Hunk of Meat Monday: Stuffed Burgers

I am horrible about meal-planning. Usually 'round 5:30, I start to think about what we might want for dinner and go into a panic because I want to make intricate, flavorful meals but forget that achieving that goal requires a little bit more planning.

So, out comes the hamburger. Or ground pork. Or, in last night's case, ground turkey.

I've seen lots of recipes out there for stuffed burgers - those are not a new fad. But I've never made one and I've also never had a turkey burger. Two birds, one stone.

So below are two recipes, intertwined - one for turkey burgers and one for beef burgers.

Buzzard's Stuffed Burgers
- 1 lb ground beef or hamburger (did you know they're not the same thing?)
- 1 lb ground turkey
- Worcestershire sauce
- Swiss cheese, torn into tiny pieces
- Shredded Cojack cheese
- 1/2 strip bacon per beef patty
- salt & pepper
- seasoning salt

Fry bacon while ground beef is defrosting - this is essential if you waited until the last minute to get started on dinner. Shred bacon into tiny pieces - one half piece per patty. I only made two patties so one piece of bacon was plenty.


Mmmm, bacon

After beef is defrosted, place in bowl and pour in a good amount of Worcestershire sauce (~4 tbsp) and mix up with hands. Let set for ~5 minutes before dividing beef in half and forming two- half pound patties.



Add in Worcestershire sauce, mix and let marinade for five minutes

Make a divot in the patty and place half the bacon and some shredded cojack cheese. Smush burger around filling, while retaining patty shape.



Add in your stuffing and mush the patty around the bacon and cheese to seal

Do the same process (two patties, cheese, smushing) with the swiss cheese and ground turkey. At this point, I had four- half pound burger patties.

Turkey and swiss sammich, anyone?

Season your turkey patties with salt and pepper; beef with salt, pepper and one of my fave seasonings, Red Robin french fry sprinkles.



Season beef patties with salt, pepper and Red Robin's french fry seasoning

Grill patties over medium charcoal heat until internal temperature reaches 160 F. Enjoy the gooey goodness when you cut into them (we didn't have any buns so ate with forks)!

Don't they look delicious?!

 

Bacon and cheesy stuffed amazingness!

I plan to try again with mushroom stuffed ground pork burgers (for the Ninja, not me) later this spring. Now that it's warming up, we basically spend every minute of every evening outside working or playing around, and 5 out of 7 nights, we end up grilling. I love it - quick prep, quick eat and quick clean up. Triple threat.

The turkey burgers were good but not great. I needed to add bacon in the middle or something. They also needed more seasoning but I'm not sure what is a great turkey seasoning? I would appreciate input and advice for ground turkey seasoning!

If you try these out, let me know if you liked them and leave me tips below, please!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Thanksgiving Safety 101

The holidays are upon us! The next six weeks are full of food, celebrations, family and fun. However, speaking from experience, food poisoning and several hours spent in misery are NOT the way you want to spend family time. Here is a great infographic from www.fightbac.org that preaches food safety as you shop, prepare and serve your Thanksgiving and holiday meals!



Food safety during the holidays for shopping, preparing, storing and serving your goodies. Click to enlarge - source

Wherever you are and however you choose to celebrate, be mindful of those who raised, harvested and prepared the food you are sharing with your family and friends.

And, while you're thanking people keep in mind those members of society who will be working on the Thanksgiving holiday:

• law enforcement
• firemen and women
• shop clerks
• restaurant servers
• turnpike operators
• 911 operators
• medical professionals

I'm sure there are many more but it's pertinent to remember that farmers aren't the only ones working hard to make the world go round and it sure would be bleak without them.

This year, and every day, I'm thankful for a supportive husband and family, a heaping passel of friends, my health, my amazing job [and fantastic colleagues] and a burning passion for agriculture.

Blessings to you and yours.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

PETA Targets Kids With Christmas Billboard

Apparently, PETA knows no bounds. They have now taken to targeting children with their venomous lies about animal agriculture and the most recent incident is a billboard that poses the question:  "Kids, if you wouldn't eat your cat, why eat a turkey?"

I can answer that - a cat is a pet. It sleeps on your bed, eats mice (yuck) and coughs up hairballs.

Turkey, on the other hand, is a farm animal that was created by God for consumption. They eat grain in a farm setting and wild turkeys eat acorns, seeds, flower buds, insects etc. I'd much rather eat some grain, acorn or insect fed turkey than a cat that eats rodents. I've eaten bugs before but I would have to be pretty desperate to eat rat.

The video also says that PETA hopes kids will choose tofurkey for Christmas dinner.

Scuse me? You've got to be freakin' kidding me. Most kids will eat what is put on their plate but I don't know a single child who would request tofurkey over real turkey. People be crazy these days.

Check out the video below - what do you think? Has PETA crossed the line....again?



I'm starting to believe that PETA is desperate for people to take them seriously. I think they need some serious PR help.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~