Rosemary Turkey Burgers

A few months ago, I was out to eat with some of my dearest friends, and we got to talking about how much we love love love burgers.  Each of us have our own dietary issues such as gluten allergies or not eating red meat.   I decided to throw out my recipe for Turkey Rosemary Burgers.  It is a burger, yes, but this burger is on a different level.  It is my go-to dinner if we are having friends over.  Some people feel that when they are having friends over for dinner that it needs to be super fancy to impress the people.  I have found when I do this, the atmosphere is stuffy and uncomfortable.  This is why I like to serve burgers.  Everyone feels at ease when they see a burger and this recipe is definitely a crowd pleaser.

Rosemary Turkey Burgers: I got this idea from my Giada at Home cookbook, which is probably my favorite cookbook of all time.  I have mentioned it before with my Pasta Ponza post, and I have another post in the works for my go-to soup recipe.  I tend to take the recipes and tweak them until I get them the way I like them.  Everything Giada makes is easy, delicious, and very beautiful, so I highly recommend picking up a copy of her cookbook.

Defrost 1 lb of ground turkey.  Giada uses ground chicken, but for some reason it is difficult for me to always find ground chicken at my local Kroger.  You can use whichever one you like better.

This recipe require just a few easy ingredients: Mayo, garlic, salt, pepper, and lots of fresh rosemary.  First of all, I hate mayonnaise.  I am not a big condiment girl to begin with, but mayo is my least favorite.  The only reason I even have mayo is for this recipe...the only reason.  Second, I love rosemary!  It is probably my favorite and most used herb.  This recipe gives me a chance to display my prized herb from my garden.

Add salt and pepper to your ground turkey.  Please use less salt than I have displayed!  I got a little carried away.  You really do not need much seasoning since you have the fragrant rosemary and the hint of garlic.

Give your rosemary a rough chop

The smell will hit you and you will feel like you are in a forest...but without the durn mosquitos!  

Add 2 minced garlic cloves and 2-3 tablespoons of mayo.  I also got carried away with the mayo!  I typically get 92% turkey with 8% fat (for which this much mayo would be okay), but this time accidentally got 85/15 and the excess mayo was not necessary.  If you add too much mayo, the burgers don't stick together well when you are cooking them. 

Add a few tablespoons of mayo to a separate bowl.  To the mayo, add 1 TBSP of minced rosemary and 1 minced garlic clove.  Sprinkle in some salt and pepper.

Instead of regular buns, I tend to use wheat Kaiser rolls.  They are more filling than regular buns.  I do not like people leaving my house hungry!

Form your burgers.  I leave a little indention in the middle of my burgers.  It is a little trick I learned from Food Network.  It makes nice flat burgers instead of rounded tops.  I do not know how; it just works!

Slather your buns with the mayo mixture

Throw your burgers on the grill/grill pan.  Let the burgers cook until they have reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees.  While the burgers are cooking, I throw the buns on the middle of my grill pan and toast them.  The mayo kinda browns up and you can't even tell that is what it was...thankfully!  Whew!  Let me re-emphasize: Mayo...not my fav...

Ta Da... My favorite way to eat a burger.  It looks impressive, but it is still just a burger.  Your company and you will love it!  You can add any of the usual things to enhance your burger.  We usually add spinach, provolone cheese, and a slice of tomato.  If you are like my hubby, you can add lots and lots of ketchup :)

I typically serve these burgers with some sort of potatoes.  This time it was my baked fries.  Wash your potatoes.  I know it looks like a lot of potatoes, but they go quick!

The key to baked fries is to cut them really thin.  Make thin lengthwise cuts down your potatoes.

Then make thin strips out of your potatoes.

Since Matt and I try to keep our sodium low, we have to enhance the flavor of our fries with other seasonings.  Fresh herbs are great for this, but my plants were running low at this time, so I made the executive decision to use dried herbs.  Here I used rosemary, oregano, salt, black pepper, and 2 minced garlic cloves.  I know this looks like a lot, but I haven't mixed it in yet.  I use about 2 TBSP of vegetable oil to make them crispy.  

The last important thing is to make sure you do not crowd your baking sheet.  If you do, the potatoes will steam instead of crisping up.  I lay down some tin foil to make clean up super easy then I spray the foil with Pam to keep the fries from sticking to the pan.  Bake them at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  You can turn them halfway, but I always forget and they still turn out yummy!

Rosemary Turkey Burgers

1 lb of ground turkey, defrosted

3 TBSP of minced fresh rosemary

3 garlic cloves, minced

5 TBSP of mayonnaise

4 Hamberger buns or Kaiser rolls

Salt and pepper

Preheat your grill or grill pan to medium high heat.

Mix ground turkey with 2 TBSP of rosemary, 2 garlic cloves, 3 TBSP of mayo, and salt and pepper.  Form burgers and place on grill.  Cook until the burgers reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

In a separate small bowl, mix together 2 TBSP of mayo, 1 TBSP of rosemary, 1 minced garlic clove, and salt and pepper.  Slather the buns, tops and bottoms, with the mayo mixture.  Grill the buns on low heat until toasted.

Assemble your burgers and enjoy!

For There Your Heart Will Be

As many of you know, we recently had a devastating event occur for my Milling family.  Early Sunday morning around 4:00 am, I received a call.  It was an unknown number, but since my husband was away on a hunting trip, I thought maybe he was calling me to say 'hello' before he went out for the day.  When I answered the phone, I was surprised to hear my father-in-law's voice.  Immediately, I knew something was very, very wrong.

"Emilee, This is David.  The house is burned down.  Everything is gone.  We lost everything.  I am calling you from a neighbor's house because we do not have phones.  We barely escaped with our lives."
The reality of what I am hearing hits me hard.  "What?  What do I need to do?"
"I...I don't know.  I don't know."
"Do you know what caused it?"
Pause "Yes...I put out a space heater for the cats..."

Over the following few minutes, I try and get in touch with Matt.  I had not heard from him the night before which is unusual, but this made me think his battery was dead on his phone.  After calling several numbers, I get in touch with him and deliver the terrible news.  One of the reasons I love my wonderful husband is that he never panics.  I always feel so safe with him because no matter what happens, he keeps a level head and knows the best course of action.  He is a true leader and I wish I had the strength he has.

Needless to say, we were all very much in shock the day that it happened, but I can't help but see God's hand in this situation.  Although the fire alarms did not go off, Mrs. Lisa and Mr. David made it out safely.  All of their pets are safe and sound.  Even though the rooms were burned and the ceiling caved in, money, checkbooks, credit cards, driver's licenses were found and untouched.  Even though the destruction was devastating, the things we care about most are safe.

I was brought into a reality check this week.  The point of my entire blog is not about yummy food, growing my herbs, or any of this material stuff.  It should be about having our hearts in the right place and treasuring the right things. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:19-21

As always, we appreciate your continued prayers for us during this time.  It means more to us than you may ever know.