Monday, March 18, 2013

Let's Talk Turkey!

Happy Monday My Little Ladybugs! 

Ok, I'm not watching American Idol that much, but I am entertained by Nicky Minaj and her cute little sayings. Little ladybugs is the name she calls a lot of the contestants. It's endearing right?

I am one week post my arthroscopy and not really that much better. I don't know if it's because there is still some healing to do after all the poking, cutting, cleaning, and scraping inside my knee, or if this is as good as it will get. If the latter is my outcome, then I will have to face and explore the possibility of a knee replacement. Ironically my mother just had her second one three weeks ago. She now has two totally new knees. The doctor explained to me that I might not see any real improvement, due to the arthritis and cartilage loss. It’s strange how three months ago I would have said that I don’t have any problems with my knees.  In some cases, you don’t know you have any problems until you have a problem and something brings it all to a head.


So this week, I’m going to continue to rest it as much as possible, keep it elevated and iced when I’m sitting down. I haven’t been able to be at my brothers and all  lately and the responsibility has fallen on my mother. Luckily she is a strong woman and keeps forging ahead even with her own knee issues. Oh well, enough of my whining. Thanks to those of you who wrote me and came to my pity party. How fun it would have been if we could all have really gotten together for a real party. Maybe someday!

I have been doing limited cooking because I don’t want to stand on my feet too much. I have been trying to use up things in my freezer. I like to really purge the cupboards and freezer every year after winter is done. It’s kind of a challenge to see how many meals I can throw together without buying too much at the store except fresh produce.

So there were these two packs of frozen turkey breast that I thawed out this morning, just begging to be used.  I decided to make turkey burgers. Kim gave me the idea from seeing that she has been having one for lunch every day.

 I have bought the Jenni-O frozen turkey burgers and they are pretty good. Last time I accidentally bought the dark meat ones. I don’t know why, but I just didn’t care for them, so I thawed them and made turkey meatballs out of them. They came out really well. A little soft in texture, but I baked them in the oven and  then put the in the sauce. Here’s the recipe I used for turkey meatballs from Giada on food network. I used the sugar free ketchup from Natures Hollow and whole wheat bread crumbs. I made mine a normal size and baked in the oven for about 40 minutes.

So back to the turkey burgers. The best homemade turkey burger I ever had was one that I made after it  was featured on the Oprah show. She had it at Donald Trumps place in Palm Beach and raved about it on her show. They are called the Mar-a-Lago-Turkey-Burger. At first he refused to share his chefs recipe, but then he finally agreed and came on the show with great fanfare and presented her with the recipe ( in a locked briefcase no less!) that she shared with her viewers. They really are delicious, but so labor intensive and I’m sure the sugar content is high as they have chutney, apples and pear. I wasn't watching sugar back then when I made them, but trust me they are really delicious. I'm sure you could make some modifications too and that would make them lower in sugar.
Turkey burger
 I wanted something faster and easier so I did a web search and tried a recipe that I found on food.com  These burgers were easy to make, with ingredients that I had on hand. I tripled the recipe using two packs of the lean ground turkey breast, the natures hollow sugar free ketchup, and increased their size to one and half times the 110gms that the recipe called for. I used my food scale, and measure out 165 grams which made a nice size burger. I had mine on flaxseed toast and it was really good. Sorry I forgot a photo. Here's the one from the website.
Turkey Burgers. Photo by GaylaJ
 Hope everyone has a great week. Hugs and love all around from me to you! XO

Thought for the day: Learn to smile at every situation.  See it as an opportunity to prove your strength and ability.  ~Joe Brown


6 comments:

  1. Hi Pattie,

    I feel so bad about your knee :( My neighbor just had double knee replacement a few months ago and is doing well now. Hopefully you'll heal up and won't need one - I'll keep you in my prayers about that one!!

    I just saw your comment on my blog about the turkey burgers, so I'll just answer you here as well. I buy the ground turkey in the meat section at my grocery store. I have a Kroger affiliate store near me and I buy their "Simply Organics" brand (it comes in 1 lb. packages). When I want a burger, I take out a 1/4 of the ground turkey which gives me approx. 4 oz. I shape it into a patty, heat a skillet, and cook each side 4 minutes. I love it on a whole wheat english muffin with mustard, lettuce, tomato, and red onion. YUM! If you try that, let me know what you think. I tried another brand of ground turkey and it was good as well but just a little on the dry side. It must have been a little leaner.

    I'll have to try the Mar-a-Lago turkey burger.

    Hope you have a great day free of pain!! Kim

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  2. Oh Pattie I am so sorry that your knee isn't getting better yet:( I will continue to pray that you are as good as new very soon!
    I have never had a turkey burger, I am such a weird eater that the thought of that is not appetizing. My daughter loves ground turkey and uses it in her ground beef recipes. She swears there is no difference. I know it is probably healthier.
    We have eaten out 4 days in a row and I am really being lax on my good choices. It is time to get down to business again, and I did do better today.
    I really hope you feel better soon. Did you say that you do take Vitamin D? There was a great article on facebook today by a gal that I think you follow.

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  3. HI Pattie, Boy that party would have been so much fun. Well we can just party in our heads. LOL
    I am so sorry that you are having so much pain and I hope you feel better soon. I will be joining you very soon in that.
    You know I love turkey. Love your thought. Have a great day - and try to make the best of what you have. :-)

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  4. I like turkey burgers, but feel they need a lot of spicing up to make them good. I like to use ground chicken too! Last night I made ground chicken teriyaki meatballs. Not bad.
    I sure hope your knee heals up better as time goes on. You"re right about not knowing you have a problem until you really do. That's sort of what happened to my mom, on a much more serious scale of course. Dr. Davis keeps saying that "no wheat" really helps with arthritis but who knows? All I really know is I hope you are feeling much better and back to your more energetic self soon!

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  5. Thinking of you today Pattie, and hoping your knee feels better soon, soon, soon! And the burgers sound really good. ;)

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  6. Hey Pattie!!!!
    I hope your knee is feeling better & you are on the mend soon. Take it easy my friend & please keep in touch and have a great easter! I am headed out the door in a few minutes for dinner with my sisters then to a mesh wreath making class from 6-8pm. Should be fun....and interesting!!I dont have a crafty bone in my body!!hahaha! (((Sherri)))

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