Big Bird: Jumbo Chicken, Spinach, and Herb Burgers with Mushrooms and Swiss

These burgers are huge. Gigantic. I could barely finish one, and I forgot to buy spinach so they could have been even larger. They were, however, quite tasty and something I am planning on making again.

I think the spinach in the burgers would help to make them less dense. Chicken doesn't have a lot of fat so it's easy to pack down, and when you do, the fat won't cook away leaving a lighter structure as it does with beef. Rachael says this serves 4, I say make 6 normal sized patties, maybe even 8. Because of my inexperience making patties, I made them a little higher than they should have been and they were a real mouthful to eat. My mushrooms came out fantastic and they were a great addition to the recipe. I would suggest tossing in some onions with them to caramelize.

This recipe clocked in at 35 minutes. Without the prep it would have been 30 min, and my ginormous burgers took a longer time to cook. I think this one is possible to make in under 30 minutes. The burgers themselves were super easy to put together, I 'd even suggest doing so ahead of time. Ground chicken doesn't grill well because of the lack of fat, so stick with a frying pan.


PS- ignore the strewn clothes in the background, waiting to be put away in my closet (moving in)

A New Start

So I haven't updated in like forever. Graduation and job searching and generally trying to live a non-online life does that. But now I've settled down and cooked a few more meals and told myself that I will update on a more regular basis. Plus my friends might actually, possibly, occasionally read this and then they can see what I'm up to, or at least miss my cooking. I cooked a few winners this past week while I was slacking, waiting for my job to start and have a few more planned. I think I might start posting other things that I make that are good too. Which is amusing considering dinner this week will be franks and beans. July 4th just got me in the mood for good, summer, unhealthy food. It makes me miss The Lake and this is one small way to recreate it. Now if I only had a penguin floaty tube and a noodle. Life would be complete.

I decided that my new digs needed some green so I bought a basil plant. I was about to get a new pot for it when I discovered that there was a window box outside my kitchen window, hanging out on the fire escape! Life these past few weeks have been like that, full of really useful surprises that just help to lift my spirits.

I started work on Monday and I'm really excited. Everyone has been helpful in making me feel at home and what I'll be working on is pretty cool. I've been able to look on as other projects are being run, and everything is so fascinating. I love learning how things are made. My other job, the flour development, is going pretty well too. I need to push myself a little more on it, but so far I've been really pleased with my results. One day, I will become a true food scientist. However, for the next very long time, I will be quite content working where I do now. I guess every job seems fabulous the first week. I have high hopes.

In fact, I have high hopes for a lot of things right now but we'll see where that leads to . . .