu tucked away in the door shelf.  I figured with some brown sugar and mustard, I could probably cook up a reasonably good glaze to add a nice layer of flavor to the meat.

Voilà!  Here’s my sweet and sour grilling glaze.

Barbecue "Surprise" Bison Burgers

Happy Memorial Day



Memorial Day.  Decoration Day as it used to be called years ago.  One day a year where we honor and remember those who have died in the military service.  Too often, it is a day of shopping, barbeques, visits to the lake or beach with barely a moment's thought for our brave service men, women, and animals who have given their life to protect our country and our beliefs.  I'm as guilty as the next person, but this year I made sure that I did honor those who have served with my own quiet moment. 


Perhaps it was the young bloggers I met in Atlanta, both married to military men.  Or maybe it was seeing all the stranded military personnel in Dallas (weather closed the airport down) last week as we travelled home.  Not sure why, but this year I felt especially nostalgic and thankful for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.   I encourage you take a minute today to reflect on the true meaning of Memorial Day as you enjoy your shopping, cook outs, visits with family, or whatever you have on your plate for today.  I hope there are some yummy things to eat on that plate too!

Here is a recipe for another "inside out" burger that we enjoyed over the long weekend.

A couple of weeks ago I made inside out turkey cheeseburgers that were really good.  So I thought I'd try something similar but this time I wanted to try the
KC Masterpiece Southern Style Barbecue Sauce that was sent to me as part of the Foodbuzz Featured Publisher Tastemaker program.  It's one of their new flavors. 

What to tuck inside the burgers with the sauce?  I decide to saute some red onion and mushrooms and cook down the sauce to make it thick enough to work inside the burgers.  Voilà!  Worked like a charm!

Recipe for Inside Out Turkey Cheeseburgers



It was burger night and I had ground turkey breast defrosted.  I rotate between turkey breast, bison, and Maui Cattle Company beef for our burgers.  It was one of those afternoons where the dinner hour was rapidly approaching; I had already had a glass of wine, and had zero inspiration for dinner.  Luckily for me, Mr. ELEB eats anything I put in front of him and with a smile and usually a compliment for the chef.   Luckily for both of us, these turned out really yummy, so we both were happy at the end of the day!  I mean, look at that gooey cheese, would you?

Recipe for Greek Salad Bison Burgers



Beautiful Grill Work Courtesy of Mr. ELEB!



Earlier this week, I shared the story of how the Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken recipe came about.  Today's recipe resulted from my plan to make bison burgers and Greek salad for dinner.  However, I overheard a couple of acquaintances discussing lamb burgers made with olives and feta, how good they were etc, etc.  Mr. ELEB really likes Greek Salad and so do I.  What’s not to like?  Fresh veggies, good fat, tangy flavors…    I started thinking; why not just put the whole Greek salad in/on the burger?  So, that’s just what I did!

Recipe for an Alternative to Plain Burgers

Even if you are like us and don’t eat a lot of red meat, you probably have a burger now and then.  I wanted to do something different than a plain burger so I put my thinking cap on (“what flavors am I hungry for?”) and looked in the pantry (“what do I have on hand?”). 

The result was this very flavorful burger with wilted cabbage and sautéed mushrooms instead of lettuce and tomato, a lemony, chutney-low fat sour cream sauce and chopped green onions instead of mustard, ketchup, and pickle, and a whole wheat naan instead of a bun.  It all worked together well and, paired with sweet potato fries, made a nice alternative for us.  Now I feel compelled to be creative on those occasional burger nights!

Makes 4 servings, each approximately 426 calories, 31.5 grams fat, 12 grams carbs, 0.8 grams fiber, 23.4 grams protein, 11 WW Points+ (including ¾ of piece of naan)

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef (10% fat content)

4 cups shredded cabbage, wilted

1 cup sliced mushrooms, sautéed in 1 tsp olive oil

½ cup chopped green onion

2 TBSP Major Grey Chutney

¾ cup low fat sour cream

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt and pepper

Whole wheat naan

Water

Method:

Mix salt and pepper to taste into the ground beef.  Make 4 patties.  Cook on grill (or in grill pan) to your desired doneness.  Meanwhile, mix wilted cabbage and cooked mushrooms together and season with salt and pepper, keep warm.  Mix zest, juice, chutney, and sour cream together. 

Brush naan with water and warm in oven on 400 degrees for 5 minutes.

Use cabbage/mushroom mix as base layer on naan.

Add burger and top with sour cream sauce and chopped onions.

How about you?  Ready to mix up your burger night a bit?  Please share your ideas!

Printable Recipe

Buffalo Burgers with Blue Cheese, Avocado and Scallions

Buffalo (Bison) is a lean red meat that is flavorful, not gamey, and makes delicious burgers. A great source for high quality grass fed Bison is Wild Idea Buffalo.   Their site has good nutritional information and an interesting review of the the history of Bison.


Buffalo can be a bit dry as it is so lean. Adding in a source of fat, preferably healthy fat like olive oil, avocado etc, will ensure good tasty, moist burgers. I just pulled out what I had in the fridge-some scallion, avocado and blue cheese-and whipped up some quick, mid-week burgers.