Greek Chicken Burgers

A few months ago I saw this recipe on a blog I read.

I don't use ground chicken often, but it sounded so good!

I purchased everything I needed just a few days later,

and made these burgers two nights in a row!!!

I changed just a few things from the original recipe,

but they were just as delicious as I thought they'd be.

The Goods:

Hamburger Buns

Ground Chicken

Bread Crumbs

Egg

Cucumber

Red Onion

Lemon

Red Wine Vinegar

Plain Greek Yogurt

Feta (Not Pictured)

Fresh Dill

Parsley Flakes

Salt

Pepper

In a small bowl, combine the following:

1 cup Greek yogurt, juice and zest from 1/2 lemon,

2 teaspoons dried parsley, 1 to 3 teaspoons fresh chopped dill,

salt and pepper to your liking.

In a container with a lid, combine the following:

3/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 of a red onion - thinly sliced,

1 to 2 teaspoons fresh dill - chopped.

Let sit at least 15 minutes, or up to a few days

In a large bowl, combine the following:

1 pound ground chicken, 1/4 red onion - diced, 

1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg, zest from 1/2 a lemon, 

1 to 2 teaspoons fresh chopped dill, 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes. 

Once mixed, divide into 6 portions and form into patties.

Spray grill and then cook fully.

Toast your buns on the grill too!

Add a little feta cheese and melt for a minute or so.

Spread yogurt mixture onto both buns, 

add thinly sliced cucumbers, 

chicken burger and the pickled onions.

It sadly doesn't look like anything too special...

But man oh man does it sure taste amazing!!!

Greek Chicken Burgers

With Yogurt Dill Sauceand Quick Pickled Onions

Adapted from An Uncomplicated Life

Hamburger Buns

1 Pound Ground Chicken

1/2 cup Bread Crumbs

1 Egg

1 Cucumber

1 Red Onion

1 Lemon

3/4 cup Red Wine Vinegar

1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt

Feta Cheese

Fresh Dill

Parsley Flakes

Salt

Pepper

1. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup Greek yogurt, juice and zest from 1/2 lemon, 2 teaspoons dried parsley, 1 to 3 teaspoons fresh chopped dill, and salt and pepper to your liking.
2. In a container with a lid, combine 3/4 cup red wine vinegar, 1/4 of a red onion - thinly sliced and 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh dill - chopped. Let sit at least 15 minutes, or up to a few days
3. In a large bowl, combine 1 pound ground chicken, 1/4 red onion - diced, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, 1 egg, zest from 1/2 a lemon, 1 to 2 teaspoons fresh chopped dill and 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes. Once mixed, divide into 6 portions and form into patties.
4. Spray grill and then cook fully. Toast your buns on the grill too!
5. Add a little feta cheese to top of burgers and melt for a minute or so.
6. Spread yogurt mixture onto both buns, add thinly sliced cucumbers, chicken burger and the pickled onions.

Roasted Cauliflower Quinoa Bites

After making Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Bites,

and then following those up with Quinoa Pizza Bites,

I decided that I really liked the ease of eating these,

so I set out to make a brand new version of my own!

I'm a big fan of the flavor of roasted cauliflower,

so I knew right away I'd be using that.

And after tossing a few ideas around with a co-worker,

I knew I wanted to include lemon and parmesan as well.

Let me show you how easy it is to make these tasty

Roasted Cauliflower Quinoa Bites!!!

The Goods:

Quinoa

Roasted Cauliflower

Yellow Onion

Garlic

Eggs

Lemons

Parmesan Cheese

Salt

Pepper

Parsley Flakes

Cook quinoa according to your package directions.

In a large bowl, combine your cooked quinoa, roasted cauliflower, 

diced onion, minced garlic, both eggs, most of your parmesan cheese, salt, 

pepper and parsley to your liking, lemon juice and zest and mix to combine.

Stuff filling into greased mini muffin pans

and top with remaining parmesan cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes,

until tops are nice and crisp.

Cool in muffin pans for about 5 minutes,

then remove and finish cooling on wire rack.

Roasted Cauliflower Quinoa Bites

3/4 Cup Uncooked Quinoa

1 1/2 Cups Water

2 Cup Roasted Cauliflower

1/2 Cup Diced Yellow Onion

2 Cloves Minced Garlic

2 Eggs

Salt, Pepper and Parsley To Taste

1 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Juice and Zest from 1/2 a Lemon

1. Cook your quinoa according to package directions.
2. Roast your cauliflower (I did mine with juice and zest from 1 lemon, salt, pepper and olive oil.)
3. In large bowl combine everything (reserve 1/4 of the cheese for topping) and mix well.
4. Stuff filling into greased mini muffin pans and top with remaining cheese.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes until tops are nice and crisp.
6. Cool in muffin pans for about 5 minutes, then remove and finish cooling on wire rack.

Dad's Lemon Pepper Chicken

My dad has made Lemon Pepper Chicken for years.

I can't remember a birthday growing up,

that I didn't request for him to make it for dinner!

After I moved away and started to cook more variety,

I asked him for the recipe and only slightly modified it!

Keep reading to see how this tasty chicken is made.

The Goods:

Chicken

Lemon Juice

Olive Oil

Worcestershire Sauce

Fresh Pepper

Garlic

Garlic Salt

Salt

Fresh Thyme

Squeeze your lemons to get fresh lemon juice.

I recently got a lemon squeezer and don't know how I lived without.

It makes getting fresh lemon, lime or even orange juice so easy! 

It took me three lemons to get 1/2 cup of juice.

Add everything except the chicken to the juice.

And then mix until everything is incorporated.

You can use whatever chicken you'd like.

Boneless, bone in - it really doesn't matter.

I've had it on all, but I prefer boneless breasts.

Add a little bit of marinade to a container with a lid,

add your chicken and then the rest of the marinade.

Secure lid tightly and marinate a few hours or overnight.

Grill your chicken until cooked fully.

Then serve with a yummy side or two and enjoy!!!

And if possible - dine outside with a yummy cocktail!

Dad's Lemon Pepper Chicken 

About 1 Pound Chicken

1/2 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

2 Cloves Garlic - minced

1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Ground Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Salt

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Fresh Thyme

1. Juice lemons until you have 1/2 a cup of juice.
2. Add everything else, except the chicken, and combine well.
3. Put marinade and chicken in a container with a lid.
4. Refrigerate for at least a few hours, or overnight.
5. Grill until chicken is cooked fully.
6. Serve and enjoy!!

Baked Manicotti

I'm in the process of restocking my freezer with homemade meals
and I realized I never got around to posting about my Manicotti!

I've made this a few times and love it every time.
In fact - I still have a batch frozen right now to eat soon!

Now keep reading to see how I made my Manicotti.

The Goods:

Manicotti Noodles

Mozzarella Cheese

Parmesan Cheese

Ricotta Cheese

Eggs

Marinara Sauce

Fresh Herbs

Garlic Salt

(Full recipe at bottom of post.)

Cook your manicotti and set aside to cool.

Add the cheeses, eggs, fresh herbs and garlic salt to bowl.

Mix everything well.

Stuff the noodles with mixture.

 I find using a piping bag the easiest.

Place filled noodles in greased baking dish,

cover with marinara sauce to your liking.

Add more cheese and chopped fresh herbs.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

And it's done!

Serve and enjoy!!!

Cheese Manicotti Recipe

2 Eggs

15 ounces Ricotta Cheese

2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1/4 grated Fresh Parmesan Cheese

1 to 2 teaspoon Fresh Basil, Parsley or both

1 teaspoon Garlic Salt

20 Manicotti Noodles

2 cups Marinara Sauce

1. Put egg, ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, half the herbs and garlic salt in mixing bowl.

2. Mix on low for about 30 seconds - until it's well combined.

3. Put mixture into piping bag and fill each noodle.

4. Place filled noodles in a greased casserole dish.

5. Pour marinara sauce over noodles and add a little more cheese.

6. Cover pan with foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. 

7. Remove foil from dish and return to oven for 5 or so minutes.

8. Take pan out of the oven and top with the remaining fresh basil.

I adapted this recipe from a Stuffed Shell recipe I've used in the past,

so if you cant find Manicotti noodles, feel free to use Giant Shells instead!

Sausage Zucchini Rice

I bought ingredients intending to make Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats,
but I was making it on a work night and I wanted something a little quicker.
So I decided to do a little research and my friend Google
gave me a recipe for Sausage Zucchini Rice that sounded amazing!

I went home that night and made it and it was quite good.
Then I made it again, and I'm pretty sure I made it once more.
THEN I realized I hadn't, but needed to blog about it,
so here I am to tell you all about it today!

The Goods:

Italian Sausage

Zucchini

Basmati Rice

Onion

Unsalted Butter

Chicken Broth

Parmesan Cheese

Parsley

Basil

Salt

Pepper

Note - I omitted the Pine Nuts from my version

because I had a bad experience with them once

and have been afraid to eat them ever since.

Feel free to use them if ya like - I'm sure it'd be tasty!

Chop your zucchini and onion.

And shred your cheese.

Brown the sausage.

Meanwhile, cook the rice...

Add butter to pot and sauté onions - about 5 minutes.

Add rice and broth to pan and bring to a boil.

Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook until water is absorbed.

While rice is cooking, start your zucchini...

In the same skillet you cooked the sausage,
cook your zucchini until tender - about 4 minutes.
Return sausage to the skillet and add broth and water,
cooking until heated through completely.

Add sausage and zucchini mixture to cooked rice.
Stir to combine and taste, then adjust seasoning if needed.

Now - serve and ENJOY!!!

Oh and before you go...

On a totally unrelated, but important note -
if you haven't signed up for Ebates yet, you need to.
It's so easy and right now lots of store have DOUBLE cash back!
Like I said before, I wish I had done it sooner!
Oh and with all the Christmas time you're probably doing.
Why not earn a little cash back while buying gift for others?

Quinoa Apple Salad

A few weeks ago, I met up with some friends for lunch and 

we went to one of the newly opened locations for Lemonade!

If you live in LA and haven't tried Lemonade yet, you're missing out.

Find one close to you and try it ASAP!

I've been to a few different Lemonade locations and have been a fan from day one.

A friend even gave me their cookbook for Christmas this year!

I have yet to make anything out of the cookbook, 

but after my most recent visit I knew I needed to try to recreate one of the dishes I had.

So what was the dish you ask?

Red Quinoa Salad with Apples, Arugula, Sunflower Seeds and Pistachios!

If you don't know already - I love love love me some quinoa salad.

(You can check out some past posts about it here, here and here!)

Just a few hours after lunch, I decided I didn't want to wait long and 

got to work searching for a copycat recipe online. 

To my surprise, it wasn't very hard and I had a recipe in no time!

Now that I'm done rambling, let me show you how easy it is to make!!!

The Goods:

Qunioa 

Water (Not Pictured)

Fuji Apples

Arugula 

Sunflower Kernels

Pistachios

Juice from an Orange

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Cook your qunioa according to package directions.

Since I'm using this in a salad - I always like to cool my qunioa before adding it.

Pour/scoop the quinoa onto a chilled baking sheet and spread it out to cool.

While the qunioa is cooking, get your other goods ready!

Add the apples, pistachios and sunflower kernels to the bowl and toss to combine.

Fold in the arugula, orange juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

That's it! Now it's time to dig in and ENJOY!!!

Hope you like this quinoa salad as much as I do!

I've already made it twice since having it at Lemonade.

Oh and don't forget - go try Lemonade if you haven't already!!!

Homemade BBQ Sauce & Spice Rub

I recently made ribs for a couple girlfriends.
When planning, I went to this post where I made ribs with Elina.

While it looks good, it isn't entirely helpful.
Yes, it has some useful information,
but not measurements or anything for the rub and sauce.
I apologize. Really - I do.

Because I wasn't 100% happy with the other ribs post,
I decided I needed to share the sauce and rub recipe that I recently used.
I've made the sauce twice and don't think I'll ever made any other sauce again!!!
It's THAT good!

Now - let me share the delicious sauce and rub I recently made for ribs.

For the sauce, I used this recipe and made little changes to make it my own!

The Goods:
1 1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Tobasco sauce
1 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 sprigs fresh oregano

Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer 5 to 10 minutes.

That's IT!

Super easy and super tasty.

When making the sauce - it smelled so much like McDonald's BBQ Sauce.

AND it tasted a little like it too, but with a kick!

I don't know about you, but that's for sure a winner in my book!!!

Now that the sauce is made, let's talk about the rib rub.

I used this recipe (rub only, not sauce) as a starting point, 

and again made little changes to make it my own.

The Goods:

1/4 cup coarse sea salt

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cayenne peper

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Mix everything together and store in an airtight container until ready to use.

The above recipe will make enough for  between 2 and 3 racks of ribs.

Now go, go make yourself some delicious ribs!
I followed the cooking instructions from my previous rib post.
I'm sure the sauce and rub would be great on grilled or smoked ribs as well.

Inez's Turkey Burgers

Now that summer is basically here, 

I'm sure there will be lots of grilling going on.

So now is the perfect time to talk about some yummy burgers!

A few weeks ago, my friend Inez, who's a foodie like me, 

told me about a Turkey Burger she made that was amazing.

She said she wasn't going to make them any other way again!

After hearing that, I KNEW I had to give these burgers a try.

I got the recipe from her and made the burgers shortly after.

And she was right - they are amazing!!!

Since they were so good, I asked her permission to share the recipe on my blog.

And lucky you - she said yes!

Take a look below at how you make these simple, yet delicious burgers.

The Goods:

1 Package Ground Turkey

2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Cilantro

2 Tablespoons Minced Garlic

Juice from 1/2 Lemon

4 Teaspoons Cholula Hot Sauce

1  Teaspoon Ground Cumin

Salt and Pepper to your liking

Buns

Lettuce

Avocado

In a large bowl, combine turkey, cilantro, garlic, 

lemon juice, hot sauce, cumin, salt and pepper.

Divide mixture into six and make into burgers.

From here - you can either cook them right up, or with in a day.

OR you can do what I did - cooked one to eat now and froze the rest for future use!

I froze mine with wax paper between and in freezer zipper bags.

Cook the burgers FULLY. This is turkey, so it can't be raw!

If you want, be a lil naughty and add cheese like I did!!

Then make you delicious burger, serve it with a side and enjoy!!!

Confession - I not only added cheese, 

but there's a tomato on the final product too!

Now go make these super tasty turkey burgers yourself. 

I'm pretty sure you'll thank me, but really you should thank Inez!!