Quinoa with Chicken, Mango, and Sweet Potatoes

Aug 162012

Hey there friends! When did it get to be THURSDAY? One minute I was complaining because this week was dragging on and the next…it’s almost Friday?? Whaaaat? lol.

Anywho, you probably saw that I reached out to you all the other day to provide me with some guest posts while I travel to Italy in a week and a half! However, in addition to reaching out to you all, I also asked some of my friends if they wanted to contribute a guest post for my blog. My friends are a lot like me and try to balance a healthy lifestyle with living life to the fullest, so hopefully you all will like hearing from them. In fact, one of my friends, Jess, even decided to start her own blog!

[Remember Jess' awesome dance moves in this post?]

She just started it yesterday so obviously it’s still a work in progress, but stop by and check it out! She’s calling it See Jess BLANK since her blog will cover every aspect of her life (i.e. See Jess Cook, See Jess Run, See Jess Shop, etc.) Pretty clever, huh? Anyway, stop by and check her out!

You can also look forward to a guest post from my friend Catrina, who I have talked about as an amazing inspiration to me during my weight loss journey.

[Catrina and me when she came to visit this weekend]

And I have a few posts lined up from some other bloggers around the web, so it should be a fun time! Yay!

Bootcamp

I have to be honest that Bootcamp has not been that high of a priority for me this week. I guess that’s sort of an overstatement, since I only missed one day, but I feel like my heart and my mind haven’t been that into it this week. It’s like yes, I still have completed 3 out of the 4 workouts so far this week, but I haven’t been as excited to complete them and crawling out of bed in the morning has been ~~difficult~~ torture.

I think this is mostly due to the fact that I have been so crazy at work (hence the reason I’m posting so late) and my brain just can’t really handle much more. I really enjoyed my three mile run the other day because I could just run and not have to have to use my brain too much (no thinking- what move comes next? has it been 5 minutes on the treadmill yet? do I have my weights for my next move? where is the incline bench? etc.) When I was running it was just that. Running.

My brain is just too tired this week, as crazy as that sounds. I need as much time as possible to turn it off. To relax. And if that means skipping a superset from the bootcamp and going for another run, I’m ok with that. Like I said on Tuesday, this has to work for me.

Recipe

Despite being so exhausted this week, I have been able to get some pretty good eats in! It didn’t happen intentionally (I mean I wasn’t trying to eat bad food, but I wasn’t trying to be fancy either) but it actually turned out great!

On Tuesday, I was browsing through the kitchen to see what I had available and I eyed a sweet potato that was on its last legs. I thought how delicious an Asian sweet & spicy sweet potato and chicken dish would be, and turned to the Internet for inspiration (is that a weird combination to be inspired by? sweet potato and chicken? whatever.) I came across a few recipes and got some vague ideas for what I wanted to make, and got to work.

First, I rinsed 1/4 cup of quinoa under running water, and then added it to a pot with 1/2 cup water. I then brought the quinoa to a boil, and covered it and turned down the heat to low. Then I let the quinoa do its thang.

Next I chopped my sweet potato into bite-size pieces, and added them to a pot full of boiling water.

I let them cook for about 10 minutes, then drained them and set them aside.

While the sweet potatoes were cooking, I grilled some chicken on the George Foreman. I forgot to take a picture because I’m a scatter brain, but you’ve all seen chicken plopped on a GF grill so I promise you’re not missin’ anything. Once it was done cooking, I chopped the chicken into bite-size bits.

Then I got the sauce ready. For my sauce I gathered garlic, soy sauce, honey, and siracha hot sauce.

Then I added all the ingredients to a sauce pan and added 1/4 cup of water to give the sauce more of a base. I also spontaneously decided to add a few crushed red pepper flakes for extra heat. Yum. Then I brought the sauce to a simmer and let it reduce down for about five minutes.

Once it had thickened up a bit on its own, I dissolved 1/4 tsp. of corn starch into 1/2 tsp. of water, and slowly whisked it into the sauce.

Once the sauce was nice and thick, I added in the chicken, sweet potato, and a 1/2 cup of mango I had dethawed from the freezer.

Then I let the chicken, mango, and sweet potato get nice and happy and I finished up the quinoa.

When it only had a few minutes left to cook, I dropped some spinach into the pot and covered it back up with the lid. This wilted the spinach just a little bit (just the way I like it).

When the quinoa was fluffy, the spinach was wilted, and everything was warmed through in the sauce, it was time to plate!

I started with my quinoa and spinach…

And then doled out some of the chicken mixture on top!

The spicy sweet combo of the chicken, mangoes, and sweet potatoes was amazing. I loved the heat from the red pepper flakes and siracha sauce. So good!

Plus the sauce gets nice and thick and is seriously reminiscent of take-out Chinese food, but is much better for you without any crazy sodium or mystery MSG, whatever that stuff is.

So good!

Quinoa with Chicken, Mango, and Sweet Potatoes

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Chelsea @ Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 25 mins

Serves: 1

A great weeknight meal made with delicious spicy and sweet Asian flavors

Ingredients

1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water for quinoa
1 handful baby spinach
1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cooked and chopped
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
3 tbs. soy sauce
1 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. siracha sauce
pinch of red pepper flakes, to taste
1/2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. water, for dissolving
1/2 cup sweet potatoes, chopped and cooked
1/2 mangoes (fresh or dethawed) chopped

Instructions

Rinse quinoa under running water. Cook according to package directions. When quinoa is almost done cooking, add spinach and allow to steam for about 3 minutes.
Add water, soy sauce, garlic, honey, hot sauce, and red pepper flakes to a sauce pan. Whisk to combine.
Bring to a simmer and let reduce for about 5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, dissolve corn starch in water and slowly add to sauce, stirring constantly. If the sauce doesn’t become thick, repeat.
Add in chopped chicken, sweet potatoes, and mangoes. Cook for about five more minutes, until everything is warmed through.
Remove quinoa and spinach to a bowl, top with a spoonful of chicken mixture.

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So tell me, have you accidentally made any really delicious meals lately? This one was a really good one and will be seen around here a lot more often, now that I know how tasty and easy it was. Seriously, that spicy/sweet combo is just amazing! Yumm.

Sticky Asian Drumsticks

Recipes 12 Responses »

Jul 262012

Hello there! Can you believe it’s already Thursday?? I feel like this week is flying by. Kind of the opposite of last week, right? I currently have a few little things I’m looking forward to at the end of this week, and it’s helping me to stay positive and keep my momentum going. It’s always good to have little things in your schedule to keep you moving, right?

In fact, I remember when I was in high school there would be some mornings where I just didn’t want to crawl out from under the covers (did anyone else have to wake up at like 5:30??) so I used to identify one little thing that I was excited for that day- whether it was a new shirt that I got to wear or having lunch with a specific friend- I remember I always found something to look forward to. I am realizing that I still do that to this day, and it just helps to keep me movin’.

For this week, I have had something great to look forward to each day. Monday I was really excited to start to new bootcamp that I’m participating in. Then on Tuesday, I had dinner with my dad and last night I had dinner with my mom and stepdad.

Then today I’m going to happy hour with a bunch of friends and tomorrow I have more friends coming over to watch the Olympics and go out in D.C. Then it’s the weekend!! You can see that with all of these little happy things in my schedule, time has been flying by!

Bootcamp

Today was another successful day with Tina’s Best Body Bootcamp. I began my morning by running with Jack and then running to the gym, where I completed another intense superset of exercises. Today’s exercises worked my upper and lower body, which felt great. I love that you can customize Tina’s moves to meet your fitness ability. Today I was really happy about this because I found that my legs are pretty strong and could handle the moves easily, whereas my arms are not as strong and I needed to use lower weights. It was another great workout!

Before leaving the gym this morning I tried out one of those rope thingys that I always see on Biggest Loser. Check it out!

Haha I know, I’m a dork

Recipe

Today’s recipe is something that I actually alluded to a while ago but never got around to posting. Sorry about that! No time like the present though, right?

Anyway, I created this recipe during the awkward time when I had nothing in my freezer because I had to throw everything out after not having power for five days. When Fabio and I finally were able to restock our fridge, we wanted to wait for a Cosco trip before buying any chicken breasts. However, since we didn’t have any chicken in the house (and that’s pretty much my main protein source) we bought some drumsticks.

I searched around online for some recipe inspiration and after looking at a few different recipes (like this one, this one, and this one) I came up with a yummy sticky Asian drumstick recipe. Yum! Here’s how it came together…

First I created a marinade by adding garlic, ginger, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, honey, and siracha hot sauce into a large Ziploc bag.

Then I added in the chicken drumsticks and mixed everything around in the bag until it was all incorporated.

After a few hours in the fridge (the longer the better!) I removed the chicken from the marinade (don’t throw it out!) and placed the chicken on a wire rack on top of a foil-lined cookie sheet.

Then I set the oven to broil and put the chicken in the oven for about 12 minutes total, rotating the chicken every couple of minutes so they didn’t burn.

Then I poured the rest of the marinade in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it reduced down into a thicker, sticky sauce. As the marinade was reducing, I used a pastry brush to brush the cooking chicken with the sauce.

When the chicken was almost done, I toasted a few sesame seeds on a hot, dry pan until they were light brown.

Soon the chicken was done and I topped the drumsticks with more of the sauce and the toasted seeds.

Yummm, so sticky and delicious!

I served these with my favorite cauliflower fried rice for some veggies and enjoyed a great easy and flavorful meal! Yum!

Sticky Asian Drumsticks

5.0 from 1 reviews

Recipe type: Entree

Author: Chelsea @ Chelsea Eats Treats

Prep time: 2 hours

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 2 hours 15 mins

Serves: 2

These sticky Asian drumsticks are easy and delicious! Serve with cauliflower “fried rice” for some veggies!

Ingredients

5 chicken drumsticks
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. minced ginger
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp. siracha sauce
1 tsp. sesame seeds

Instructions

Place first seven ingredients (through siracha sauce) into a large Ziploc bag and marinade for at least two hours.
Remove chicken from bag and place on a wire rack on top of a foil-lined cookie sheet.
Set oven to broil and place chicken in the oven. Cook for about 12 minutes, rotating every few minutes so the chicken doesn’t burn.
Meanwhile, place the rest of the marinade in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Allow the marinade to reduce to half its original size.
While the chicken is cooking, use a pastry brush to coat the chicken in the sauce.
When the chicken is almost done, place the sesame seeds into a small pan and toast on medium-high heat until lightly browned.
When the chicken is done, remove it from the oven and coat in extra sauce and toasted seeds.

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So, what are your favorite Asian foods? This was a good one for me because I don’t cook dark meat like drumsticks very often and I wasn’t really sure what I should do with it. This recipe turned out great though, and I will definitely make it again!

Asian Chicken Wraps with Mango Salsa

Recipes 2 Responses »

May 242012

So, remember yesterday when I promised a delicious recipe involving mangoes? Well the aforementioned recipe just happened to involve ground turkey, which I just happened to leave out on the counter all day to defrost. I also happened to leave Jack out of his cage because he was “being a good boy” and “looked like he didn’t want to go in the cage.” Can you see where I am going with this? Stupid, stupid, stupid, Chelsea. About half way through the day yesterday I turned to my coworker with a horrified expression on my face and I think all I said was “turkey!” and “Jack!”

So it was not really a surprise when I got home and saw the bright green Jennie-O wrapper in the middle of the living room with the turkey nowhere to be found. This would have been fine if it meant a) I knew what to make for dinner or b) I didn’t have to spend the night picking up dog vomit and poo from the carpet because Jack can’t digest an entire pound of ground turkey. Ew.

In the end, I got creative with the recipe (it actually turned out great!) and lost a few hours of sleep cleaning up after Jack, but hopefully he I have learned my lesson.

Workout

Yesterday’s workout was another great one! I woke up bright and early for my run with Jack and another Insanity DVD. Since I will be in a bikini and about 24 hours (gahh!) I kicked up the intensity of my workout and added a few of my own moves into the circuit. For example, I know the jump rope move is really good for working my calves, but I wanted to focus more on my arms so I replaced them with some tricep dips. I also switched out floor hops for planks and pushups, which I felt was a really good idea (floor hops are just awkward anyway).

Now that I have done these DVDs a million times, I know which moves work really well for me and which ones were just ok. I loved the creative liberty today!

Recipe

Despite not having any ground turkey, this recipe still turned out amazingly, deliciously, well. The original recipe came from Kristin over at Iowa Girl Eats. Obviously I changed things around a bit to fit what I had on hand, but it still turned out awesome! The wraps feature crispy chicken flavored with an Asian peanut sauce and are topped with a spicy mango salsa. Yum! Here’s how I made it.

First I got the salsa ready by dicing mangoes, red onions, cilantro, and jalapeño peppers. I added all the diced goodies into a small bowl and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. I let the flavors come together while I prepared everything else. Then it was time to get the peanut sauce together. For this I added rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, hot chili garlic sauce, honey, garlic, ginger, hot water, and peanut butter to the food processor and pulsed everything until it came together. It was a lot of ingredients to include, but these are flavors I use pretty frequently so I had them all on hand. Later I divided the sauce into two parts: half for cooking the chicken and half for spreading on the wrap. Once the sauce came together, it was time to cook the chicken. I chopped a boneless, skinless chicken breast into bite-size pieces and added them to a Ziploc bag with two tablespoons of cornstarch and some salt and pepper. Then I shook everything up so the chicken had a nice, thin coating. If you want your chicken to have a really thick, bready coating (like chicken tenders) you can add more cornstarch, but I just wanted to give my chicken a little texture so two tablespoons was plenty.

Then I heated a teeny bit of peanut oil (just enough to barely coat the pan) on a skillet and brought it to a medium-high heat. When the pan was hot I added the chicken and allowed the pieces to cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until the edges started to brown and the chicken was cooked through.

Next I added in half of the peanut sauce and coated the chicken with it. It didn’t take much to get it coated, so be careful not to go overboard!

Then I spread more of the peanut sauce onto two whole wheat wraps and topped them with the chicken. Then I added on the spicy mango salsa and topped everything with fresh spinach for some crunch.

Then it was time to roll everything up! In true Chelsea form, I overstuffed the wraps and they were pretty difficult to roll up, so I used some skewers to hold it all together.

I served these delicious Asian wraps with some roasted Brussels sprouts on the side! I loved the crunch of the spinach, the sweet/spicy combo of the salsa, and of course, the peanut sauce takes the ~~cake~~ wrap. It is so good! I would have eaten it off a spoon. Yum!

Asian Chicken Wraps with Mango Salsa (Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats)

Serves two

Ingredients

For the Salsa:

1 mango, diced
¼ red onion, diced
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced (I have a jar of pickled jalapeños and chopped a few of those)
2 tbsp. cilantro
1 tbsp. lemon juice (or lime)
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

For the Peanut Sauce

3 tbsp. smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. hot water
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. chili garlic sauce
1 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

For the Chicken

1 large boneless, skinless, chicken breast
2 tbsp. Cornstarch
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 tsp. peanut oil (or vegetable)
2 whole wheat wraps
Fresh, baby spinach, for topping

Instructions

Combine all ingredients for mango salsa and allow flavors to come together while you prepare everything else.
Pour all ingredients for peanut sauce into food processor and pulse until everything is combined. Set aside.
Add cornstarch, salt, and pepper to a large Ziploc bag. Chop chicken breast into bite-size pieces and add to Ziploc bag. Shake until chicken is coated in cornstarch mixture.
Thinly coat a large skillet with peanut oil (don’t use too much!) and set to medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add chicken to pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until coating turns brown and chicken is no longer pink.
Drain oil from pan and add half the peanut sauce. Toss chicken in the sauce until well-coated, and allow chicken to cook for 1-2 minutes more.
Meanwhile, spread a thin layer of the remaining peanut sauce on each wrap all the way to the edges (to help it stay closed). Place chicken, mango salsa, and spinach on wrap and fold over. Use skewers to secure, if needed.

Now I have to finish some things up for work and then I’ll be heading home to pack for this weekend! Yay!!

So, what’s your favorite type of wrap? These Asian-flavored ones were phenomenal, but I also really like buffalo chicken wraps and veggie wraps with hummus. Yum Yum Yum!!!

Curried Rice & Veggie Bowl

Recipes 5 Responses »

May 102012

How do you feel about Szechuan? Yes, that crazily named Asian spice that is almost as hard to say as it to spell (seriously, I had to look it up like 3 times before typing it). However, as much as I don’t like typing the word necessarily, I do really enjoy eating it. Especially a spicy Asian Szechuan stir fry with yummy brown rice and tasty veggies. Each bite gets coated in sweet spicy yumminess. Sounds good, no?

Workout

Before I share today’s recipe with you, let me tell you about my workout! I woke up extra early again this morning to squeeze in a workout before work. Imagine my delight when I saw the sun was finally shining! Woo!!! It has been cloudy and/or raining for entirely too long. I was beginning to think it was never going to get nice out. However, when I stepped outside with Jack for our run, I had to huddle up in my jacket because it was cold! Ah! I am so ready for sunny, hot, weather already. Is that too much to ask for the middle of May? Oh well,sun is better than rain and our jog felt great!

After running with Jack I came inside to complete another Insanity workout. Again, I only had time for about half of the workout in the morning (month 2 DVDs are an hour long) and I was planning to do the other half after work, however I didn’t get home until 7:30 and was pooped. I am so glad I worked out early today! It makes my evenings so much more enjoyable! If you haven’t tried this schedule yet you totally should!

Recipe

Ok so enough about my workout; let’s talk about that Szechuan! As I mentioned, I got home from work late and was too tired to put together a whole dinner. I decided that what I really needed was an easy-to-assemble big warm bowl of Asian food. Oooh yeah. I love me some Asian food!

Now, as you’ve seen from my Thai Turkey Burgers, I normally like to make Asian sauces myself using any combination of soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, siracha sauce, ketchup (yes, I said ketchup), orange juice, ginger, and brown sugar. Any combination of these whisked together with some cornstarch will make a pretty tasty Asian sauce, but tonight I was lazy and got some help from some store-bought sauce from Harris Teeter. I’m all for making shortcuts when you’re tired. Plus the sauce is extra spicy and I just had to add it to my rice and veggies as they cooked. It couldn’t be easier! Here’s how it all came together.

First I dumped rice and water in a pot and brought it to a boil. Then I added some curry powder to flavor the rice and give it a nice color.

When the rice started boiling I turned the heat down to low and covered the rice, as usual. While the rice came together, I quickly chopped some veggies for the stir fry. You can use any veggies you like, but I only had carrots, broccoli, and onions on hand (guess I need to go grocery shopping huh?)

Once the veggies were chopped I added them to a large skillet coated with a tiny bit of vegetable oil. Normally I would have sprayed the skillet with nonstick spray, but since it was a stir fry I figured it needed a bit of oil. I put the carrots in first, since they take the longest to cook, then added in the broccoli and onions. I let it all cook until the veggies were tender.

Once the veggies were done, I added the curried rice to the pan and mixed everything together. At this point it was time for the Szechuan!

This particular brand of stir fry sauce is pretty thick, so I didn’t need to add too much to flavor this dish. These sauces are available in most grocery stores and I’ve always had good luck with them. They add so much flavor on those nights when you just don’t want to make your own sauce.

Then I poured my rice and veggies into a bowl and dug in!

Nom nom nom nom….oh excuse me Winking smile

If that’s not comfort in a bowl then I don’t know what is!

Curried Rice & Veggie Bowl

Serves 1

Ingredients

1/3 cup dry brown rice
2/3 cup water
1 tsp. curry powder
6 baby carrots (or 1 large carrot), chopped
1/2 head broccoli florets
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp. spicy Szechuan sauce (store-bought or homemade)

Instructions

Add brown rice, water, and curry to a pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover, cooking about 25 minutes.
Chop veggies into bite-size pieces and set aside.
Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat and coat the pan with 1 tbsp. vegetable oil.
Add veggies and cook until tender, about 6-7 minutes.
Add curried rice to skillet and mix in with veggies. Pour in Szechuan sauce and stir to combine.

So what do you guys think? What are you’re thoughts on Asian food? I personally would much rather enjoy the flavors at home where I can control the portion size and seasonings. I also really like making sauces myself, but sometimes I am too lazy! Does this ever happen to you? Where you know how to make something from scratch but choose not to? I know I’m guilty!

Thai Turkey Burgers

Recipes 5 Responses »

May 012012

Good evening everyone! Hope your Tuesday was terrific (sorry, I can’t help adding some cheesy alliteration now and then Winking smile ) Anyway, I had a great day and I hope everyone else did too!

Workout

Today’s workout was half fail and half success. Here is the fail part:

I woke up this morning to the sound of pouring rain. You know, the sound that helps you fall asleep in the summer when the windows are open? Oh wait except I actually had to get out of bed and go run. In the pouring rain. Great.

Luckily Jack was not feeling the weather either so we made our outdoor run very brief and then sprinted back inside. While Jack loves swimming in water, he hates showers and the rain. That is a-ok with me. So unfortunately my morning jog was not the full mile that it usually is. Oh well.

My afternoon workout was much more successful. I did another Insanity DVD (Cardio Power & Resistance) and was sweating like crazy! This afternoon was much hotter (I think it got around 80 degrees at some point today) and we haven’t turned our AC on yet. So, while it’s not hot at all when I’m just sitting around the apartment, by the time I was done doing the warm-up for Insanity I was drenched in sweat. Nothin’ like a little sweat to make you feel like you got an extra good workout right?

Recipe

Tonight’s recipe is for Thai Turkey Burgers with Peanut Sauce, another one from Iowa Girl Eats. She is seriously one of my favorite bloggers because all of her recipes are so flavorful, healthy, and easy. This recipe has actually been on my list (yes, I keep a list of recipes I want to make. Call me a nerd) for a long time but for some reason I never got around to making it until tonight. Why did I wait so long??

This was also the first time I ever made home-made turkey burgers. I’ve used ground turkey before but only for recipes like tacos or chili. I think what made me branch out and try these burgers was the combination of Asian-inspired flavors and peanut sauce. Yes, these burgers have a peanut sauce that is made with peanut butter. If you know anything about me you know I’m obsessed with peanut butter. So, I obviously had to try them out.

Good thing I did! They packed some serious punch and I loved the spicy Asian flavor combined with the sweet honey peanut sauce (don’t worry they weren’t too spicy and you can always cut down the hot sauce or red pepper flakes). Not to mention that in addition to the lean, fat-free turkey, they are made with carrots and broccoli and topped with baby spinach. So many veggies in a burger. Yep. These get five stars from me.

To get started I first mixed all the ingredients for the peanut sauce together in my food processor. It does seem like a lot of ingredients, but as I said I like Asian food so I already had all these on hand. Most of these are the kind of ingredients that you buy once and then don’t have to buy again for months years, because really, how often do you need to buy rice vinegar?

I mixed these together with water, garlic, and peanut butter in my food processor until everything was blended.

I made sure to set some aside for topping my burger, but most of it went right into a large bowl along with some chopped carrots and broccoli (thank you Slap Chop).

Also into the bowl went some cilantro, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Then I added in the ground turkey and mixed everything together. With my hands.

Mixing the meat was actually kind of fun. I felt like a kid playing with a big pile of play dough. Except instead of play-dough it was delicious peanutty raw turkey. Kinda gross.

Then I formed the mixture into 4 patties (one was HUGE! Fabio will get that one in his lunch tomorrow) and cooked them on a hot pan for about 4 minutes on each side. It was kind of hard for me to tell when they were done, so I would recommend using a meat thermometer or just cutting into one to check.

When they were cooked through I served them on a toasted sandwich thin topped with the remaining peanut sauce and some baby spinach for crunch. I also had leftover sweet corn & quinoa and asparagus. This combination was SO delicious. It was the perfect balance of sweet and salty.

Seriously, if you like Asian flavors at all you must try these burgers. They are delicious!

Thai Turkey Burgers (Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats)

Makes 4 burgers

Ingredients

1 lb 99% fat-free ground turkey breast
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli
3 tbsp. chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
4 buns (I used Arnold Sandwich Thins)
baby spinach leaves

For the peanut sauce

3 tbsp. smooth peanut butter
1 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. soy sauce (I used reduced sodium)
1 tbsp. water
1 clove garlic
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. chili garlic sauce (I used siracha a.k.a. the red one with the rooster)
1 tsp. honey
1/4 tsp. ground ginger (I like having the pre-minced kind in the squeeze bottle)

Instructions

Combine peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, water, garlic, sesame oil, chili garlic sauce, honey and ground ginger in a food processor or blender. Blend until very smooth. Reserve some sauce for topping the burgers and set aside.
Combine remaining peanut sauce with turkey, carrots, broccoli, cilantro, salt, and red pepper flakes in a large bowl. Mix well and form into 4 patties.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and spray with non-stick spray. Cook patties for about 4 minutes on each side or until burgers are no longer pink in the middle.
Place a burger patty on each bun and top with reserved peanut sauce. Add baby spinach for crunch and serve.

These are so good and I will be adding them to my regular recipe rotation for sure! Do you guys like Asian foods? I love making them at home so they don’t have all the fat and sodium that take-out places would. After I made these today Fabio demanded that I make our favorite orange chicken dish sometime soon, so you’ll probably see that pop up too. I guess that means he liked the burgers?