Memoli's Mom's Turkey Burgers

So the gym teacher I work with (Rob) randomly comes by my classroom with a print out of a hand written recipe of turkey burgers his family makes.  I immediately told him to go to the copy machine upstairs to make me a copy, best decision I think I made that day.  Follow this recipe exactly...I actually measured this all out (sometimes I just wing seasonings to burgers)  You will not be disappointed, these are the best turkey burgers I've quite possibly ever had.

Ingredients:

• About 4 Tbsp. of olive oil
• 1 package of ground turkey
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 medium yellow/white onion, finely minced
• 1 Tbsp. dried parsley
• 1 Tbsp. dried basil
• Sliced American cheese (white)

Directions:
In a medium bowl, add turkey, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper flakes, parsley, basil.  You could chop these by hand, but I put the peeled garlic and largely diced onion in a food processor and pulsed it to make sure they were super fine, then added it to the bowl of other ingredients.  Mix thoroughly by hand and shape into 4 patties.
Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan on about medium-high heat.  Add patties to cook (covered with lid or aluminum foil), flipping once. (About ten minutes?)
Add American cheese (I put 2 slices on each burger) and then recovered with aluminum foil and removed them from heat.
I served ours on potato rolls.  A little ketchup is all these then need.

Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 1.2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 stick of butter, melted

•  2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Lightly grease a 9 by 13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.  In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, sugars and butter.  Pour and press into the bottom of prepared pan.  Bake for 8 minutes on middle oven rack and set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl or in your stand mixer bowl, mix the cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla just until smooth.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, blending after each addition.  Set aside one cup of the mixture.  To the remaining mixture, mix in the 1/4 cup sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

Spread the pumpkin batter into the crust.  Drop the remaining plain batter by spoonfuls onto the top. Swirl with a knife to create a marbled effect.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until filling is just set (the middle will still jiggle a little bit).  Cool the bars in the pan and chill in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. Cut into bars of desired size.

(recipe adapted from http://ellysaysopa.com/2009/12/07/marbled-pumpkin-cheesecake-bars/)

Homemade Apple "Chips"

 

Ingredients:

3 apples, (any variety but typically the ones you enjoy best when eaten raw, not baking apples)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 Tbsp of granulated sugar

 

Directions:

 

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Slice apples with a mandolin or a way of comparable thickness (as thin as you can get)

Place apples in a single layer on non-stick foil on your biggest cookie sheet.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and suger (one side only)

Place on top rack of oven for 45 minutes.

Flip apples and continue baking for another 45 minutes.

Leave in oven (shut off) to cool.

 

(Note: the first time I made these, I left them in the oven for a total of 2 hours and they got crispy.  For 1.5 hrs total, they had a bit more body to them.)

Enjoy!