Chicken (or Turkey) Fajita Burgers

We love turkey and chicken burgers around here, and have been eating them a lot more often now that it’s summertime and I seem to crave burgers all the time.  Not only are they inexpensive (around 5 dollars of meat gives us meals for two days), but they’re so easy to make, they provide a healthy lean source of protein, they fill me up, and there are infinite flavour combinations to experiment with!

It’s hard to persuade Ryan away from our favourite buffalo chicken burgers, but I like trying new things, so recently I decided to make chicken fajita burgers.  I actually intended to use turkey but didn’t realize I’d grabbed chicken until I got home – either works though!

These basically taste like chicken fajitas but in burger format, thanks to the combination of fajita spices in both the burger and the veggies, the sautéed peppers and onions on top, and optional (but delicious) extras like mashed avocado, tomatilla salsa, and cheese!

The way I wrote out the recipe makes this look like a lot of ingredients and work, but it’s really not.  Most of the ingredient list is dedicated to the spices you’ll use to create your own fajita seasoning, but if you like, you can make this even easier with a premixed fajita spice!

I loved the flavour in these and all the added veggies to make them a complete meal for me!  When we ate our leftovers the next day, Ryan opted to leave off the veggies and instead top the patties with buffalo sauce, so I don’t think they’ve replaced buffalo burgers as his new favourite, but I’ll definitely keep making these as a fun alternative!

I’m off to vote (it’s Election Day in Ontario) and then join my lovely older sister for lunch for her birthday (Happy Birthday if you’re reading this!).  Hope you all have a great day and weekend!

Chicken (or Turkey) Fajita Burgers

Recipe inspired by Cooking Light with many adaptations

Makes 4 burgers

Ingredients:

Fajita Seasoning:

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon salt

Burgers:

1 lb lean or extra-lean ground chicken or turkey

1/4 cup tomatillo salsa

1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko)

2 teaspoons fajita seasoning (above)

Veggies:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 sweet onion, sliced

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced

2 teaspoons fajita seasoning (above)

Topping:

4 whole wheat hamburger buns

1 ripe avocado, mashed with some salt and pepper

Additional tomatillo salsa

Lettuce

Cheese such as Monterey jack or pepper jack, optional

Directions:

Combine spices for fajita mixture in a small bowl.  Mix well and set aside.

To prepare burgers, transfer ground chicken or turkey to a large bowl and add salsa, breadcrumbs, and 2 teaspoons fajita seasoning.  Stir with a fork until combined.  Use your hands to shape into 4 even patties, being very gentle and not pressing the meat so you don't make tough burgers. 

Depending on how big your skillets are, heat 2 or 3 skillets over medium-high heat.  I used one skillet for the veggies and 2 for the burgers because I could only fit 2 patties per pan.  Add a little olive oil to each pan.  Add the peppers and onion to one large pan and stir.  You will let these cook until slightly softened, about 10 minutes or until the burgers are done, stirring often.  In the last 3-5 minutes of cooking, season with remaining fajita seasoning (around 2 teaspoons) and stir to coat.  Transfer to a bowl when done.

Meanwhile, add burger patties to other skillets and let cook about 4-5 minutes, flip, then cook another 4-5 minutes on the other side or until done.  If you want to add cheese, add a few slices a couple  minutes before they’re done cooking so the cheese melts slightly.

To prepare burgers, I spread the bottom bun with the mashed avocado, topped with a burger patty, which I then topped with a spoonful of tomatillo salsa.  On the top bun I added lettuce and a big pile of the sautéed veggies, then put them together.  You might end up with leftover veggies, depending on how much you put on each burger.

French Onion Stuffed Baked Potatoes

It seems to have become significantly colder around here over the last week as I’m finding myself needing to wear double layers of pants (tights under pants makes such a difference!), double mittens, and double scarves, along with my big winter boots. Sometimes I feel like a walking snowman, but it’s worth it! I’m sure people up farther north in Canada would laugh at me; today’s afternoon temperature here in southern Ontario is -10°C but -19°C (-2°F) with the windchill, but out in places like Thompson, Manitoba, the afternoon temperature with windchill is a freezing -39°C (-47°F)! I’m pretty sure I would never leave my house if I lived there!

Needless to say, I’m sure we’re all craving warm comfort food as the evenings get chillier, and these potatoes fit the bill!

I love potatoes in all forms – French fries, mashed potatoes, roasted baby potatoes, skillet hashbrowns, and baked potatoes are all favourites of mine.  I usually don’t experiment with stuffing potatoes often as I love potatoes on their own so much, but a while back Food Network Magazine included a little booklet with 50 Stuffed Potatoes that I’ve been meaning to take a second look through for a while now.  I finally got around to it the other week and the first version I tried was these French onion soup inspired ones, and I’ve since made them twice already!

These take a little while to be ready, as all baked potatoes do, but they’re really easy to make. You just bake a potato, and meanwhile caramelize an onion or two on the stovetop. When the potatoes are cooked through, scoop out the flesh and mash it with the onions, some beef broth (though I’m sure you could use vegetable broth for a vegetarian version), cheese, and a little seasoning, then spoon it back in and broil the potatoes until the cheese melts. All the flavours of French onion soup, but in potato form! These end up being huge, so half a potato was fine for us a side dish with some chicken, or you can enjoy a whole one for a light lunch like I also did.

Hope you’re all staying warm and cozy out there!

French Onion Stuffed Baked Potatoes

Adapted from Food Network’s 50 Stuffed Potatoes

Makes 2 stuffed potatoes; serves 4 as a side dish (half a potato each)

Ingredients:

2 russet potatoes

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided

1 large sweet onion or two medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 cup beef broth

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons shredded gruyere or swiss cheese (I used swiss because it was cheaper but either should work)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Scrub potatoes and prick all over with the tines of a fork.  Rub lightly with a teaspoon of olive oil.  Place on a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour, or until tender.

Meanwhile, heat remaining tablespoon of oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and stir to coat with oil.  After about 5 minutes, season with a bit of salt.  Spread onions out evenly across the pan and let cook, stirring about every 3-4 minutes, until caramelized, about 20-30 minutes total.  Save a small amount of onions to top the potatoes later, if desired.  Transfer the rest to a large bowl.

Once potatoes are ready, remove from oven and let cool slightly. Move oven rack to top third of oven and preheat oven to broil. Slice potatoes crosswise, peel back skin on top of the potato, and scoop out the insides, leaving a thin layer of potato attached to the skin so it remains intact.  Add the scooped out potato to the bowl with the onions, season generously with salt and pepper, and add the thyme, beef broth, and 1/4 cup of shredded cheese.  Mash together, then spoon back into the potatoes to stuff them.  Top each potato with about a tablespoon of remaining cheese.  Return to oven to broil until cheese is melted and potato is heated through, about 3-5 minutes.  Serve hot, seasoned with additional salt and pepper if desired.

Balsamic Caramelized Onion Hummus

Sorry I haven't posted very much lately!  I had wanted to share a few Thanksgiving-y recipes before American Thanksgiving this week (even though we already had our Thanksgiving over a month ago, I always love an excuse to make comfort food!) but I just didn't have time.   I did, however, make this amazing balsamic caramelized onion hummus last weekend so I'm selling it as a last-minute Thanksgiving appetizer idea for my American friends, but you can and should make it any other time you want!

If you've read my blog for some time you know I love hummus, and especially trying new flavours of hummus.  I try to make it myself when I can because it's usually cheaper and healthier (plus you get a much bigger batch than the tiny containers from the store!), but I often buy it too, especially when a new flavour catches my eye at the grocery store.  The latest one to do so was Summer Fresh's caramelized onion hummus, which I completely devoured and then vowed to make my own version.

So I drew inspiration from the ingredient list on the container as well as a few recipes I easily found online to make my own recipe, and at the last minute decided to drizzle in a balsamic reduction to make it extra special!

I know I say this after every hummus I make, but I think this is my new favourite hummus!  Caramelized onions are already one of my favourite things to add to any dish, but they work especially well blended into a creamy dip and complemented with the sweetness of the balsamic reduction.  I left some caramelized onions whole too which gave the dip a nice added texture.

I ate mine with caramelized onion triscuits which obviously went perfectly well with the hummus.  They made great dippers, but if you want to make this a bit of a fancier appetizer, you can spread some hummus on the crackers and top them with a little caramelized onions and balsamic drizzle.
 A little more work but also a little prettier!

If you're celebrating Thanksgiving this week, I hope you have a wonderful time with family, friends, and food! 

Balsamic Caramelized Onion Hummus

Recipe inspired by Summer Fresh Caramelized Onion Hummus with additional inspiration from several sources including The Real Housewife, An Edible Mosaic, The Sweets Life

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil

2 medium yellow or sweet onions, thinly sliced

1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar, divided

1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, divided

1 (540mL) can chickpeas

3 tablespoons reserved liquid from can of chickpeas

3 tablespoons tahini

1 clove garlic, minced

1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and stir to coat with oil.  After about 5 minutes, season with a bit of salt.  Spread onions out evenly across the pan and let cook, stirring about every 3-4 minutes, until softened, about 20-30 minutes total.  In the last 5 minutes of cooking, add 1 teaspoon brown sugar and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, and stir to coat.  Once they are caramelized to your liking, remove from pan.  Save a small amount of onions to top the hummus later, if desired.  Add the rest to the large bowl of a food processor. 

Meanwhile, reserve about 3 tablespoons of liquid from the chickpea can and drain and rinse the rest of the chickpeas.  Add 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar to a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and let simmer until reduced to a thick, syrupy liquid, about 1-2 tablespoons worth.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Add to the food processor the chickpeas, liquid from the chickpea can, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon brown sugar, salt, and pepper.  Process until smooth.  Adjust any ingredient amounts to your liking, if necessary.

Serve hummus topped with reserved caramelized onions and drizzle with the balsamic reduction.

Sweet Potato & Caramelized Onion BBQ Cheddar Pizza

If you’ve been on Facebook or Instagram this morning, you’ve likely seen lots of pictures of snow – it seems like quite a few cities in both the US and Canada have experienced their first snowfall this week!  I usually split my time between two cities in Southern Ontario, and fortunately the one I’m in right now got less snow than the other one – just enough to coat all the leaves on the ground but not enough to stay on the sidewalks.  Even with only a light layer of snow though, it’s still been freezing cold outside this week so it seems that winter has officially arrived!

With the colder weather, I’ve been craving warm and comforting food a lot more lately, and this pizza fit the bill perfectly!  It’s full of hearty, savoury flavours including roasted sweet potatoes, caramelized onions, and a bold barbeque sauce in place of tomato sauce.  It might sound like a kind of strange combination, especially with the cheddar cheese, but trust me that it all works so well together! 

When I brought up the idea for dinner a while ago to Ryan, he rejected it then because the idea of sweet potatoes on pizza was a little too out there for him, but I couldn’t get the idea out of my head so I went ahead and made it the other day and even he admitted “it was really good”.  I would add one extra "really" on to that myself!

I know I’ve been making a lot of naan pizzas lately, and I swear I had intended to make this one a real pizza instead, but the store I went grocery shopping at didn’t have any pizza dough (except for those pre-made circles of cardboard) and I didn’t have time to make my own dough, so I grabbed some whole wheat naan.  But naan is cheaper than pizza dough (at least at my grocery stores) and allows you to make the perfect individual sized pizzas whenever you want, so I really love them!  

If you're cooking for more than a couple people though (or don't like naan bread for some crazy reason), feel free to use regular pizza dough with the same toppings - the recipe I provide is more of a guide anyway so you can adapt it to whatever type of base you like!

Sweet Potato & Caramelized Onion BBQ Cheddar Pizza

This is just a rough guide for a large pizza or 4 naan pizzas – all ingredients are estimates and can be adjusted as you see fit.

Ingredients:

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into about ½-inch pieces

Salt and pepper

2 large sweet onions, peeled and sliced into half moons

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 ball of pizza dough or 4 pieces of whole wheat naan bread

Your favourite BBQ sauce (I used a bold bbq sauce – try to use a thicker one with flavour)

Shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Toss sweet potatoes with a couple teaspoons of olive oil or enough to coat them, and season with salt and pepper. Spread in an even layer on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast in preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes, or until tender.

Meanwhile, heat another tablespoon of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onions, stir to coat with oil, and season with salt and pepper.  Spread onions out evenly across the pan and let cook, stirring only occasionally, until softened, about 15-20 minutes.  Add sugar (this is to help them caramelize; I don’t always do this step), stir to coat, and let cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, stirring only occasionally.  Once they are caramelized to your liking, remove from pan and set aside.

Preheat oven to desired temperature for cooking your pizza – this depends on what type of dough you’re using: a recipe for pizza dough will give cooking instructions, a storebought ball of pizza dough also will, and if you’re making naan pizzas, I cook mine at 425°F for about 10-12 minutes.  Prepare pizzas by spreading a thin layer of bbq sauce as the base of the pizza, top with a thin layer of cheddar cheese (or desired amount of cheese), followed by the cooked sweet potatoes and onions.  Season lightly with salt and pepper if desired, and bake.  Serve warm.

Caramelized Onion, Apple, and Blue Cheese Naan Pizzas

I think naan pizzas might be my new favourite thing; I've already expressed my love for breakfast naan pizzas with an egg on top, but I can confirm that dinner pizzas are just as good! Especially when you're cooking dinner for one (like I am the majority of the time) - Just take a piece of naan out of the package (and whole wheat works great for a healthier option!), top it with desired toppings, bake for about 10 minutes, and you have a delicious light thin-crust pizza for one!

While you can pretty much top them with anything you like, if you like blue cheese, you have to try this combination of apples, blue cheese, and caramelized onions first - this was seriously one of my favourite things I've eaten in a while!

I already knew that blue cheese and apples go well together because they're some of my favourite salad ingredients, but adding caramelized onions and a sprinkle of thyme made for an amazing combination of flavours.  I even found a caramelized onion flavoured naan bread to use as my pizza base, which went perfectly, but if you can't find them, just use regular or whole wheat naan and these will still be delicious.

Speaking of pizza, I'm off to go enjoy a pizza lunch with my office - Hope you all have a great weekend!

Caramelized Onion, Apple, and Blue Cheese Naan Pizzas

Serves 4 (1 naan pizza each).  I recommend serving them with a side salad.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 large sweet onions, peeled and sliced into half moons

Pinch of salt and pepper

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

4 caramelized onion flavoured naan breads (if you can’t find them, plain naan is fine)

1 Gala apple, thinly sliced right before using

4-5 oz blue cheese, crumbled (or about 1/2 cup crumbled)

1 teaspoon fresh thyme

Directions:

First, caramelize the onions (this can be done ahead of time, just keep them in the fridge).  Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onions, stir to coat with oil, and season with salt and pepper.  Spread onions out evenly across the pan and let cook, stirring only occasionally, until softened, about 15-20 minutes.  Add sugar and balsamic vinegar, stir to coat, and let cook for an additional 10-15 minutes, stirring only occasionally.  Once they are caramelized to your liking, remove from pan and set aside.

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Prepare naan pizzas by dividing toppings evenly among each naan bread.  Top each first with a layer of caramelized onions, followed by sliced apples, crumbled blue cheese, and fresh thyme.  Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes and serve.