Recipe for Tuscan Turkey Burgers with Fresh Basil

Tuscan Turkey Burgers with Fresh Basil and Tomatoes

I was so happy that tonight I was able to use fresh herbs from my herb garden for my dinner recipe. My herbs are doing better than I expected and will save me so much money this summer. Growing my own basil is one way that I know that I will save money since I use basil at least once a week for dinner. The herbs available at the grocery store are over priced and start to brown by the time I am able to use them. Being able to just go out and cut the amount that I need is so nice. Plus the flavor is noticeably better than store bought. One food I love adding fresh basil to is burgers. It can take a regular burger from ordinary to something memorable. Last week I tried a new recipe for Tuscan Turkey Burgers from Redbook magazine.

This recipe has 10 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, 10 minutes of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did make a few changes to the original recipe. First since I eat gluten free I made gluten free biscuits and then made bread crumbs in my food processor. I also used my indoor grill to cook the burgers, which helped to reduce the fat without reducing the flavor. For my serving I ate the burger between two gluten free biscuits, for the rest of my family I made homemade hamburger buns.

These burgers have a tendency to crumble when you try to flip them over so be careful. I actually waited until the next day to take the photo. After sitting in the fridge the burgers were much firmer and easier to deal with. It might be a good idea to place the burgers in the fridge to firm before cooking them. I thought these burgers were great without lettuce so if you are unable to find Boston lettuce you can leave it out. Overall these burgers turned out very moist and were enjoyed by my whole family.

For the recipe go to Tuscan Turkey Burgers.

Taste of Home Mediterranean Chicken Bake

Chicken breasts have never been a family favorite. My family loves chicken thighs and will eat them happily, but normally groan and complain when dinner includes chicken breasts. I tend to agree with them for the most part, chicken breast oftentimes turns out dry and unappetizing. It doesn't help that my mother rarely made chicken breast growing up and when she did it had the texture of rubber. Luckily for me she only served it once in a blue moon. She was a great cook, chicken breasts just weren't her forte. When my husband and I first got married I tried making chicken breasts a few times and each time it ended in disaster. Due to this less than stellar history I literally stopped cooking chicken breasts until my kids starting eating solid foods. Once my kids were regulars at the dinner table I slowly started trying new recipes using chicken breasts. Some had the expected dried out taste that I grew-up eating, but other such as the recipe for Mediterranean Chicken Bake from the April/May issue of Taste of Home magazine turned out delicious.

This recipe has 8 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of prep and cook time and makes four servings. I did have to go to multiple stores to find sun-dried tomatoes, but that might be a specific problem in my area. For the herbes de Provence I lucked out and found some on clearance. I found that it took less than the 15-20 minutes for my chicken breasts to fully cook in the oven. I temped my chicken at around 12 minutes and it was done. I did pound out my breast relatively thin and that might be why the cooking time was decreased. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Everyone in my house loved this recipe. My husband in particular thought this was one of the best chicken breast recipes he has ever had and for him to like a chicken breast recipe is a feat. I loved the blend of artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese. This will definitely be a recipe that I would try again.

For the recipe go to Mediterranean Chicken Bake.

Saveur Pesto Focaccia

Bread is a popular stable in my house. Most weeks I make at least two loaves, sometimes more. Every couple of weeks I try to change up my normal bread routine and try something different such as scones or biscuits. A particular household favorite is focaccia. It takes longer than most breads to prepare and bake, but the end result is well worth the effort. Recently, Saveur magazine had a recipe for Pesto Focaccia using cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives, two foods my family loves.

This recipe has 8 ingredients for the pesto and 12 for the focaccia. It makes 12-14 servings and takes approximately 4 and a half hours to prepare and bake. There are a number of ingredients in this recipe, but I only had problems finding one, durum wheat flour. I looked at every store I could think of in my area to no avail, so I chose to leave it out. Instead of the durum wheat flour I used an additional cup of all-purpose flour, making 5 and a half cups of total flour. I noticed that the top of the focaccia cooked very quickly and I had to tent the top after approximately 10 minutes to prevent burning. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

Over the last five years I have made a number of focaccia recipes, about one every month. I was intrigued by this recipe since it used mashed potatoes and lager beer in the focaccia dough, a combination I hadn't tried in previous recipes. The combination of the kalamata olives and cherry tomatoes worked well together and went great with the sun dried tomato pesto. Overall, a recipe well worth the time involved and filling enough for a main dish or side.

For the recipe go to Pesto Focaccia.