Turkey Burgers & Coffee & Amazing news!

Should we start with the good news, the bad news, or the delicious news first? Hm! Well, let's start with the bad news first.

The bad news... Coffee makes me a crazy lady. Like so crazy that it should be illegal for me to drink it. I start to shake, jump around, and talk extremely loud. So needless to say, yesterday was a crazy day. I drank an entire cup of strong black coffee and then could not sleep during the night. I tossed. I turned. I dreamt of weird things like going back to high school.

So the bad news, I once again... am back to drinking decaf.

Now for the good news!

Have you heard of What's Cooking Detroit? You haven't? That is just a shame!

Well on 9/24-9/25 there is a fabulous festival going on at the Palace of Auburn Hills for foodies like me, and you, and you, and you! AND The best news is... my favorite 5 Ingredient Fix gal, Claire Robinson, will be doing a cooking demo on Sunday! AND guess who has VIP & meet and greet tickets? This girl does!

So look out next week for wonderful pictures of delicious wine, food, and cooking demos from local chefs and a couple of food network stars. Also look out for a picture of me with one of my favorite stars :) Let's hope she signs my cook book!

Now for the delicious news!

Turkey burgers!! Healthy-er, delicious-er (I think), and just absolutely wonderful-er than a beef patty.. sometime. Did you think I was just going to say wonderful-er and leave it at that? No way! Sometimes you need beef, and sometimes you need turkey. Last night, I needed Turkey.

Turkey Burgers (makes 4!)

1lb of ground turkey (I used breast meat)

1/4 tsp + a pinch of pepper

1/2 tsp + a pinch of garlic

1/2 tsp + a pinch of chili powder

1/4 cup of sweet bbq sauce of your choice (more or less depending on what you like)

4 whole wheat buns buttered

cheese, lettuce, onion! Or any toppings you want really.

**A sprinkle of salt at the end as well. And only at the end because adding salt prior to grilling will suck out the moisture while they are on the grill! Since we are already using a "dryer" meat it is important to maintain as much moisture as possible.**

1. Mix meat with all of the above spices, and form int0 4 quarter pound patties.

2. Sprinkle with a bit of extra pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder (just a little bit!)

3. Grill em' up! (about 5 minutes a side at most... depending on their thickness) When you flip your burgers for the first time brush on some bbq sauce. And when you flip again, brush again before adding cheese.

4. When your burgers get super close to being done and it is time to melt the cheese on top but your buttered buns on the top rack of the grill and watch them closely.

5. Add your condiments, your salt, and whatever side dishes you decided to make.

Enjoy!

Call of the WILD!

Alright ladies and gents! You know fall is here when it isn't quite cold enough to keep your furnace on all day so instead you use a cheap space heater to warm up just your area of the house. Maybe I'm greedy, maybe I just can't stand waking up with a cold nose, but at least the cats know my room is the place to hang out to stay toasty.

Speaking of cats, and speaking of fall... Leopard print... it is everywhere! Meow! Rawr! So the time has come to purchase leopard print skirts (from Target) and leopard print belts (from Banana Republic) and even leopard print shoes like the ones shown above. Now I haven't quite decided heel or flat yet, but the above are my finalists.

The list as follows:

1. BCBG Babs Leopard Pump

2. Steve Madden KOOOL-L

3. BCBG Thayer Leopard-Print Pointed-Toe Flat

4. Aldo Capecoral

5. Michael Kors Fulton Moccasin

Needless to say, I have a large decision ahead of me. I am leaning toward the Michael Kors moccasins, but that is just me!

Have a delightful day!

Spaghetti Squash with Pesto Butter

Tonight marks the first night in a long time that I busted out a new recipe. It happens to be from that lovely 5 Ingredient Fix book by Claire Robinson that I posted the other day. Beware of these lovely iPhone photos you are about to see, or looked at before you peered at my mumbo jumbo. It is unfortunate that in my move almost a month ago I misplaced my DSLR. I'm sure it will turn up sometime... I mean I still have unpacked boxes stacked up behind a closed door.

So this recipe... is beyond delicious... beyond spectacular... beyond anything I could have ever dreamed! The pesto butter is very versatile, it would taste good on more than just spaghetti squash. If I were you I would make a double batch, maybe triple. I am the type of person who likes garlic bread with my pasta, with salad, with any 'ole dinner. This butter, is PERFECT for garlic bread.

This dish is so easy to make, it just takes some time to roast the squash. My recommendation is to throw the squash in as soon as you get home from work... it could take over an hour to roast depending on the size. So throw it in the oven, put your feet up, change into sweat pants, watch some television... do what you do to relax and worry about that pesto butter later.

Ingredients:

1 Spaghetti Squash

1/4 cup grated romano cheese

8 roughly chopped basil leaves

4 Tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

1 roughly chopped clove of garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Spaghetti Squash

Adapted from 5 Ingredient Fix

375 degrees

1. Take your squash and slice it from top to bottom starting at the stem. Clean out the guts & seeds

2. Season your Squash with salt and pepper and put it in the oven for 1 hour or until the squash in completely soft and easy to fork into spaghetti!

3. When the squash is done fork out the insides and put onto serving plates

Pesto Butter

Adapted from 5 Ingredient Fix

1. In a food processor throw in basil, pine nuts, and garlic. Pulse until it forms a paste

2. Throw in the romano cheese, and butter. Pulse until fully incorporated

3. Store in an air tight container.

When the squash is in spaghetti form and on a serving plate (or bowl) dollop a bit, or a lot of pesto butter right on top. I sprinkled some extra cheese on top and then mixed it around to incorporate everything. I also sliced up some ciabatta bread and ta duh! A delicious meal.

Enjoy!

Favorite Obsessions

Can we take a minute to talk about me? To talk about my obsessions, my wants, my needs? Well this week on my list are as follows:

1. Morose Code Necklace

2. Milk Bottle Measuring Cups, Anthropologie

3. Claire Robinson's 5 Ingredient Fix book, I bought mine from borders!

4. Nalini Butter Dish, Anthropologie

Needless to say, I have an obsession with Anthropologie. If it were up to me, I would put their entire store in my kitchen, on my body, in my bathroom and more.

T-shirt Deli

Over Labor Day I traveled to Chicago to visit a dear friend. During my adventure I stumbled upon a unique t-shirt company called The T-Shirt Deli, located in Bucktown. I have never quite seen anything like this before. In the "Deli cases" are rows of T-shirts instead of meat. They are separated out by typeface, color, etc. I wonder if they even package the shirts like meat when they are done? Food (or shall I say shirts) for thought!

Mugs for Fall

I have an obsession with Jonathan Adler and everything he makes. These little treasures are just a sneak peek into the many mugs/pitchers/creamers that are brand spanking new! My personal fav. is #1, the utopian elephant mug. If you were nice enough, you'd buy this for me. If not, it's okay... my birthday has already passed!

But onto serious news. Fall is approaching, and fast! The weather has become chilly. It is time for wearing jackets, and boots. This is my favorite time of year! There are so many fun activities to do in the fall such as picking apples, pumpkins, and eating delicious cider and donuts. Also drinking hot tea! Now wouldn't these mugs be just perfect for that? Just sayin'!

1. Utopia Elephant Mug

2. Utopia Monkey/Seal Mug

3. Utopia Whale/Mermaid Creamer