Bacon Burgers with Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

In my house bacon is it's own food group. I live with three males and they can be sound asleep, but when I start frying bacon they suddenly appear out of thin air. The same goes for their enthusiasm for menu ideas. If I mention most recipes I get complete disregard or an occasional quick comment. However, if I casually mention that I'm making a recipe that involves bacon for dinner, suddenly they become very interested in everything I'm doing. Occasionally my oldest goes so far as to run around the house with a crazy voice shouting the word bacon over and over again. It's a little odd, but the boy knows what he likes and bacon is at the top of the list.

There is something very appealing about a delicious and juicy burger. My whole family loves them and I make some burger variation at least once or twice a month. Last week I made a new recipe for Bacon Burgers with Cilantro Yogurt Sauce. The recipe is as follows.

Adapted from the July 2014 issue of the Food and Wine Magazine. 

Bacon Burgers with Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

Recipe Type: Main

Summary:

A tender burger recipe using ground beef and minced bacon and served with a delicious yogurt sauce.

Preparation Time: 0h, 10m

Cooking Time: 0h, 8m

Total Time: 0h, 18m

Yield: Serves 8

Bacon Burgers with Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup minced fresh ginger
• 1/2 minced red onion
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 1/2 pounds ground chuck
• 1/2 pound bacon, minced *see note
• 6 scallions white and light green parts minced
• 1/3 cup chopped mint
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Instructions

1. Puree the yogurt, jalapeños, cilantro, ginger, onion, sugar and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a food processor. 
2. In a separate bowl combine the ground beef, scallions, mint, Parmesan, lemon zest, lemon juice, pepper, cayenne, and remaining salt. 
3. Form into 8 burger patties. 
4. Either using a grill or a griddle, cook the burgers for 6-8 minutes or until 180 degrees. 
5. Serve the burgers on hamburger buns topped with tomatoes, onions, lettuce, ketchup, and/or Sriracha and the yogurt sauce spread on the bottom of the bun. 

*Note: In order for the bacon to be fully minced either use a food processor or cook the bacon until crisp, crumble, and then add to the recipe. Alternatively you can used real bacon bits. 

Be very careful that you fully mince the bacon. If the bites are too large the burgers will end up with large grease pockets. When properly minced the bacon keeps the burgers moist and is a great addition to the ground beef. 

Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten Free/Reduce Sugar Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies 

My husband and I don't exchange Christmas gifts. That's right, none whatsoever. We do give lots of gifts to our kids and parents etc., but we decided a long time ago that neither one of is into giving each other gifts on Christmas. Instead we give gifts throughout the year. My husband will see a new red wine at the store and bring me a bottle home as a surprise. Our television will break and he will find a great sale and buy one for out living room. One year when we were first married I spend months collecting all the figures for a series of Gothic novels that he was collecting. It wasn't a birthday or Christmas, it was a just because gift. To add to the Christmas gift weirdness I also hate jewelry. While most women would be elated if they received diamonds, I would take them back. I hate diamonds, my husband had to convince me to wear a wedding and engagement ring, I can't stand them. My ideal piece of jewelry is a single strand of real pearls with a little black dress, timeless, beautiful and perfect. I also love kitchen utensils, exercise gear and power tools. My husband and I are perfect for each other because I don't think I would get along in any other marriage. He gets me, I get him and we enjoy being unusual together.

As most of you know I have a huge sweet tooth. I love pretty much anything with sugar and hate most salty snacks (which is funny since all three males in my house could eat salt right out of the shaker). I try to reduce the overall amount of sugar and fat in my family's diet, especially around the holidays since we tend to eat more treats than the rest of the year. Last week I tried a new recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies made with Greek yogurt.

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I made a few modifications to the original recipe. First, I eat gluten free so I tried the cookies both as written and then a batch that I made with coconut flour. Honestly, the coconut flour cookies almost turned out better, my boys loved them. Second, I made one batch with the full amount of sugar and the second batch with half sugar and half sugar substitute. They baked up the same as the full sugar version and it was nice having a lower fat/lower sugar cookie to snack on with my coffee in the afternoon. The gluten free version took a little longer to brown, which is normal with gluten free baking.

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These cookies turned out really tasty. I love that they have Greek yogurt which reduces the total amount of fat and adds protein. They worked perfectly being made gluten free and reduced sugar, which is nice since I have dietary restrictions (Celiac Disease). I would definitely make this cookies again in the future!

For the recipe go to Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies. 

Greek Yogurt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe Type: Dessert

Summary:

A recipe for chocolate chip cookies using Greek yogurt (no butter or oil). Light, fluffy and can be made gluten free!

Preparation Time: 0h, 5m

Cooking Time: 0h, 10m

Total Time: 0h, 15m

Recipe for Yogurt and Chia Seed Muffins

Yogurt and Chia Seed Gluten Free Muffins

We brought a Pomeranian Chihuahua mix into our house in December. I had grown up with toy poodles so I expected it to be an easy transition. Apparently our puppy had other ideas. Last week he ate my last pair of glasses. He had previously chewed apart two other pairs. So this morning I had to go to the eye doctor. After exams for both my husband and I, most of my day was gone. At least now I can actually see since I was also out of contacts. It's so much nicer to be able to see the television show that I am trying to watch. This weekend also marks the first part of my oldest son's summer vacation. Yesterday my two boys decided to mark the occasion by fighting the whole day and than telling each other that they would rather be only children. This is going to be a long summer. Since both of my sons are now home all day I have been baking and cooking more than usual. Last week I tried a new recipe for Yogurt and Chia Seed Muffins from the Detroit Free Press (via the Charleston Gazette-Mail April, 14 2013).

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 35 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 12 muffins. I did make a number of changes to the original recipe. First I eat gluten free so I used gluten free all-purpose baking mix. Since the baking mix that I use already has salt, I left the salt out of the recipe. The only yogurt that I had in my fridge was Greek style, so that is the variety I used. I chose to add the cinnamon sugar topping and I used foil baking cups to prevent the muffins from sticking. These muffins were still a little soft when they came out of the oven, but they firmed up as they cooled.

My kids really enjoyed this recipe. It is a great way to use chia seeds in a baking recipe. Chia seeds do not have flavor by themselves, so they are great to add to oatmeal, smoothies and baked goods. With 6 grams of protein per muffin they are a nice way to add extra nutrition to breakfast or a morning snack.

For the recipe go to Chia Seed Muffins.

Recipe for Grilled Chicken Salad with Tahini Yogurt Dressing and Fresh Mint

Grilled Chicken Salad with Tahini Yogurt Dressing and Fresh Mint

With the weather getting warm this week grilling season is definitely coming. My husband still has our charcoal grill in the basement with the promise that he will be fixing it up soon. Since it has sat downstairs for two years I am beginning to think that he is lacking motivation. Of course I could work on it, but my to do list is long enough that adding anything to it just wouldn't happen. Since my outdoor grill is out of commission I utilize my indoor electric grill or my stove top grill pan. Both are great options and I use them frequently. The beginning of summer in my household also means cold salads and sides. I love combining grilled meats and cold salads into one recipe. This week I tried a new recipe for Chicken Salad with Tahini Yogurt Dressing from the June 2013 issue of Food and Wine magazine.

This recipe has 14 ingredients. It takes 40 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active and makes 6 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First I used 2% Greek yogurt instead of whole fat yogurt. As I talked about in the intro I used my indoor electric grill to make the grilled chicken thighs. I am not a fan of hot chicken salad, especially in the warmer months so I allowed the salad to sit in the fridge for 15 minutes before serving. This allowed the chicken to cool and made for a better flavor. Finally, I served the salad over white rice. It would also work well with flatbread.

Yogurt dressing is always popular in my household. We also are big fans of grilled chicken. However, this recipe only received an okay from my family. The thighs were almost too moist for the rest of the salad. There was a lot of flavor in the recipe, which I liked, but it didn't stand out from other chicken with yogurt sauce recipes. I would suggest increasing the amount of chipotle, adding a small amount of cumin and serving the salad with Naan or pita bread. Making it more like a wrap or sandwich would help the recipe be even better.

For the recipe go to Chicken Salad with Yogurt Tahini Dressing.

35 Minute Stewed Chicken Breast, Red Bell Pepper and Chickpeas

Today was an experimental baking day. I ran out of eggs the other day and my oldest is always very hungry when he gets home from school. Knowing that I had to think of something fast I made vegan oatmeal cookies. I knew that they were good when my youngest tried to eat the batter before it went into the oven. Needless to say the cookies have all been eaten and I think that I may have convinced my husband that vegan cooking can be delicious when done properly. Of course after all of the cookies were eaten none of my family was hungry for dinner. I decided that since the cookies were almost all oatmeal and brown rice flour, it was pretty close to a healthy breakfast food and I didn't argue too much. Making healthier baked goods has been one of my goals for the last month. I have also been trying to incorporate more chicken into my family's diet. My husband prefers pork, so I have been trying to find chicken recipes with a lot of flavor in order to trick my husband into eating them. This week I tried a new recipe for Stewed Chicken and Chickpeas from the January/February 2013 issue of the Food Network Magazine.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes a total of 35 minutes, 15 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did make a few modifications to this recipe. First I was unable to find 6 ounce breasts. The meat selection at our grocery store is always limited so I had to use slightly larger chicken breasts. I do think that the recipe would work better with the smaller breasts if you can find them. For the red pepper flakes I used a full teaspoon and I used 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala. I chose to leave off the fresh parsley since my local grocery store refuses to stock flat leaf and I just can't get a taste for curly parsley, the texture gets to me. Since I eat gluten free I left out the pita and served the dish over quinoa which I had cooked with butter and minced garlic. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The red pepper and chickpeas are the star of this dish. The chicken cooked well and was tender, especially given that my family prefers chicken thighs. However, the best part of the dish was definitely the sauce. I thickened the sauce at the end with a small amount of cornstarch and it was great over the quinoa. Additionally, it re-heated very well the next day.

For the recipe go to Stewed Chicken and Chickpeas.

Indian Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Spinach

At the grocery store last week I needed to find chicken legs. I looked all over and then found them. In a large scary looking plastic bag. I have no problems buying large amounts of chicken, but this chicken looked like something that I would rather feed my animals than myself. Someone must be buying it, just not me. This experience got me thinking. It seems that the quality of a lot of grocery products has gone down, not up. It used to be that you could go to the store and expect to find quality products, now even if you want to buy something of higher quality it isn't even available. It is a little disconcerting especially given that there are so many problems in the state that I live in, it would be nice if there were healthy, high quality products available to everyone that wanted them. In the end I substituted all-natural chicken thighs, but it would have been nice to have at least had the option to find the product that I wanted. I digress, on to the chicken recipe that used the chicken legs that were no where to be found. Last week I tried a new recipe for Indian Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Spinach from the January 2013 issue of Bon Appetit magazine.

This recipe has 15 ingredients. It takes 2 hours of total time, an hour of which is active and makes 6 servings. As I stated in the intro I had to substitute chicken thighs for almost all the chicken legs. I had two chicken legs left from a previous recipe (that I was lucky enough to find at the store the one time they seemed to actually have them, never to be seen again).  For the remainder of the chicken I used chicken thighs. I found that I had to use more broth than the two cups suggested by the recipe. Two cups just wasn't enough to partially cover the thighs. I left off the cilantro at the end. Honestly my kids aren't fans and I forgot to add it to my serving. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

The braise on this chicken turned out very well. I'm not sure that I liked the amount of spinach. I think it needs to be doubled. The sauce was also a little thinner than I prefer as well and if you like spicy foods I would suggest increasing the amount of cayenne. I would also suggest adding a small amount of flour or cornstarch in order that the chickpea sauce has a better consistency. The chicken turned out well and was the best part of the dish, tender and flavorful.

For the recipe go to Indian Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Spinach.

Parents Chipotle Sweet-Potato Pigskins

I'm not a huge fan of regular baked potatoes. When everyone else at a restaurant is ordering a baked potato I am eating a salad. Growing up my mom never really made potato dishes. It was my dad who would wake up early on Sunday mornings and prepare a huge breakfast with a large helping of fried potatoes. I still love those fried potatoes whenever I go home. While I might not love regular baked potatoes, I do love sweet potatoes. I could devour pretty much any dish or recipe utilizing sweet potatoes. The February issue of Parents Magazine had a recipe for Chipotle Sweet-Potato Pigskins which promised to be low in fat and have a smoky heat from the chipotles.

This recipe has six ingredients. It takes 1 hour and 40 minutes of total time, 20 minutes of which is active, and makes 8 servings. There are very few ingredients in this recipe and I had no problems finding any of them at my local grocery store. Make sure to pick small to medium sweet potatoes in order for them to fully cook in the amount of time suggested. If your sweet potatoes are on the larger side it could take up to a half hour longer than the suggested time. Additionally, be careful when you are scooping out the sweet potatoes to not scrap all the way through the skin or they won't hold up to be re-stuffed. For the potatoes for my two kids I   left off the onions and Greek yogurt since they can be hit or miss on what they will eat. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written. 

The chipotles in this recipe create a delicious smokey flavor, with a little bit of heat. Sweet Potatoes are a great source of vitamin C, which is great for this time of year when everyone seems to be fighting off some sort of cold or sickness. My husband loved that these sweet potatoes had a different type of taste than your run of the mill variety from steak houses. Overall, an easy recipe with great flavor.

For the recipe go to Chipotle Sweet-Potato Pigskins.