Color = Flavor Turkey Patties

Another easy and flavorful dinner meal achieved last night.  Satisfied my husband's need for meat/protein, my desire for fresh veggies/salad, and my 19 month old chowed down without much coaxing. What more can one ask for?

The most time-consuming part is the veggie chopping/patty assembly.  The patties cook quickly (we used our Foreman grill, 5-6 minutes.)  We had frozen sweet potato tots as our side, and those required the oven.  So with the oven preheat and the tots' cook time, we could prepare and cook the patties and everything was done about the same time (30-40 min).

Naked Greek Feta-Zucchini Turkey Burgers

Originally found on Skinnytaste.com
Servings: 5 • Serving Size: 1 burger plus salad
Calories: 221 • Fat: 11 • Carbs: 10 g • Fiber: 2 • Protein: 20 g • Sugar: 1 g
Sodium: 445 mg • Cholesterol: 73 mg

Ingredients

For the Patty:

·         5 oz grated zucchini (when squeezed 4 oz)
·         1 lb 93% lean ground turkey
·         1/4 cup seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs
·         1 clove garlic, crushed
·         2 tbsp grated red onion
·         1 tbsp fresh oregano
·         3/4 tsp kosher salt and fresh pepper
·         1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
·         oil spray

For the salad:

·         1 cucumber, diced
·         3/4 cup quartered grape tomatoes
·         2 tbsp chopped red onion
·         1/3 cup kalamata olives
·         1/4 cup roasted peppers
·         2 tsp red wine vinegar
·         1 tsp olive oil
·         kosher salt
·         1 tbsp crumbled feta

Instructions:

Squeeze ALL the moisture from the zucchini with paper towels. In a large bowl, combine ground turkey, zucchini, breadcrumbs, garlic, onion, oregano, salt and pepper. Mix well, add 1/4 cup of feta, mix and make 5 equal patties, not too thick so they cook in the center. Refrigerate until ready to cook.

In a medium bowl combine all the salad ingredients. Mix well.

To cook indoors: Heat a large nonstick skillet on high heat. When hot, lightly spray oil. Add burgers to the pan and reduce the heat to low. Cook on one side until browned, then flip. Flip over a few times to prevent burning and to make sure the burgers are cooked all the way through.

If grilling: Clean grill well before cooking and oil the grates generously to prevent sticking. Cook the burgers on medium heat about 5 minutes on each side, or until no longer pink in the center.

Enjoy!!
 

Click here for a print-friendly recipe document.
 

Chicken + Spinach + Feta = Easy Yum

I had great success with a dish last night that was too simple and tasty not to share.  It was quick, healthy and full of flavor with minimal ingredients.  My kind of recipe.  If you like feta and chicken, you will like this and have to try.

Total time (had I not been repeatedly interrupted by a toddler) about 30 min
Makes 4 servings

Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients:
3/4 cup crumbled feta
1/2 cup thawed frozen chopped spinach, squeezed dry (I had to cook mine as it was frozen, so that added a little time, versus if you had it pre-defrosted. But I think it being warm made step 2 below better.)
3 tablespoons cream cheese
1/4 cup chopped scallions (I didn't have scallions, so I used finely chopped white onion, about 2 Tbsp. Worked well.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
salt and pepper to taste (or whatever you like to season chicken breasts with)
4 6-oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. In a bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients.
3. Cut a lengthwise pocket into each breast; season each pocket and stuff with spinach mixture.
4. In oven-proof skillet, heat EVOO over medium-high heat and cook chicken until golden, about 4 minutes per side.
5. Transfer to oven and bake 5-7 minutes.
6. Enjoy!

We ate with a side of sautéed green beans with bacon, but I think it lends itself well to a variety of veggies and/or sides.  What's your favorite side dish?

Insta Replay

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day holiday - let the summer begin!

Here's what went on on Instagram last week:

Its a risk I take every morning putting on white while trying to get out of the house, into the car and to daycare with a toddler.
 

My sanity keeper- lunchtime workout (almost) every day.
 

Again with the white. Wearing an inherited Madonna (and child, not the singer) pendant from my late grandma, who's favorite color also happened to be red.
 

Downloaded a new photo editor, trying out filters. This one is moody.
 

Professional ensemble with some style (or at least that's what I was going for.) Those are my favorite heels (though not a good picture.)
 

This is my joke on Apple's campaign of using iPhone 6 photos to promote their phones: This is a photo taken with an iPhone 6 Plus of a photo taken with an iPhone 6. Looks good, huh? ;)
 

Pulling out the brights this day.
 

Stopped by our favorite sandwich joint in Anaheim (soon, though not soon enough, to be opened in Irvine and Downtown LA.)
 

Casual Friday. 'Nuf said.

Not waistline friendly, but very taste-bud friendly: classic poutine and cucumber lemonaid from The Kroft.
 

Weekend wear. Cooler than anticipated for Memorial weekend, but layers look cute. These sandals are the only shoes I can wear right now because I jammed my baby toe on Saturday and my foot is swollen. :(

Have to Try: Home Brewed Iced Coffee

I know many of you can't imagine starting your day without a hot cup of coffee.  I get it, but I'm not one of those people.  I'm not a morning person, by any means, but I've just never lived with a coffee maker and developed the habit.  That is not to be interpreted as I am not a coffee drinker.  I just don't have the means for it at home. So I usually get it from a shop or at work.  Plus, now that I have a toddler to chase around in the mornings while trying to get us out of the house, having a hot drink on hand is not ideal.

But I do love iced coffee.  I usually prefer a cold drink by the time I can actually sit and have a drink (after the toddler-wrangling), and it's a bit easier to transport in a spill-proof container.  I have learned the steps to properly home-brew my own cold coffee, and is the easiest thing ever.  I shake my head at myself for ever forking over the $4 per beverage to Starbucks. You don't need any fancy equipment, just a pitcher and strainer/filter.

The Thing To Know: Iced coffee is not simply hot brewed coffee over ice. I mean, you can do that, but its not the method to get the best tasting result.  Hot-brewing raises the acidity level which brings out the highs and lows of the flavor, but doesn't translate over well once cooled and diluted with ice.  Cold-brewing has a lower acid level, so you have a smoother-tasting coffee.

This takes a few minutes to prepare, but needs to steep for half a day.  But you can make a batch on the weekend that will make enough to get you through the week, because it will keep.

What you need:

• A pitcher
• a spare container, bowl or pitcher
• A coffee filter & fine mesh strainer
• 4 1/2 oz coarsely ground coffee
• 3 1/2 cup cold water
• Extras: milk/creamer, sweetener, ice

What to do:

1. Place the coffee grounds in pitcher, add the water, stir to combine, cover with plastic wrap and let steep at room temperature for at least 12 hours and up to one day.
2. Line the fine-mesh strainer with the coffee filter and fit it over the spare bowl/pitcher.  In batches, slowly pour the coffee into the filter until all of the liquid has passed through the strainer.  Discard the grounds & filter.
3. If your coffee is now in a bowl, transfer back into the original pitcher AFTER you wash it clean.  If you used a spare pitcher, you can leave it there.  Cover pitcher and refrigerate until completely chilled, at least 2 hours or up to 5 days.

How to Serve:

• The coffee you have made is very concentrated.  For each cup of iced coffee, dilute the concentrate with milk or water to your liking, and doctor as you like.
• Pour over ice.
• To get a coffee shop take on it, sweeten with simple syrup (recipe here.)
• Enjoy!

April sun brings May showers? This calls for truffles

View from my office building today
 

We're definitely having so strange weather here in SoCal, though I'm not really complaining because we are desperately in need of some rain.  So apparently instead of April showers bringing May flowers, we're hoping these May flowers bring us some June flowers ( and we can skip the usual June gloom. What'd'ya say, Mother Nature?)

Rainy weather means staying inside, and what better to do than make some easy sweet treats?  Don't these White Chocolate Lemon Truffles look SO good?  5 ingredients, easy to make, but look so much more impressive than that.  This is a good recipe to pin for serving at those baby or wedding showers that I know you inevitably have coming up, 'cuz 'tiz the season for those things as well.  Lemon is always such a cheery flavor to me, it think its a good way to brighten up a rainy day as well.  Enjoy!

Wish I could take credit for this, but it goes to OMGChocolateDesserts.com (how great a site is that?!)  Save that to your favorites, you know you'll want to reference that site again!
 

What are your favorite treat recipes? I'm looking to update my recipe box.