Friday, November 6, 2009

And the challenge begins....

No beef, no bread....lots of protein and only about 10 veggies are unlimited. This will be a challenge. If anyone finds what I created somewhat interesting or tasty....I will be stunned. LOL

My GINORMOUS turkey burger would have had a top 'bun' of portabello but I felt this was going to be too much as it was....so I shared with K-man.

As you know ground turkey can be very dry and tasteless. I used many herbs and about a 1/2 cup of minced veggies to help moisten it and it WORKED!

Topless Turkey or Faux Turkey Burger

1 lb. ground turkey (I used the 93%- mostly white meat)
1/4 small onion
1/4 cup pepper medley (you know the frozen pepper strips)
1 tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbsp. Italian seasoning
Portabello Mushrooms (either one per burger for 'topless' or two for a 'faux' burger)
Cheese Slices (of course, fat free)
bagged cabbage mix
Salad dressing of choice

Put ground turkey in a bowl and add seasonings. Grind up onion and peppers in a mini chopper if you have one or a knife will do. Add finely minced onion and peppers to turkey and mix well. Shape into burgers. Cook burgers on griddle or grill with portabello mushrooms. Burgers are done when thermometer reaches 180 degrees.

Put cabbage mix in a bowl and add your salad dressing of choice until coated. I used a dressing mix included in my plan called 'carribean splash'....it was slightly sweet, chili sauced. Definitely needed salt....but sigh...
Lay mushroom on plate place cheese slice and then burger. Add another cheese slice and pile on cabbage mix and add a mushroom topper or eat topless with a fork and knife. This was pretty hearty and flavorful...I was pleasantly surprised. I couldn't finish it all.

K-man had a regular double burger with real cheese on a bun. He added his mayo and ketchup. He also had a side of sweet potato fries and his cabbage had ranch dressing.

By the way...I got the idea for making a burger with portabello 'buns' from a recent Biggest Loser episode. I may be checking out their site for other recipes.

Enjoy!

3 comments:

Erin said...

Trick for making ground turkey NOT dry? Cook it with water in the pan...don't let the water boil away until right before you are done. Once I started doing this, everyone loved my ground turkey alternatives.

Erin said...

P.S. But you have to use a griddle or a skillet- you can't (obviously) do it on the grill.

Jenny Saunders said...

Hahahaha Erin, I can't use water on the grill? LOL. Thanks for the tip about cooking turkey in water...I would think a low sodium broth would also add flavor as well as the moisture!