Family Recipe: Turkey Burgers

Since this Sunday is Father's Day and I will have a busy weekend, I've decided to move up my weekly recipe. And if you'll allow my somewhat biased opinion, I think these turkey burgers would be a great Father's Day meal. 

They are super easy to prepare, but make sure you chill the formed patties in the fridge before putting them on the grill. They tend to come apart otherwise.

These burgers have become a dinner staple in my house and I hope you enjoy them as much as we do. And a very relaxing, Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!

Turkey Burgers (makes 5-6 patties depending on your preference)
1 package ground turkey*
1 cup plain bread crumbs or plain panko 
1 egg white
1 can low-sodium chopped green chiles (if you can find Hatch, those are the best!)
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ancho chile powder
1/4 tsp. roasted ground cumin
*My grocery store often packages the ground turkey between 1 lb. and 1.4 lbs. Anything in that range is fine for this recipe.

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Use your hands to combine well.

2. Form the mixture into 5-6 patties. Chill in the fridge for 15-20 to keep them from falling apart during cooking.

3. You can cook these in a pan over medium-high heat, cooking 5 minutes each side; or on the grill over medium heat for 6 minutes on each side; or on a Foreman Grill. Serve on a hamburger bun with you favorite toppings.

Optional garnishes: salsa, sour cream, fresh cilantro, grilled onions and peppers.

Family Recipe: Butterscotch Pie

This is a butterscoth pie that I made with the help of my grandmother. This is a pie that she used to make for my grandfather's birthday, and also one that she hadn't eaten in a long time so there was an even greater pleasure in learning how to make it.

My grandfather passed away earlier this year, so knowing how to make this pie is very special to me. He loved to cook and was very good at it, though he had an maybe an odd sense of what was tasty. Think salmon loaf. But then on another day he might make an incredibly flavorful and tender beef stew with potatoes, carrots and onions.

The pie is fairly easy to make. The real work comes in making the filling; it takes patience to not burn or curdle it. It's technically a pudding so if you've never made one before, this is a great recipe to start with because it's so basic (and I hope I've made the directions clear enough!). Also, if you aren't interested in making the meringue, whipped cream will do just fine.

I do want to point out that this flavor is real butterscotch; that is, the flavor is derived from butter and brown sugar. This will not resemble butterscotch syrup, chips or Jell-O pudding. I find it more enjoyable because it isn't nearly as sweet.

It occurs to me as I write this post that you could try adding butterscotch chips when you add the vanilla (Step 7). If anyone tries this before I do, let me know how it turns out!

Butterscotch Pie (Serves about 8)

1 9-inch refrigerated piecrust, baked according to package

3 egg yolks (reserve whites for meringue, if desired)

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 cup light brown sugar

3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 cup milk (use anything but skim)

1/4 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp. water

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Meringue:

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1/8 tsp. salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Bake your piecrust according to the package directions. Let it cool completely while you make the filling. Tip: Don't forget to poke the crust with a fork at 1-inch intervals along the sides and bottom.

2. Separate egg whites from yolks into a small bowl. Beat yolks gently, just enough to break them and mix. Reserve egg whites if you desire to make the meringue. Tip: Cold eggs separate more easily; once separated, let them come to room temperature for the meringue.

3. Cut sugar and butter together in a separate bowl. Add flour to sugar mix and combine well.

4. Add sugar mix to yolks and mix well. At this point it will still be pretty dry.

5. In a small saucepan, combine milk, salt, and water. Warm the mixture over med-high heat until it just starts to bubble. Add sugar mix and whisk until dissolved.

6. Continue whisking until mixture thickens, about 20-25 minutes. You're looking for a thick, pudding-like consistency.

7. Take mixture off the heat and mix in vanilla. Cover with a towel while you prepare the meringue. (If you're skipping the meringue, let it cool completely before filling the piecrust and storing in the fridge. You want to chill it for several hours to let the custard set before serving.)

8. Set your oven to 350 degrees.

9. In a deep, metal bowl beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed with a hand or stand mixer until very foamy.

10. Add 1 Tablespoon of sugar at a time every 30 seconds to the egg whites. Continue beating until meringue has stiff, glossy peaks. When you check the meringue, the peaks should hold stand straight.

11. Add vanilla and beat into the whites. Make sure you still have stiff peaks.

11. Spoon custard into piecrust and smooth -- be careful as it will still be warm. Spoon meringue on top of pie filling and use a spatula to spread evenly over the pie.

12. Bake pie 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees until meringue is golden brown.

13. Let cool completely on a rack before serving. You can store in the fridge for a couple of days, covered with plastic wrap.

FR: Panko-Crusted Tilapia with Dill Sauce

This week is I wanted to share a fish recipe that's great for any time of the year but especially now during these hot summer days. Paired with fresh veggies and fruit, this makes a satisfying and light meal.

I like mixing Cajun seasoning with the panko to give the fish a kick and the dill sauce cools it all down. If you don't like Cajun seasoning, I would recommend adding some pepper and salt to add flavor to the panko. 

FR: Brownies Made Better

I'm heading back to Birmingham this weekend to visit my Southern Progress friends, one of which is letting me crash on her couch. She's a food stylist and recipe developer (among other things) so I was a little worried about what to get her as a thank you.

Then I calmed down and realized I could bake her a treat. I chose Bea's Brownies, which are named after my great-great aunt. These brownies include two delicious layers; Hershey's syrup and lots of eggs make the brownie layer cake-moist and the frosting is basically an old-fashioned fudge (butter, sugar, milk and chocolate chips) that sets quickly and melts in your mouth.

Oh, man, just writing about them makes me want to run downstairs and cut a huge piece for myself! Must resist...

FR: Carrot-Spinach Casserole

This week's Family Recipe is a delicious and rich Carrot-Spinach Casserole. Layers of rich green spinach, sweet carrots and onions, and a rich cheese sauce are topped with plain bread crumbs and baked until bubbly.

This was one of my grandma's go-to sides during the holidays, and after tasting all those layers together, I have to agree that the only time I'd serve this decadent side is Christmas. I was able to put this together in about an hour total, and this would be easy to assemble a day ahead and bake just before serving. If you do this, cover with aluminum foil, refrigerate, and uncover to bake.

Carrot-Spinach Casserole (Serves 6-8)
1 1/2 cups fresh carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (10-ounce) package frozen leaf spinach
3 Tbsp. margarine
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup plain bread crumbs or panko

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cook spinach according to package directions. Drain well.

3. Put carrots and onions in a medium-sized pan on medium-high heat. Cover with water and cook until the veggies are tender, about 10-15 minutes. Take off heat and drain any excess water.

4. In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add flour, tablespoon by tablespoon, whisking well after each one.

5. Slowly add milk, whisking well to avoid lumps. Whisk in salt.

6. Whisk constantly until thick, about 20 minutes.

7. Take off heat and whisk in cheddar cheese. Add black pepper to taste.

8. In a greased 1-quart casserole dish, layer half of the spinach, half the carrots and onions, and half the cheese sauce. Repeat layers and top with bread crumbs.

9. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees or until bubbly.

Family Recipe: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

 

My dad and I have been on a cookie binge this month, and so far we've been eating through our stash of ready to bake cookies. This week I decided that instead of baking another just okay batch of cookies, I would make some homemade goodies.

I pulled this recipe out of my grandparents' recipe box and after a little tweaking, I suddenly had five dozen super-moist cookies flavored with spices and chock full of plump, sweet raisins. Yum!

Family Recipe: Italian Sausage Soup

For those that cook regularly, soup is the perfect easy meal. With one pot and about an hour, you can create a satisfying and (usually) healthy meal. This recipe is very popular in my house because it has really great flavor without being high in fat, salt, or carbs.

It's been adapted from a very good Cooking Light recipe. To try and manage the carbs and sodium we eat, I've taken out the pasta and canned Italian-seasoned tomatoes from the original recipe and substituted fresh tomatoes and white beans.

Italian sausage provides plenty of flavor and if you use the hot style, a nice hit of spiciness. As a result, the only other seasoning we add is Italian seasoning blend.

Italian Sausage Soup Revised  (6-8 servings)

16 ounces hot or sweet turkey Italian sausage*
1 teaspoon minced garlic, fresh or jarred
2 pints grape tomatoes, cut into eighths
1 can Great Northern beans, drained
1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
4 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 bag of baby spinach leaves (you can add the whole bag if you like)
1 cup loosley packed fresh basil (you can put in whole or roughly chop the basil)
Olive oil
Garnish: shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese
*You can also do half sweet sausage and half hot sausage. For the batch I photographed, I used Publix brand hot Italian sausage and Johnsonville brand Sweet Italian Sausage with Sweet Basil.

1. Heat a soup pot over med-high heat. Add about a tablespoon of olive oil to the pot. Using a small knife, open the casing on the sausage links and remove the filling. Brown sausage in the soup pot, breaking it into crumbles as it cooks.

2. Drain fat from the meat. Tip: I find that a lot of fat still remains on the sausage even when you let it drain for a while. Rinse the meat with cold water and you will remove even more.

3. Saute the garlic for one minute in the soup pot. Add the tomatoes. Let them cook down for about 6 minutes until they start to soften.

4. Add the meat, chicken broth, beans, and Italian Seasoning. Stir to blend.

5. Bring soup to a boil and then lower heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20-30 minutes to let tomatoes break down a little more and let the flavors blend.

6. A few minutes before serving, add the spinach and basil. Mix into the soup and let the greens wilt for a minute or two and serve with Parmesan or Romano cheese, if desired.

Family Recipe: Stuffed Cabbage

I came across this recipe in my Haverly Family Recipes cookbook (my paternal grandma's family) and immediately my stomach growled! What a perfect meal for a cold winter day -- seasoned meat rolled in cabbage, baked and covered in a cream sauce.

Okay, I skipped the cream sauce for tomato basil, but I kept the rest of the recipe close to the original. 

Thinking about this recipe also brought back memories of my time in Romania. When we stayed with some families in a small village, my first meal with my host family was Hungarian-style stuffed cabbage in a pink sauce. 

I can't help but remember how satisfying and delicious that meal was, so I had high hopes for my own version of the dish. Since there were only four rolls left out of fourteen, I would call this one a success. 

Family Recipe: Chicken Fajitas

  
Latin and Latin-inspired foods are probably the most popular in our family dinner rotation because they are flavorful, filling, and with a little planning, healthy. 

One of our quick dinners is to make tortilla-less chicken fajitas and veggies. We have a Foreman Grill that we like to cook the chicken on but you could easily cook the breasts in a non-stick skillet (six minutes each side). Cook the veggies first, cover to keep warm, and then cook the chicken.

Chicken Fajitas with Chili-Lime Marinade 
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons and 3/4 teaspoon red wine vinegar
Juice from 1 1/2 limes
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
cayenne pepper to taste (start with 1/4 teaspoon and taste if you're unsure)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 large onion, chopped
1 large red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 large green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 teaspoon 365 brand Southwestern Grille Seasoning (from Whole Foods)
OR for lower sodium:
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (add more if you like heat)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, and lime juice. Add seasonings through salt and pepper and mix.

Place the chicken breasts in a large plastic zip top bag. Pour marinade* over the chicken. Make sure all of the air is out of the bag and seal up. Move the chicken around to ensure the marinade is covering all parts of the chicken. Let marinade one hour to overnight.

Toss the veggies in either the Southwestern Grille Seasoning or ground red pepper and cumin mixture.  

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. While you get the onions going, preheat the Foreman grill. Cook the onions until soft, but crisp.  Remove from the pan and cover with foil to keep warm. 

Place chicken onto the grill. Discard the marinade. Cook for 6 minutes.

While chicken is cooking, throw the peppers in the same pan you used to cook the onions. Cook until crisp-tender (chicken and peppers will be done about the same time.)

Place on a plate and let the chicken rest for a minute or two before slicing into strips and serving with the veggies.

 *This marinade is from a recipe posted allrecipes.com and adapted for this recipe.

Family Recipe: Ham and Bean Soup

For me, there's little better in life than sitting down with loved ones and eating a home-cooked meal; or, if that's not possible, cooking and eating the dishes that evoke memories of family and the time spent with them. Every Sunday I'll publish a post of one of these dishes. The Family Recipe posts will include a variety of classic family favorites and also some others that we have in our regular rotation. I'll share some recipes in their original form, and tweak some for taste or health reasons.

According to rumors I hear each Christmas, some brave people eat turkey or goose for Christmas Day dinner. I really can't imagine dealing with another fowl during the holiday season. Pass!

At my house, we serve ham. This means that one of us (in the past few years, it's been myself or my brother Ben) makes a treacherous journey to our local HoneyBaked Ham. Laugh all you want, but this location is in the heart of one of the major shopping centers in eastern Cobb County, which is rife with incompetent drivers and bloodthirsty shoppers.

Ready to eat and sugary-spicy delicious, HoneyBaked is a perfect solution for our family on Christmas Day. And, of course, there are plenty of leftovers. After we've tired of eating it with other Christmas feast leftovers or in sandwiches, I know it's time to bring out the soup pot for Ham and Bean Soup.

Connoisseurs of this dish know that there are as many recipes for this soup as there are for stuffing. Ours is very simple and was perfected by my grandfather, Russ Britzius. The star of this soup is the broth, and the majority of its flavor comes from the ham bone. If there's ham left, we throw that in too, and Great Northern beans round out the dish. I like to serve this with cornbread muffins and citrus for a fruit.

Ham and Bean Soup

1 ham bone (leave any leftover ham on the bone. We usually end up with 2 cups leftover ham, but you can add more or less)
OR
2 ham hocks
2 cups cubed cooked whole ham (not deli ham)
10 cups water
1 chopped onion
4 cans great Northern beans (or really any similar sized white bean)

Clean the meat and bone of fat.

Place ham bone or hocks in a large soup pot.


Add water. Turn burner to high heat to get the water boiling; once it boils, lower heat until the water is simmering.

Simmer for 2 1/2 - 3 hours, until majority of the ham falls off the bone and is tender. Follow the same cooking time for the hocks.


Take pot off the heat. Take out the bone or hocks. Pull any remaining meat from the bone; place in a bowl and then discard the bone/hocks.

Strain the liquid to discard any remaining pieces of fat.

Place the liquid and meat back into the soup pot. Add the chopped onion, beans. If you've used hocks, go ahead and place your cubed ham in the pot.

Bring the soup to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer and let it go for another hour.


This soup is wonderful served immediately. You can also let it cool, place in air-tight plastic containers, and refrigerate overnight. The next day, any remaining fat will form on the top of the soup; skim off. Note that this broth will turn gelatinous when refrigerated.