Fracktastic Asian Burgers and Special Spice Sweet Potato Fries

I threw these together last minute on Saturday. They were fracktastic! I doubled all of the ingredients in the burger recipe because I had about 1.5 lbs of ground turkey to use-maybe more. I also subbed green onion for the reg diced onion and added some hot pepper flakes to the mix. I used a whole egg instead of just the egg white too. These burgers were delicious.

Here's the recipe from allrecipes.com:

Asian Turkey Burgers

INGREDIENTS

1 egg white
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon pepper
12 ounces ground turkey


DIRECTIONS

In a bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Crumble turkey over mixture and mix just until combined. Shape into four patties. Cook in a nonstick skillet coated with nonstick cooking spray until no longer pink.



The Sweet Potato Fries:

I had a frozen bag of julienned sweet potatoes that I threw on an aluminum foil baking sheet sprayed with olive oil cooking spray. I then dusted the fries with cinnamon, cayenne pepper and my super secret special spice blend from Ohio. (I will be sad when I run out of this stuff) OK-so its Maple Cinnamon Apple spice-its not really a secret-I just don't know how to get anymore of it-it was sent with a gift basket a long time ago. anyway-I baked them at about 400 for 20 minutes or so-just until they started to crisp up a bit.

Served some steamed veggies on the side with the Rice Wine Oyster Sauce I posted a BLOG about awhile ago.

Meal Plan: Oct 12-Oct 25

Things are tight so in order to really stay in budget I have to stick to the meal plan during this two week pay period. I only got the things I needed at the grocery store and tried to get things that would use alot of the same ingredients so I could get the most use out of what I already have on hand in the pantry too. We'll see if I can manage to feed 3 on $110 for two weeks. (Mind you I have alot in my pantry so the actual cost would really be more)

Sunday: Asian Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries, Veggies with Rice Wine Oyster Sauce
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Crockpot Angel Chicken and Rice
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday:Beef Tips and Noodles
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Chili Dog Nachos
Sunday: Pulled Pork, Honey Roast Potatoes, Corn Casserole
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Cottage Cheese Chicken Enchiladas, Mexi Rice
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Chicken Butternut Squash and noodle Casserole, Salad
Friday: Leftovers
Saturday: Lasagna, Salad

Scones: Summer Meets Fall

I am in love with scones. Yes. I. Am.

They are officially my new favorite baked good. They are ridiculously easy to whip up and bake, and they go so well with steamy hot beverages.

I tried two different recipes this weekend, from two different bloggers and that represented two different seasons. Blackberries are a summer fruit and we all know pumpkins are like the fruit mascot for fall. I loved both of these recipes, but I'm partial to the pumpkin.

I had a little trouble with my blackberry scone dough. For some reason, it was very very sticky and I followed the recipe to a "T. Not sure what happened with that-but even though they look lumpy and not so pretty, they were tasty. A bit on the tart side-thanks to my extra tart wild blackberries (they are the ones I picked earlier in the summer and froze); I tend to like things that are tart though.

My favorite of the two recipes was the Pumpkin Scones...I mean I love all things pumpkin and these did not disappoint. I made up a small cup of pumpkin butter to double the pumpkin ecstasy and that sent these over the top. Imagine warm pumpkin scones fresh out of the oven with creamy pumpkiny butter spread over the top and a steaming pumpkin spice latte-ahhh that's pumpkin nirvana right there!

The pumpkin scones got the big thumbs up from both of the boys too and Red is now practicing saying the word "SCONE".

So anyway here are the recipes-make these now! Your tummy will be happy you did.

Blackberry Scones by Everybody Likes Sandwiches

1/2 c milk

1 egg

2 c flour

2 t baking powder

½ t salt

1/4 c cold butter, cubed

3 T white sugar

2 large handfuls of frozen blackberries

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Whisk the milk and the egg together until frothy and then set aside.

In a large bowl, blend the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and blend the mixture with your hands until you have no lumps larger than a pea.

Add the sugar and the blackberries and toss about until the blackberries are coated with the flour mixture.

Add the egg mixture slowly until the dough comes together.

Leave any remaining egg mixture to brush on as glaze.

Turn dough out onto a clean counter and knead it no more than 12 times. Pat dough into a round approximately 1/2 an inch thick, and cut into 8 wedges.

Place on an ungreased baking sheet or a Silpat.

Using a pastry brush, glaze wedges with remaining egg mixture.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Scones by Pinch My Salt

1 C. all purpose flour
1 C. cake flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground nutmeg
1/4 t. ground allspice
1/4 t. ground ginger
6 T. unsalted butter
1/2 C. raisins (optional)
1/3 C. pumpkin puree
1/3 C. heavy cream
6 T. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Get out a baking sheet and line with parchment paper (not required but makes cleanup easy!). Cut the butter into small pieces, put it in a small bowl and put it back in the refrigerator. In a medium bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, salt, and all spices. Whisk together well. Place bowl in freezer (refrigerator is fine if you have no room in freezer).

2. In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, heavy cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. Put this bowl in freezer (or refrigerator) and take the other bowl back out. Get the butter pieces out of the fridge and dump them into the bowl with the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the raisins if you are using them.

3. Get the liquid mixture out of the freezer and pour into the flour mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is just moistened. The dough will be very crumbly, this is the way it should be. Turn the mixture out onto the counter and push the pile together with your hands. It should stick together fairly well. Knead it just a couple of times until everything is together. Don’t knead it too much or the dough will get too sticky.

4. Pat the dough out into a rough circle, 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut it like a pie into 8 pieces. Place pieces on the baking sheet so that they are not touching. Bake scones for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. They should be light brown on the bottom, the tops will darken as they cool.

**the only thing I did differently was use half and half instead of heavy cream.