Spicy Turkey

Well, I’ve rejoined the population of people who choose their own meals. So I’m trying to practice some of the stuff I learned from my cleanse in my everyday! But I’m back in the kitchen and happy as a clam about it. I forgot how much joy cooking and feeding people really gives me!

You can only imagine what my grocery trip was like last weekend. I was picking up anything and everything (health food of course, no blue box mac n cheese)! Blackberries, fish, papayas, apples, carrots, Brussels, carrots, whole wheat English muffins, eggs…should I keep going? Anyway, I really enjoy burgers and turkey burgers and we actually already had some ground turkey in the freezer. So I found a Rachael Ray (don’t judge me) recipe and prepped it a night in advance to give the flavors time to marry. It was for a “jerky turkey burger” so it had jerk flavors in it. I was super excited to have something very spicy in the que! I may not have mentioned, but I’m not a sweets eater. Spicy, however, is my addiction! So Ms. Ray uses jalapenos in her recipe….I replaced it with habanero and I suggest you do the same!

Turkey Burger

1 1/3 package ground turkey breast

1 garlic clove, minced

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1/2 habanero pepper, minced

1” ginger root, grated

1 tsp ground thyme

1 tsp allspice

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tsp black pepper

Kosher salt
olive oil

1 ripe lime, juiced

Greens or whole wheat bun

Papaya Salsa

1 large, ripe papaya, seeded, peeled and diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/4 red onion, finely chopped

1/2 habanero pepper, minced

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro

1 navel orange, juiced

Coarse salt

Combine the turkey, garlic, scallions, ginger, thyme, allspice, nutmeg, salt and habanero pepper in a medium bowl. Let this sit overnight. Form mixture into 4 large patties. Drizzle the patties with a touch of oil. Grill patties on screaming hot grill for approximately 6 minutes per side. Squeeze the juice of 1 ripe lime over the patties before removing them from the heat.

Combine the papaya, red bell pepper, red onion, habanero pepper, cilantro and orange juice in a bowl. Season salsa with salt, to your taste. This can sit overnight as well if you want a super quick meal the next night!

So in my attempt to rethink when, what and how I eat carbs, I decided to have this turkey burger on a bed of greens instead of a bun. Josh ate the bun. Stack them up anyway you want, either way it was delicious! Put lots of the salsa on top of your burger! It’ll burn so good! The meal was fabulously spicy and I felt great afterwards.

My Dinner

Josh's dinner

Salud friends! Yay Food!