Posting Behind the Bird: Turkey Salad

Going to post regarding the turkey salad recipe in this episode later today. We had a roasted turkey breast last night so I thought this would be a good way to use some of it up.

I couldn't actually find the recipe on the food network website but this is the episode when the crew was "snowed in" and had to do what they could during that time. Here is the link to utube for the episode.

Here's the recipe:
1 lb Roasted Turkey meat
1/2 c mayonnaise
1/2 small lemon freshly squeezed
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1/2 c pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
1/4 c dried cranberries, roughly chopped
2 TBSP fresh sage, chiffonade
1/4 tsp kosher salt
black pepper, to taste

Combine everything in a large airtight container. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving. Store in the fridge for 3 days.

I normally don't like fruit mixed with my meat. But this was great. I think the fresh sage really added a lot to this salad.

It is on page 163 if you have the book.

Catch Up--Elise's Turkey Burgers

I'm glad I finally made these!

Here's what I did differently:

• added two extra grated carrots
• added an extra tsp. of thyme (this was by accident, but turned out to be a delicious mistake)
• grilled onions with the patties

We served them on regular buns with grilled onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and cucumbers. I'm not a big beef person, so for me these were a great change from the regular ground beef burger. And especially in the heat of summer (when meat just feels too heavy to eat), these are lighter than regular burgers. If you haven't made these yet, go make them!

Danielle's Stroganoff Sandwiches

I have to admit, I didn't think I would love this recipe. But I'm glad I made it. Max and I both really liked it.

Like Deanna, I used ground turkey instead of ground beef. I'm not a big fan of ground beef, but I actually think ground turkey worked better in this recipe. I think ground beef would've been too heavy.

Other things I did differently were that I cooked the green pepper with the onion and turkey because I'm not a big fan of raw (or close to raw) green peppers, and I used fresh garlic instead of garlic powder. Also, as you can tell from the picture, we had ours open-faced, more like stroganoff on toast rather than sandwiches. We just thought it would be a lot easier and less messy to eat that way.

This was a very easy, quick, delicious dinner.

Cami's Lettuce Wraps

(This is not my picture. I'm only using this one to show what Boston lettuce looks like)

These are so ridiculously good. I loved these. I also chose ground turkey because I couldn't find chicken. Next time I'd like to try it with tofu. It sounds great. I added some ginger because I love ginger and it just makes sense in a recipe like this. I didn't get the chance to take a picture because it was kind of hectic. All well. You can all just pretend mine looked as good as Whitney's or Danielle's.

I have made a similar recipe a few times in the past. That recipe said to use Bibb or Boston lettuce and that is what I used for these. Boston lettuce is basically smaller than a regular head of lettuce which seems to make them more manageable and hold up better.

I will most certainly making these again. Thanks Whitney!

burgers and cake for daddy

First off...cheers to me that I finally bought the Baked cookbook. I confess I was being cheap and working off photo copies. But I figured it was silly to have all these recipes in my cooking repertoire and not have the book so now I have it.

Jeff requested burgers for Fathers' Day so I finally made the Turkey Burgers. What a great recipe! I love recipes with veggies and it is comforting to eat a healthy white meat rather than red. I used dried oregano and fresh basil (from my very own basil plant on the deck). Like Danielle, I used ~1.25 pounds of meat so I did 3 cloves of garlic and extra salt. I had plans to grill them, but we were out of propane. I did a combination of browning them in the olive oil on a skillet and broiling them in the oven. The consistency seemed like it would be fine for a grill, however, I realized after I shaped them into patties that I forgot the egg. I think it would have made them a little more moist. I'm going to make them again on Thursday for our ward recipe exchange (theme: 4th of July BBQ...perfect) and I will use the same amount of meat, remember the egg, and grill them. Though I don't think it would hurt to brown them with the olive oil first...I like the flavor of olive oil. Simon loves "cheegugers" so I figured he would eat this. He ate half of it and then said "no like it" to the rest...which he does often. I finished his and with no complaint.

I very seriously considered making Jeff the German Chocolate Cake since that is his favorite kind of cake. However, after reading through the comments I decided I will make it when more than one person will enjoy it. I don't like coconut so I don't like German Chocolate Cake...but maybe I will like this one. Instead I made the milk chocolate frosting and put it on a Devil's Food cake from a box. I had to make a few modifications. I only had just under 1 C of heavy cream so I made it 1 C with whole milk and then I made 2/3 of a recipe. It seemed a little runny even after I chilled it for 15 minutes so I added about 1/4 C powdered sugar. It might have been because it is rather humid here in Northern Virginia...but the kitchen wasn't especially warm or anything. I used Ghirardelli bittersweet baking chocolate and Hershey's milk chocolate chips so I felt like at least half of the chocolate was high quality. In the end I can't say I loved it. I was hopeful, but it was too bitter for my liking...and I'm even a dark chocolate lover. It was better than your usual homemade cocoa frosting. My favorite kind of chocolate frosting is the store bought dark chocolate, but I usually just stick with a cream cheese frosting on cakes. Jeff thought it was an 8 on 0-10 scale. I'd say a 6. I may try again when I am better prepared with all the ingredients. I will only make a 1/2 recipe next time because it makes a ton of frosting.


I hope to make the pasta this week. I was planning to get the ingredients yesterday, but I wrote my list on the back of my Border's coupon which I gave to the cashier at Border's before I went to the grocery store. I am a big fan of the concept of Deceptively Delicious, but I haven't tried a lot of the recipes so I'm looking forward to it.

Has anyone ever "fondanted" a cake? (Did I make up the word 'fondanted'? I guess fondant is a verb because when I google it I get things like "how to fondant a cake.") I'm thinking about it for Jack's birthday on Saturday. I don't think the frosting sounds all that tasty, but they look so beautiful.

Jeannie's Turkey Burgers

Very tasty! I've decided that the garlic makes the burger. These were flavorful and filling. We topped with cheddar cheese, tomato, and avocado.

Seems that ground turkey is kinda pricey ($6 a pound, normally, but was on sale for $4 today. Is that normal??) so we may not have these as often as I'd like. But I'll definitely make it again!

Danielle's Turkey Burgers

Yum! Max and I are not really burger people (stems from not being ground beef people), but since these are turkey burgers and since everyone said they were so tasty, I decided to give it a shot. I don't know that I'll make these regularly, but they seem like a great Saturday BBQ food.

We were actually able to cook these on our (or should I say, the Hickmans') BBQ grill. The thing of turkey I bought was 20 oz (1.25 lbs), and I just threw the whole thing in with the rest of the ingredients as listed in the recipe (although I added extra garlic and pepper). I think if I'd had less meat with the same amount of egg they may not have stayed together on the grill.

Following Jessica's recommendation, we had ours on pretzel rolls (excellent suggestion!) with BBQ sauce, pickles, grilled onions, and pepper jack cheese. We toasted our rolls on the grill too, which was great. We love having a BBQ!

Melanie W.'s Burgers

(Sorry this isn't the best picture...Josh is out of town with the camera so I had to use our video camera)

Once again I couldn't find any ground meat other than beef, so mine were regular beef burgers instead. I just got the leanest I could find. I thought they were so so yummy with the zucchini and carrot mixed in! I loved the flavor, and I liked knowing I was eating a few extra veggies at the same time.

I served mine with cheddar cheese, avocado, tomato, a little mayo, ketchup, and mustard. Yummm! I didn't have any lettuce or would have added that also. I didn't have thyme or Italian seasoning, so I just added some basil and oregano. And instead of garlic cloves I just used garlic powder. My only complaint about the recipe is that the patties didn't stick together very well, but I didn't make them to impress anyone so I didn't really mind. This recipe is definitely a keeper!

Jessica's Turkey Burgers

When I was 20 or so I went on this crazy diet that involved many many turkey burgers. After the experience of turkey patties day in and day out I had to swear off the TB FOREVER! I was soooo sick of them. So when it came to my attention that this weeks recipe was my forgotten nemesis I truly battled with the idea of revisiting what I had come to know as the horror of Turkey Burgers.

I decided to bolster up some courage and give them yet another try.

THANK GOODNESS I DID

These turned out stupendously terrific

Here's the skinny on what I did

- I served them on Pretzel Buns (these can be found at Hyde Park Produce) a little spendy but so worth it

- I added 1/4 tsp. of ground mustard, it gave them a nice kick

- I upped the salt a tad

- White Cheddar was the way to go

- Classic Yellow and a dab of BBQ Sauce

- Served with Terra Exotic Vegetable Chips

These will definitely be integrated into my cooking arsenal

Cami's Turkey Burgers

I'll be honest, I wasn't too sure about these based on the recipe. I'm not a huge ground beef person and haven't ever used ground turkey before we started this little group. So, I'm expanding my cooking comfort zone. Jason and I really liked them though and I will definitely make them again. Hopefully soon!

I accidentally used the zucchini for dinner the night before in a mixed veggie dish and so I just did extra carrots. I also added some Worcestershire sauce and served them on onion rolls, which were awesome! Jason had his with cheddar cheese, ketchup and mustard. I had mine with provolone, ketchup and pickles. The texture was perfect and they cooked up pretty quickly. They were a bit too crumbly for a grill but I don't have one so it doesn't matter.

Turkey Burger with Grated Zucchini and Carrots (from Real Simple Magazine)

Total time: 25 minutes
Serves 4

3/4 pound ground turkey
1 med zucchini, grated
1 med carrot, grated
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3/4 teas. dried thyme*
3/4/ teas. kosher salt
1/4 teas. black pepper
1 large egg
olive oil

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients, except for the olive oil. Form the mixture into 4 patties (although mine usually ends up more than 4 patties because I think I make some of them smaller for my kids). Heat 1 T. oil in a large skillet over medium heat.** Cook the patties, turning once, until no trace of pink remains, 4 to 5 minutes per side. *When I don't have thyme, I just use an Italian herb mix (which contains thyme) and it tastes just as good. **I don't think you can grill these burgers...they are pretty soft patties and I think they would fall through the grill.

Real Simple suggests serving it like this:
4 slices cruty bread
4 small leaves Boston lettuce
4 T. mayo (optional)
2 teas. fresh lemon juice (optional)

Heat broiler. Place the bread on a baking sheet and brush with 2 T. olive oil. Broil until golden brown and crisp, about 1 1/2 minutes. Transfer the bread to individual plates. Top with the lettuce leaves and burgers. If using, combine the mayo and lemon juice in a small bowl and servie with the burgers.

To be honest, I've never tried it the way the magazine suggests (mostly because I'm not crazy about mayo on my food). We've had them on plain hamburger buns as well as soft rolls or Kaiser buns. Nicholas (age 7) likes his with BBQ sauce. Sophia (age 4) is a purist and likes them plain with her bun. Greg and I like ours with regular hamburger fixings and a slice of sharp white cheddar cheese, or with lettuce, tomatoes and avocado slices. I like to put homemade bread & butter pickles in mine (although the store-bought ones are ok, too). It's pretty flexible and I like that my kids get a little dose of veggies. And it's pretty quick and easy to put together on a busy night.

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When did you start baking / cooking?
I feel like I've been baking and cooking for as long as I can remember. My mom has no recipes for anything she cooks, so when I was little, one of my favorite things to do (and even now when I'm with my mom) is to get the spices for her and watch how many pinches of this and that she puts into her food. She cooks by taste, so my other favorite part of cooking with her was tasting. I always enjoyed baking, but I did a lot of baking when I was in law school because it was a nice, timed way to take a break from reading and outlining. And at the end, there were yummy treats to be had.

What is your favorite kitchen tool?
Oh, so hard to pick just one. I love anything that requires zesting citrus...love the oils that spritz out when you zest. Also love a good silicone spatula. Oh, my KitchenAid (ten years and running...).

Do you have a favorite spice? If so, what is it?
Ginger--fresh is great, but powder is pretty good, too. I love that you can use it in cooking and baking and it just wakes up food.

What is your favorite book?
Once again, so hard to pick one. To Kill a Mockingbird is an old favorite. I recently read Charlotte's Web with my son and forgot what a good book that was. And Mama, Do You Love Me? is one of my all-time favorite books to read to my kids.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?
Anywhere tropical, but somewhere with no mosquitos. That's a tough one. I love going to Hawaii and I'd go back in a second...even if they have mosquitos.

If you had to change your first name right now, what would you change it to?
I wouldn't. I spent most of my early childhood after we moved to the U.S. wishing that I had a different (*American*) name because no one could say my name right and I remember wishing my name was as simple as my friend Susie's in the first grade. Then when my family got our U.S. citizenship, my parents said we could choose a name if we wanted. And I couldn't come up with a name that I liked enough to change my name. Same with my last name. Couldn't wait to get married to change it and when I did, I couldn't part with it altogether. So I compromised and hyphenated.

Where do you currently live?
Chicago, Illinois

Where are you from?
I was born in Korea, but moved to the U.S. when I was five. I got to Chicago by way of Kansas, Texas, Indiana, Illinois, D.C., Minnesota, and Utah.