Curry Turkey Burgers, suggested by Carrie

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 pounds ground turkey breast, the average weight of 1 package
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• A handful cilantro, chopped very fine, about 2 tablespoons, optional
• 1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated or minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• Coarse salt
• 2 tablespoons mild curry paste or a handful of curry powder (Preferred brand: Patak's Mild Curry Paste)
• Drizzle extra-virgin olive oil
• 5 crusty rolls, split

Toppings:

• Bib or leaf lettuce
• Sliced vine-ripe tomatoes
• Mango chutney (preferred brands: Major Grey's or Patak's Mango Chutney)
• Serving Suggestions: Thai Slaw Salad, recipe follows and root vegetable chips (preferred brands: Terra Chips)

Directions

Combine first 8 ingredients and form into 5 patties.
Brush or drizzle patties with extra-virgin olive oil. Grill patties 6 minutes on each side on indoor electric grill or pan fry for same amount of time in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.
Pile patties on split crusty rolls with lettuce, tomato, and chutney spread liberally on roll tops as a condiment. Serve curry turkey burgers with Thai Slaw and root vegetable chips.

Thai Slaw Salad:

• 1 (16 ounces) prepared shredded cabbage (coleslaw mix) from produce department
• 1/4 European seedless cucumber, sliced into thin sticks
• 1 small red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 3 scallions, thinly sliced on bias
• 20 leaves fresh basil, shredded

Dressing:

• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup white distilled or rice wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar or 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Garnish:

• Toasted sesame seeds

Combine vegetables in a bowl. Combine dressing ingredients in a small plastic container and shake vigorously for 1 minute. Drizzle sauce over vegetables and toss to coat evenly. Let stand 10 minutes and re-toss before serving and garnish with toasted sesame seeds.

Veggie Burgers, an idea from Berly

One bag of fake ground beef (12 oz. we like Quorn), one package of mushrooms (sometimes we use big; sometimes small), half a package of cream cheese (or neufectal), and four eggs is just right.

Today, I'm making them with one small package of mushrooms and a bunch of red kidney beans that I boiled until they were super soft. I suspect yumminess is on its way!!!

Oh, and fry until brown on both sides. They will be crumbly, but in a super soft and scrumptious way. We eat them on ciabattini rolls.

Black Bean Burgers, suggested by Cara

Spicy Black Bean Burgers
Adapted from "Recipe of the Week: Burgers" by Sally Sampson

Ingredients
4 cups cooked, rinsed and drained black beans (about 2 ½ 15-ounce cans)
1/2 cup Japanese-style panko breadcrumbs
2 large eggs
4 scallions, both white and green parts, minced
3 tablespoons (a small handful) chopped basil or cilantro, or a combination
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2-2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1-2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Method
Place 2 cups of the black beans in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until chunky.

Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add remaining whole black beans, plus panko, eggs, scallions, fresh herbs, garlic, cumin, oregano and red pepper flakes and mix until well combined.

Using a dough cutter, portion mixture into patties about 1 inch thick. Suggested diameter: 3 inches; otherwise, the patty will be difficult to flip when cooking. KOD extra step that's worth doing: Place patties on a plate or tray and chill for 15 minutes so they can set up.

When ready to cook, remove patties from refrigerator and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place a cast-iron skillet over high heat, without any fat; when it is hot but not smoking, add burgers to dry pan.

Cook for about four minutes on first side or until well seared and with a flipping spatula, turn onto second side and allow to cook for an additional five minutes, over medium heat.

Serve immediately with fixins': Monterey jack, cheddar or queso fresco, lettuce, fresh tomato slice, pico de gallo or jarred salsa, sour cream, avocado. Good on a soft bun or by itself.

Makes four to six burgers.

Note from Cara: I got seven 3" burgers that were 1" thick and 1 thinner burger for Konrad. I used a biscuit cutter to make the patties... put it on a cutting board and spooned the mix into it. I would go with more like 30 minutes of refrigeration before cooking, they were pretty squishy. We just did lettuce and tomato topping, but I think I would do some kind of seasoned sour cream topping next time as well.

Stuffed Turkey Burgers, from Kris

Use ground turkey breast and jazzed it up with some steak sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
I also finely minced an onion and mixed it in, then added about 1/4 cup bread crumbs.
I portioned the meat out so that each burger had 2 patties.

On the bottom patty I put some shredded pepper-jack cheese and a spoonful of the stuffing mixture I made (carmelized red onions with red peppers and fresh garlic that I did in a saute pan before putting the burgers together).

The burgers were grilled and then topped with a very thin slice of pepper-jack cheese.

Our veggies were new potatoes with mushrooms and red onions that had been marinated in olive oil, szechuan sauce, garlic, fresh black pepper and red wine.

Gorgonzola-Basil Burgers, suggested by Amy

Basil-Gorgonzola Burgers
INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 pound ground sirloin, or extra lean beef
* 1 tablespoon minced garlic
* 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
* 1 (4 ounce) container crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
* 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
* salt and black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat. Lightly oil grill grate, and place about 4 inches from heat source.
2. Mix the ground sirloin, garlic, onion powder, Gorgonzola cheese, and basil together in a large bowl until evenly blended. Divide mixture evenly to form four patties.
3. Cook patties on preheated grill until meat is evenly browned and center is no longer pink, about 5 minutes on each side.

*I would add more onion powder and kosher salt to the mix, but everyone loved these. I served them on toasted ciabatta (sp?) that I smothered with garlic-parsley butter. I had red onion, tomato, spinach leaves and avocado to go on top.

"Better than McDonald's" Turkey Burgers, an idea from Karli

I just used a pound of ground turkey and dumped some garlic salt, chopped onion and bread crumbs in it. I didn't measure anything.

Pepper-jack turkey burgers, from Kris

I'm making pepper-jack turkey burgers tonight. I have no idea how they will turn out. I found a recipe in my Weight Watchers book, tweaked it a bit - so we'll see what happens. I've never made burgers before with cheese in the burgers. Apparently it is supposed to help keep the turkey burgers more moist....

- 1 lb turkey breast, ground
- 1 large garlic clove finely minced
- 1/3 cup chopped green onions
- 1 TBSP Worchestershire sauce
- 1 TBSP A-1 steak sauce
- 1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
- 1/3 cup shredded pepper-jack cheese

Mix and grill. Serve topped with a little more pepper jack on toasted buns. I plan on serving it with some lettuce fresh from my garden.

Suggested by Mandy - Turkey Jerk Burgers

Here is the recipe for the jerk turkey burgers from last week. The family likes them a lot, though we don't use rolls and I substitute mango for the papaya (I am cheap like that). The squeeze of lime juice is what makes it super.

Turkey Jerk Burgers (swiped from Rachael Ray)

1 1/3 pound ground turkey breast, the average weight of 1 package
1 garlic clove, minced
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 serrano or jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
1-inch ginger root, grated
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves, a few sprigs, leaves stripped and chopped
1 teaspoon allspice, eyeball the amount
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg,
freshly grated or ground
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
Coarse salt
Extra-virgin olive oil or vegetable oil, for drizzling
1 ripe lime, juiced
4 bib or green leaf lettuce leaves
4 crusty plain or cornmeal dusted Kaiser rolls,

split Papaya Salsa:
1 large, ripe papaya, seeded, peeled and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1 serrano or jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, a palm full of leafy tops, finely chopped
1 navel orange, juiced
Coarse salt


Preheat a large nonstick skillet, indoor grill pan or tabletop grill to medium high heat. Combine the turkey, garlic, scallions, ginger, thyme, allspice, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Form mixture into 4 large patties no more than 1-inch thick. Drizzle the patties with a touch of oil. Place patties in a hot pan or on a hot grill and cook 6 minutes on each side. Squeeze the juice of 1 ripe lime over the patties before removing them from the heat. Place the cooked patties on bun bottoms and top with lettuce leaves. Combine the papaya, red bell pepper, red onion, serrano or jalapeno, cilantro and orange juice in a bowl. Season salsa with salt, to your taste. Pile salsa on top of the lettuce resting on cooked patties and add bun tops to the burgers. Serve with Chili Lime Avocados and pineapple wedges.

Teriyaki Burgers, by Amy

1 lb. ground beef (or turkey)
1/2 c. teriyaki marinade
1 tsp. garlic salt
fresh or canned pineapple slices

Combine the teriyaki marinade with the ground beef and garlic salt. Form into patties. Grill. During the last couple of minutes of grilling, place pineapple slices on the grill until warm and brown. Place pineapple slices on burger add condiments (I used red onion, and the regular stuff) Eat.