Lettuce-Wrap Burgers and Baked Sweet Potato Fries {Gluten-free, Beef, Grilling}

This is a two-for-one recipe! My hubby's deliciously simple grass-fed beef burgers wrapped in crisp lettuce AND sweet and savory, baked sweet potato fries! You can absolutely add your favorite bun or roll for the burger if you prefer, but crunchy lettuce is a really tasty compliment. Sometimes I just put my burger over a giant green salad and it's wonderful. Click here for Lettuce-Wrap Burgers and here for my Baked Sweet Potato Fries recipe. Enjoy! ...click here for the recipe!

Quinoa Black Bean Burgers {Gluten Free}

Here's a fun meatless dinner idea!  In the spirit of trying out some new recipes I gave these a try.  I blended half the mixture and left half in it's whole form, which gave the burgers great texture.  They have some savory mushrooms in them too, which gives them a great depth of flavor.  We enjoyed ours on our favorite Udi's Gluten Free Buns.  Although flavorful, ours came out a bit soft, be sure to cook out most all of the moisture in your mushroom mixture and bake a touch longer if needed.  I think these would be super yummy without the bun as a topping for a crisp green salad too!  Try them for dinner tonight.  Enjoy!

Recipe: (serves 6)
Ingredients:
1/2 cup dry quinoa
2 cups water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups baby bella mushrooms, diced
1 (15oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons Montreal Steak Seasoning
1 cup fresh grilled corn kernals (or frozen corn)
cooking spray
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350'F.  In a small pot, over high heat, combine 1/2 cup dry quinoa with 1 cup water, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until quinoa is soft and water is absorbed.  Fluff with a fork and set aside.
2. In a pan over medium-high heat, saute mushrooms in olive oil for about 5 minutes until soft.  Add 3/4 cup of the black beans, 3/4 cup of the cooked quinoa, garlic powder, steak seasoning and 1 cup water to the pan, cook for another 10-12 minutes until nearly all the moisture is cooked out.
3. Transfer mushroom mixture to a food processor and blend for 2 minutes, until very smooth, scrape down the sides as needed.
4. In a bowl, combine the pureed mixture, remaining 3/4 cup whole black beans, remaining 1 cup cooked quinoa, corn kernals and stir to combine.  Season to taste.
5. Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, scoop out the mixture and form into patties, place on a baking sheet that's been sprayed with cooking spray.  You should get 6-7 patties.  Lightly spray the tops of the patties with cooking spray as well.  Bake in 350'F oven for 35-40 minutes, flipping once half-way through, or until crispy and hold their shape.  Place on your favorite bun with all the fixings.
...click here for the recipe!

Turkey Pesto Panini

Happy New Year's Eve, here's a fun party food!  My awesome hubby came up with this delicious panini sandwich recipe, which we have served up several times this Christmas season.  It's stuffed with turkey breast, piquillo peppers, spinach, pesto and jack cheese all melted together.  Anything with pesto is great in my opinion.  We used a natural "Oil Browned" turkey breast, which is nitrate/nitrite free, right from our local deli!  Be sure to buy a high quality pesto for this or here's my recipe to make your own pesto!  If you don't have a panini press, you can always use a grill pan and compress your sandwich with something heavy like a brick wrapped in aluminum foil.

Recipe (makes 4 sandwiches)
Ingredients:
1 medium loaf European Style Bread such as Pugliese or Filone
1/2 pound deli sliced natural turkey breast
piquillo peppers, blotted dry with a paper towel
~1/2 cup fresh spinach leaves
sliced jack cheese
1/4 cup pesto

Directions:
1. Slice loaf into 1/2 inch thick slices.  Spread about 1-1 1/2 teaspoons of pesto on each of the eight slices.  Assemble sandwiches with sliced turkey, piquillo peppers, spinach leaves and a slice of jack cheese, top with other slice of bread. *tip* for a large group or party you can prepare the sandwiches up to this point ahead and cover them in plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you are ready to grill.

2. Place sandwiches on Panini press and grill until golden and cheese is melted, about 4-5 minutes.  You can also use a grill pan or frying pan and press your sandwich with a heavy object such as the bottom of a clean pot or a brick wrapped in foil, flip halfway through. Serve hot with your favorite soup or a simple green salad. ...click here for the recipe!

Portobello Panini

Meaty Portobello mushrooms are the "bread" of this grilled sandwich. This is more of a knife and fork sandwich but it's packed with flavor and oozing with tasty Gorgonzola cheese. Enjoy!

Sandwiches made and on the Panini Press

 

just about ready to come off the grill

Piquillo Peppers

Recipe: (serves 4)
Ingredients
6 piquillo peppers sliced in half, blotted dry with a paper towel
8 portobello mushroom caps (~2 ounces each)
1/4 cup Gorgonzola Cheese
1/2 cup fresh spinach leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Clean mushrooms with damp paper towel and remove stems so they lay completely flat. Top four of the mushrooms with 1 1/2 slices of piquillo pepper (that have been blotted dry with a paper towel), ~ 1-2 tablespoons Gorgonzola cheese and several spinach leaves. Drizzle inside lightly with olive oil and top with remaining mushroom cap to make a sandwich.

2. Preheat large non-stick skillet or Panini Press over medium-high heat until hot. Place mushroom sandwiches in the hot pan carefully, they may have a tendency to slide out of the press at first so carefully hold them in place for ~ 30 seconds until they begin to soften on the grill, continue to cook for two minutes.

3. Flip carefully and cook until the mushrooms soften and begin to brown and the cheese is melted, about another 2 minutes, no need to flip in a Panini press.  Season lightly with salt and pepper and serve. We served ours up with some roasted rosemary potatoes, yum. ...click here for the recipe!

Shredded Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches with Roasted Asparagus

The slow-cooker slaved over this chicken all afternoon. I poured about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce over 4 chicken breasts and added about 2 cups of Low Sodium chicken broth and cooked it on high for 5 hours. Check half way through and add more chicken broth as needed to keep chicken moist.  Then I shredded it and added some diced red onions and alittle extra barbecue sauce to some toasty whole wheat buns.  Kind of like a Sloppy Joe, but with chicken! This is a fun 4th of July recipe idea.

Served up with some roasted asparagus with Parmesan cheese.  Used our awesome LeCruset grill pan, a gift from my sister and brother-in-law.  It works great for grilling up veggies right on the stove top.

...click here for the recipe!

Grilled vegetable ciabatta sandwiches

A mix of seasonal veggies including, eggplant, zucchini, cremini mushrooms, red onions and red bell pepper sautéed with olive oil, garlic and herbs until tender. Then layered on fresh ciabatta rolls with mustard and pepper jack cheese. Place open-faced in the broiler until cheese is melted. Yummy!

Recipe:
Ingredients (serves 4-5)
4-5 ciabatta bread rolls, sliced in half (sandwich rolls)
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
2 medium portobello mushrooms, sliced (or 1 cup sliced cremini mushrooms)
1/2 small red onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup yellow summer squash, sliced
1/2 cup zucchini, sliced
1/2 cup eggplant, thinly sliced
olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
fresh black pepper
plain yellow mustard
pepper jack cheese, 4 slices

1. Chop the veggies in long skinny strips (all in equal sizes).  Feel free to substitute in or out whatever veggies you have on hand and use your family's favorites.

2. Add all veggies to a sauté pan over medium-high heat with 2-3 Tablespoons olive oil, add garlic, garlic powder, Italian Seasoning, and fresh ground pepper to taste. Sauté for ~5-10 minutes or until just before al dente
3. Slice ciabatta rolls in half (horizontally) and spray or brush with olive oil put in broiler to toast until lightly browned but still soft. Spread a light amount of mustard on each side of bread. To the bottom slice of bread for each sandwich put a pile of veggies and cover with a thin slice of pepper jack cheese place back under the broiler to melt the cheese, then remove from the oven.

4. Assemble the sandwich immediately and let sit for a minute then cut in half and serve. ...click here for the recipe!

Barbecued Chicken Sandwiches

Grilled chicken breasts with barbecue sauce, topped with roasted (& peeled) Anaheim chili peppers, red onion, lettuce, turkey bacon and pepper jack cheese.  Yummo! ...click here for the recipe!

J's Turkey Burgers

These are J's awesome turkey burgers.  He has tweaked the recipe many times and they are always so tasty.  They go great on whole wheat buns with Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce.  Here's his latest version with estimates of amounts...

J's Turkey Burger Recipe:

put in a bowl and mix with clean hands:

~1 - 1 1/4lbs of lean ground turkey

1/2 small can of diced green chilies

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

~1/4 cup bread crumbs, whole wheat works fine

ground black pepper

I also use a couple shakes of Trader Joe's Barbecue Grill & Broil (salt free) seasoning

shape into 4-6 burgers (press into flat patties not domed)

spray burgers with cooking spray on both sides to keep them from sticking

place on a hot GRILL.  Once the lower 1/3 of the patty is brown and the meat is easy to turn,

FLIP ONCE, continue cooking until patty reaches an internal temperature of 160'F.

*edited to add
Also try another variation...
1 lb ground turkey
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup corn flake crumbs 
Prepare and cook same as above!

...click here for the recipe!