A Turkey Twist

Welcome back, readers! Brace yourselves for a wild journey through my first cooking adventure. Tonight’s recipe selection is golden brown turkey burgers and virgin mojitos, a meal perfect for a summertime barbeque for a family to enjoy outside on the patio. But in actuality, my particular situation is nowhere near the relaxed, outdoor summer atmosphere. My cooking workplace is Walsh kitchen, a place that can be summed up in three words: grotesque, empty, and neglected. Very few people have the willpower, let alone the bravery, to work through the greasy, dirty dishes and stained counters (from who knows what) that remain in plain sight for all to see. I was one of the few courageous Walsh residents to get past the grease and hope for a successful dinner.

Okay, it’s not the typical beefy, American hamburger, but with a healthy makeover, the turkey burger catches the eye and lures people in. The recipe has a short estimated cooking time of twenty minutes and includes different mood-enhancing ingredients. However, what really won me over was probably my flat out craving for a non-Benson burger. Readers, if you are interested, JoyBauer.com has a variety of useful tools to guide you on the pathway to a healthier lifestyle. Nutritionist Joy Bauer’s webpage, called “Food and Recipes for Health Conditions,” gave me the following recipe for the Italian Ranch Turkey Burger: 

INGREDIENTS

1. 1 pound turkey, lean ground
2. 1 medium onion, white, chopped
3. 2 clove(s) garlic, minced
4. 2 ounce(s) cheese, feta, crumbled, fat-free
5. 1/2 tablespoon dressing mix, ranch
6. Italian seasoning, dried, to taste
7. salt, sea, to taste
8. pepper, black ground, to taste

Nutrition Facts

Amount per Serving

Calories: 215

Total Fat: 8 g

Saturated Fat: 2 g

Cholesterol: 80 mg

Sodium: 360 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 6 g

Dietary Fiber: 0.5 g

Protein: 27 g

There were a few changes I made to the recipe since I tend to enjoy traditional, clean cut meals. I omitted the use of ranch dressing and Italian seasoning because I have never really used ranch dressing on my salad, and therefore did not see any reason to start trying it on burger patties. I also decided to substitute pepper-jack cheese, with its spicy wonders, for feta, whose texture I find disgusting. Bauer deemed the ingredients good for the heart, eyes, memory, mood, hair and skin, and helps prevent arthritis, celiac disease, and type two diabetes. Garlic, for example, is beneficial to one’s health because it “contains allicin, a naturally occurring antioxidant that may help improve heart health. Compounds in garlic also act as powerful antioxidants” (Bauer). Cheese is a very important ingredient to include because “the protein in cheese can slow down the absorption of carbohydrates eaten at the same meal or snack and therefore help balance your blood-sugar levels and improve mood as well” (Bauer). After researching all the health benefits, I was more than happy to confirm my recipe choice and go out to buy the ingredients that were about to be my first cooked meal--ever. 

So, between studying for a Spanish midterm and making a quick trip to Safeway (or so I thought), I was also supposed to find the time to clean, cook, and eat. I guess the first issue I came across was, inevitably, time. My roommate accompanied me on this market trip and convinced me that a fancy drink was absolutely necessary. We agreed that a refreshing mojito would complement our meal nicely and that she would be the mixologist for the night. For my readers who are not familiar with mojitos (since I was, until very recently, a true mojito virgin), don’t worry, there is not much to it. Ice, limes, sugar, sparkling water, and mint are the only ingredients we used for our concoction. I probably circled the vegetable section of Safeway three and a half times before one of the employees approached me to ask what exactly I was trying to find. His chuckles calmed my frustration because I was never going to locate the mint I was desperately hunting for. To my defense, the mint was hiding behind the basil, and I did not feel quite as ashamed until the man asked if I was a little too young to be making mojitos. I brushed off the comment, knowing in my heart that cooking my own meals was quite an adult-like move to make, and went on a search for my roommate. I found her struggling to figure out the difference between sparkling water, club soda, and seltzer water, which apparently are three completely different things. After all the incessant questioning and unexpected struggles, I raced to the register and handed the cashier $13.92, which I thought was a decent price considering some of Benson’s specials to be sixteen or eighteen dollars. The Safeway trip took a grand total of fifty minutes, leaving me pressed for time and extremely stressed out.  

My mood at this point was exhausted and irritable--this cooking ordeal needed to be over. I opened the door of the kitchen, looked to the left, and let out a loud, “Are you serious?” The pan I planned to use for the burgers had a chunky black film over it, clearly indicating that whoever had used it last did not bother to clean it. I quickly realized I only had butter-knives to use, and that was not going to be very helpful with the mincing of garlic. I walked around my dorm, asking for a sharp knife, and ended up with a large steak knife. My exasperated reaction to the whole process was blatantly obvious in my facial expressions, and my roommate was the first to notice. She gave me a quick hug and pulled up the Frank Sinatra Pandora station to lighten the mood. The steak knife swiftly chopped of all the veggies, and mixing the meat with my fingers was quite a slimy experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. Putting the patties on the pan was the difficult part because I did not know what qualified as a normal sized patty. Patty number one was round and hefty but took quite some time to cook all the way through, so I had to reformulate each one into much smaller forms. The patties sat in the pan, sizzling away, and soaking up every bit of my undivided attention. The sensational aroma of cheese, garlic and onions permeated every nook and cranny of my dorm at six-thirty in the evening. Food and college students go hand-in-hand, so you can imagine the amount of visitors that started to drop by. 

Words of affirmation tend to dramatically improve my mood. As the time passed and the burgers cooked, various groups of people trickled into the kitchen to tell me just how wonderful everything smelled. A showering of compliments resulted in an ear-to-ear smile that spread across my face. I was genuinely proud of what I had accomplished, but I also had a tiny feeling of guilt. The majority of the people that came to the kitchen most certainly wanted to try my meal when it was done. Sharing was a huge issue that I had not really thought about before. I had selected three friends that I was going to share my meal with, and that did not account for the dozens of other hungry college students hovering nearby. My solution for the next meal was to have larger portions of foods to share. With a welcoming smile, I made sure I invited every one of my kitchen visitors to go food shopping with me so that they could get their own ingredients and cook with me. When I was finally able to sit down and admire the glistening burgers with juicy red tomatoes plopped right on top, I stopped to take a moment and look at my friends. I saw a combination of mouthfuls of food, smiles, and bliss. Everyone stopped what he or she was doing when I took my first bite, and all I could say was “Mmmmm.” My mood had completely transformed from when I had stepped foot into the filthy kitchen. Tension had turned into pleasure, and I felt ready to go back and study for that dreadful midterm I had been trying to avoid. Cleaning up happened in a matter of minutes with the help of my friends. At the bottom of the blog, I attached a picture of my delicious turkey burger with a juicy red tomato and whole-grain bread.

Overall, it was an uplifting experience, and I cannot wait to cook something new! Cooking gave me a way to use an allotted portion of my time for the betterment of my health. I don’t know if it was the power of the ingredients or the happiness I brought to others, but the meal definitely brought me contentment. Now I have something to look forward to for the weeks to come and a mission to find a dish that can account for more people. Readers, if you ask for a little help, I can promise you that cooking will not be as terrifying as it seems. I gave it a try, and now I am eating a little healthier while smiling a little brighter. Come back soon to see what comes next!

Works Cited 

"Healthy Food and Recipes." JoyBauer.com. Everyday Health, Inc., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013. <http://www.joybauer.com/food-recipes.aspx>.