Monday's Menu

I have been buying ground turkey almost as long as Hubby and I have been married -- right after a co-worker proclaimed how good it was with spaghetti. There are several reasons to buy ground turkey instead of ground beef.

The biggest one is the fat content. When I crumble and cook ground turkey, I literally cook it until there is no more liquid. It is lean enough that I don't have to drain it and will cook dry if you don't watch it after that point.

The next biggest is the price. For a very long time, I bought it for 79 cents a pound (at Save-A-Lot) when ground beef was just over a dollar a pound. Now that ground beef is at it's very best 1.29 a pound and most of the time you can't find it for that, I can still get ground turkey for only a dollar a pound.

One of the things I also like about it is that at my favorite store to buy it, ground turkey comes in frozen 1 pound rolls. It looks like a roll of breakfast sausage. That makes it convenient for me. When I buy ground beef, I always use my little scale and portion it out into 1 pound packages for my freezer. I don't have to do that with my ground turkey. I can just bring it home and throw it in the freezer.

I pretty much use ground turkey in any thing I can make with ground beef. The only things I don't switch it out for are dishes where the beef is the primary flavor -- like meatloaf or burgers. Any casserole, taco meat, hamburger helper are all good things to use it in.

But the other day, I decided I wanted to try turkey burgers. I have heard several people comment that they enjoy turkey burgers and I would love to be able to use ground turkey in this way too. So I found a recipe and went for it.

My children didn't even realize they were turkey until we told them. There was a slight difference in flavor from ground beef burgers but that was expected. I made 12 burgers in all and both kids requested one in their lunches. The rest were all completely gone in 2 days. They went so fast I didn't even get a picture of them for you as I'd planned. I'd say that's a success.

In the original comments on this recipe, someone added liquid smoke to make it taste like ground beef. I wasn't really trying to replace beef; I just wanted to try something new. If you did want to replace it completely, that might be an option too. The meat is more wet than beef burgers are so be prepared for the difference. If you think it's too wet, just add some more bread crumbs.

If you decide to try them, I'd love to hear your comments on this recipe, particularly if you hadn't tried ground turkey before. Give me a buzz. And, as always, enjoy.

Turkey Burgers

3 pounds ground turkey
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely diced onion
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup parsley
1 clove garlic, minced (or I used garlic powder)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

In a large bowl, mix turkey, bread crumbs, onion, eggs, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper. Form into 12 patties. Cook patties in skillet or on grill until done to internal temperature of 180 degrees.