Turkey Stuffing Burgers / Cranberry Relish

I'm not a huge fan of most Thanksgiving food, believe it or not. The turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and even the pumpkin pie are all good, but I could take them or leave them, honestly. The stuffing, however, is a different story. I love stuffing, I could eat boatloads of it. Seriously, I am drooling just thinking about it.

I already had turkey burgers and sweet potato fries on the menu for this week when I came across this recipe for Stuffing Turkey Burgers with Cranberry Relish. The ones I had on the menu were boring, uninspired turkey burgers though. Just your standard lettuce, tomato, cheese, and ketchup on a bun. So it was an absolute no-brainer to nix those plain-Jane-I'll-just-throw these-on-the-menu-because-I-can't-think-of-anything-else in favor of these Stuffing Turkey Burgers. And man, best decision ever.

I was seriously so excited to make these all freaking week! I often switch around the menu around depending on what we're in the mood for that night, or if there's anything that needs to used up first. What kept pushing these back though, was the fact that the recipe calls for day-old corn bread. And what do you know, you have to bake cornbread the day before in order to have that! Apparently planning in advance is not my forte. Finally, I decided eff it, I can't wait any longer. I'll just make the corn bread the same night.

How has this combination of stuffing flavors in a turkey burger (with cranberry relish no less!) never been brought to my attention before? I suppose I'll just have to be "thankful" that I found this recipe at all! 

Do I even need to tell you that I enjoyed these? I think H loved them just as much as I did.

Turkey and Stuffing Burgers with Cranberry Relish
Makes 6-8 burgers

for the relish:
1 cup of whole berry cranberry sauce
2 Tablespoons of apple cider
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves

for the burgers:
1 Tablespoon of butter
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1 Tablespoon of dried sage
1/2 Tablespoon of dried thyme

1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
1 1/2 cups of day old cornbread, crumbled
1 egg

1 teaspoon of poultry seasoning
1 teapsoon of salt
pinch of black pepper


Directions: Mix all of the ingredients for the cranberry relish, and refrigerate while you prepare the burgers. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, and saute celery and onions with sage and thyme until soft, about 5 minutes. Set aside and let cool.

Meanwhile, mix turkey, egg, bread, salt, pepper, and poultry seasoning together in a bowl. When onions and celery are cool, mix in with the turkey and knead to combine all ingredients. (Feel free to add a bit more of the spices, especially thyme and sage, if you really want that stuffing flavor to kick.) Form into 6-8 burgers. Heat a non-stick grill pan to medium-high. Cook burgers about 6 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned and cooked through.

Serve with cranberry relish, on toasted buns, and enjoy!

Adapted from Pink Parsley, original recipe here.

Bleu Cheese Burgers

I love a good burger. And I especially love finding different ways to make the same old burger. The possibilities are endless! I found this bleu cheese burger on Pioneer Woman, and since H is a big fan of bleu cheese, I knew he would love it.

Bleu Cheese Burgers

1 red onion, cut into slices
1 Tablespoon butter
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

4 Tablespoons mayonnaise
Tabasco sauce to taste

1 lb. ground beef (makes 4 burgers)
pinch of Kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
3 tespoons Tabasco sauce
1 egg

crumbled bleu cheese
spring greens
4 Kaiser rolls

Heat butter in saucepan until melted. Add brown sugar and red onion, and slowly let caramelize.

Mix up mayonnaise and Tabasco to form a spicy mayonnaise. Use as much Tabasco as you prefer for heat, tasting to test.

Mix beef with egg, salt, pepper, and Tabsco and form into burgers. Grill those babies up!

Towards the end of the burgers grilling, place the Kaiser rolls directly on the grill grate for a few seconds to blacken (not letting them get as dark as I got mine). When burgers are done, spread spicy mayo on the rolls, and top burgers with bleu cheese crumbles, caramelized onions, and spring greens. Enjoy!

Adapted from Pioneer Woman, original recipe here. These were definitely very tasty, and a nice twist on the same old!

New Recipe Review- Cherry Tomato Salad and Turkey Cheddar Burgers

It's been so hot lately (we've had 3 days straight of highs in the lower 100's), that I haven't been in the mood to do a whole lot of cooking this week. We have mostly been grilling outside as to not heat up the house, and I think my brain may be quite fried as well. So what to do for my new recipe this week? Well, the answer is to kind of take the easy way out...

I made both of these dishes before, so I'm not sure if this is cheating, but I have never used these recipes before, so I'll say it's not. Well... that and I'm the one who makes up the rules!

The recipe for Turkey Cheddar Burgers is from Epicurious and can be found here. I usually make turkey burgers with a bit more add-in's- egg, breadcrumbs, ketchup, garlic, Worcestershire, etc. in addition to the salt, pepper, and onion (shallot in this case)- so I admit I was a little nervous about a possible lack of flavor. I also forgot to make the sun-dried tomato mayo with this (told you my brain is fried), so instead we used ranch dressing as a spread, and topped them with more cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, and slices of avocado.

They were good, especially on the grill! Probably not what the recipe intended, as I turned them into somewhat of a Southwestern burger, but I liked them. The cheddar melted inside the burgers, so that definitely gave them the flavor I was hoping for. And the extra sliced cheddar on top gave them the cheesiness I need in a burger. I would probably add Worcestershire sauce next time though... or make them with beef, not sure if turkey was as "meaty" as I felt these should be.

The recipe for Cherry Tomato Salad is from Annie at Annie's Eats can be found here. It was a couple more steps (for me anyway) than the usual tomato-cucumber-feta salad, but it was well worth it! Letting the tomatoes sit in the salt and sugar definitely brought out their flavor, in addition to the juices. The salad was so light and flavorful, definitely a perfect summer side dish.