To be completely honest, this is take #2 of Buffalo Turkey Burgers.  The first attempt was not very tasty and I didn’t really think it worthy of publishing. They weren’t a catastrophy, just nothing to write home about.  Turns out, the less work I actually do, the better!

My first attempt at these was ruined by my home-made “buffalo wing sauce”.  I’ve heard over and over – buffalo wing sauce is just hot sauce and butter.  Hot sauce and butter…simple, no?  Well, it didn’t work so well in practice.  I tried my favorite Cholula in equal parts with butter.  It didn’t taste…bad…but it just wasn’t right.  And somehow, even with all that spiciness, it imparted nearly no flavor to the burgers.  So although they didn’t taste bad, they just weren’t very good.

I promised myself I’d pick up some real buffalo wing-sauce next time we went to our favorite local (OK, nation-wide) hot-wing restaurant.  Can you guess where its from?  I’ll never tell.  And to my delight, it isn’t actually full of sugar or high-fructose-corn-syrup as I’d feared.  Just sodium, to be expected.

The burgers are very simple, I didn’t fancy them up with a lot of ingredients.  I used grated onion to get strong onion flavor without crispy chunks of onion in the burger.  The other main flavoring, as it traditionally accompanies buffalo wings, is blue cheese.  Gosh we love blue cheese around here!

Once the burgers are done, just top them with as much wing sauce as your mouth can handle.  This can of course be done with a grilled chicken breast to make an at-home version of these “spicy chicken sandwiches” like the ones my husband frequently pays about $7 for at restaurants.

And because I’ve been feeling SOOOO guilty about the lack of anything green on our plates, I made a side of roasted asparagus.  Is it bad that I’m already sick of steamed asparagus this year?  I love roasted asparagus.  Simply roast it at 450F for about 15 minutes with olive oil, salt and pepper.  Just turn them once about half-way through cooking.

And the verdict on Buffalo Turkey Burgers take #2?  Delicious.  Definitely a keeper!

Prep Ranking: #2 – Weeknight Fare
Tastiness Grade: 9/10

Buffalo Turkey Burgers (4 burgers)

1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles (I prefer Gorganzola, its easy to find)
1/2 onion, grated
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp salt
olive oil for cooking
Buffalo Chicken Wing Sauce, your favorite brand, as much as you’d like!

Combine the turkey, blue cheese crumbles, onion, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.  Mix thouroughly and form into 4 patties.  Try to get the cheese to the interior of the burger as much as possible so it doesn’t melt out or burn.  Saute over medium heat in a drizzle of olive oil.  It will take 6-8 minutes per side.

Once burgers are cooked, place on a hearty bun and drizzle with as much buffalo wing sauce as you’d like.  Top with lettuce and/or an onion slice.

I came upon this recipe from “Pithy and Cleaver” in my handy Google Reader and decided immediately I had to try it.  I just looked so simple and good!  And who can’t use another recipe for chicken?

This weekend at the farmer’s market I happened to stop by a booth that was selling fresh, natural chicken.  Normally I wouldn’t buy chicken like this strictly because of the price.  We just don’t have the budget to splurge on local, organic meat.  Although I’ve read enough books to make me quite leery of mass produced meat, but if that’s what you can afford, that’s what you can afford.  So I splurged and got the chicken.  And for 4 nice chicken thighs it was a bit over $7.  If you put that in the context of how much we’d spend going out to eat, pretty much anywhere, even fast food, we’d spend more than that for a meal for 2.  So all in all, not a bad buy.

The recipe itself is quite light, so you shouldn’t feel bad about using chicken with the skin still on.  The sauce consists of citrus juice, zest, honey and some spices.

The recipe only calls for the zest of the orange, not the lime.  But I didn’t notice that until after I’d made the sauce.  Oh well, it certainly didn’t hurt anything!  Simply coat the chicken with the sauce in an oven-safe baking dish.  Bake 35-45 minutes at 425F, until the meat is done.  Unfortunately I think I overcooked mine.  Its way to easy to overcook chicken!

I really can’t cook meat without my probe thermometer anymore.  Be sure to take your chicken’s temperature before you dig in.  Cook to ~165-170F.  You may read that you should cook chicken to 180F.  That’s applicable if you’d also like to be able to use your chicken to floss your teeth with after dinner.

I just served it up with a side of mashed potatoes.  I asked Greg if he wanted some steamed broccoli on the side.  Why do I even ask that?  Do I enjoy seeing that look of disgust on my husband’s face?  I just get to feeling so guilty about the lack of green veggies on our plates.  I may just start photo-shopping in a serving of broccoli here and there to give the appearance that we’re not such terrible people.

Click the above link for the recipe.

Prep Ranking: #2 – Weeknight Fare
Tastiness Grade: 7.5/10 – great flavor, a bit over done and not a lot of meat on the chicken thighs!

Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas

These enchiladas are spicy and delicious, and I nearly had to stop my husband for going back for thirds tonight.  That’s a rave review in my book!

I will let the photos do the talking for the most part here.  The first step is to cook the chicken.  I find that the easiest and tastiest way to get the chicken to the perfect shredding consistency is to cook it in the slow cooker.  I started the chicken with about a cup of chicken stock, a large sliced onion and a few cracked cloves of garlic.  The chicken breasts were nearly frozen solid when I started them, and they cooked on Low for 4 hours.  That was about the perfect timing.  For thawed chicken, 3 hours is just fine.  Its done when it is easily shredded with a fork.

Slow Cooked Chicken

Transfer the chicken, onions and garlic to a large bowl, leaving behind as much liquid as possible.  Shred with 2 forks.

Shredded Chicken

Then move over to the food processor.  Combine two chipotle in adobo peppers with one can of red enchilada sauce.  Blend until smooth in the processor.

Spiced up Enchilada Sauce

Transfer the sauce into a large, shallow bowl.  Alternatively, use a pie plate.  Clean out the food processor and blend up the ingredients for the chicken filling.  Cream cheese, green chiles, roasted tomatillo salsa, and 2 more chipotle in adobo peppers.

Filling Sauce

Combine this with the shredded chicken and about 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese.  Mix lightly so as not to break up the chicken too much.

Chicken Filling

So the sauce is ready, the filling is ready, now its time to assemble! Get a pile of corn tortillas ready along with a 9X13 pan.  Here are the steps to assembly.  And no, there is no way not to get extremely messy while doing this.

Coat tortillas with sauce

Completely coat both sides

Fill with a couple tablespoons chicken filling.

Roll up and place seam side down.

Line up tightly to avoid unrolling.

Naked Enchiladas

They look a little chilly, I think they could use a nice warming coat of cheese!  Not too much though, we don’t want greasy enchiladas.

Cheese Coated Enchiladas

Now just bake for 25 minutes to melt the cheese and make everything bubbly and good.

Finished Enchiladas

As I mentioned before, these are on the spicy side.  I wanted to make a side dish that would be nice and cooling.  My mom always made this fruit salad to go with enchiladas and I find it to be the perfect accompaniment.  The only ingredients are canned pineapple, mandarin oranges, sour cream and mini-marshmallows.  Yes, I said mini-marshmallows, don’t judge, its tasty!

Fruit Salad

Greg won’t touch the fruit salad, but I truly enjoy it.  And even if you don’t quite trust me on the fruit salad, do try the enchiladas.  You won’t regret it!

Prep Ranking: #4 Weekend Afternoon Project
Tastiness Grade: 9.5 out of 10
Greg’s Tastiness Grade: 10 out of 10

Recipes below the jump.

Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas

Chicken Filling:

Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts (2 large or 3 medium sized)

1 large onion, sliced into half-moons

3 cloves garlic, smashed

1 cup chicken stock

½ cup tomatillo salsa

1 4oz can diced green chilies, drained

4 oz cream cheese

2 chipotle in adobo peppers

½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1 tsp salt

To Cook Chicken:

Place chicken breasts (2 large or 3 medium sized) along with the sliced onion, garlic and chicken stock into a 4-qt slow cooker. Cook on LOW for ~3-4 hours, until chicken is tender and easily shredded.

Once chicken is done, transfer chicken and onions from the slow cooker to a large mixing bowl. Shred chicken with two forks.

Using a food processor, blend together the cream cheese, green chilies, tomatillo salsa, chipotle peppers and salt. Stir this mixture along with the shredded cheddar cheese in with the shredded chicken and onions. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if desired.

Enchilada Sauce:

1 8oz can red enchilada sauce

2 chipotle in adobo peppers, plus ~1 Tbsp adobo sauce from the can

Combine these ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and process until the peppers are blended into the sauce. Set aside in a large, shallow bowl or pie plate.

To Assemble:

Additional ingredients

14 – 6” corn tortillas

1 cup shredded jack cheese (or a blend of jack and sharp cheddar)

Dip a corn tortilla into the enchilada sauce, coating both sides. Move the tortilla into a 9×13” baking dish. Spoon the chicken mixture (~2 Tbsp) onto the tortilla, line up in the middle of the tortilla, then roll the tortilla and place seam-down in the baking dish. Continue making enchiladas until the baking dish is full (I got 2 rows of 6 with two extras on the end). Spoon any extra enchilada sauce over the enchiladas. Spread the shredded jack cheese over the enchiladas.

Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Allow to cool 5 minutes before serving.

Fruit Salad:

1 14 oz can pineapple chunks

1 12 oz can mandarin orange slices

1/2 cup sour cream (light is fine)

1/2 cup mini-marshmallows

Drain the fruit very thoroughly in a colander.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Add the sour cream and marshmallows.  Mix gently to avoid breaking up the fruit.  Refrigerate for about 15 minutes before serving.