A couple of nights ago I was stumped – – – what the heck should I make for dinner? This is the perennial question that I seem to face at least a couple of times a week. Sometimes I get adventurous and try something new (and sometimes it works out… sometimes it doesn’t…), and other nights I go back to old standards. Wednesday night I found myself in such a predicament. I did some searching on the internet, and decided to try a brussel sprout stir-fry salad (what can I say? I had some brussel sprouts left over from my last trip to Whole Foods). But a stir-fry salad wasn’t really going to cut it as a complete meal. So to supplement the veggies I decided to make an old classic that I picked up from my good friend and former roommate, Vicky: Spinach Feta Turkey Burgers.

The first time Vicky made these for me we were still in graduate school at the University of Chicago, and we each had our own 1-bedroom apartments across the street from each other in Hyde Park. A friend of hers was in town visiting, and Vicky was kind enough to invite me to join them for dinner at her place – spinach feta turkey burgers being the main entrée of the evening. They were so freakin’ delicious that I knew I would have to have them again. We scarffed a few down, and then spent a few hours chatting and getting giggly. It was a fun night. After graduate school ended and Vicky and I were both poor, we moved into an apartment together and over the course of the two years we lived together we ate spinach feta turkey burgers every couple of months. The following recipe is a modification of hers, with a couple of additional ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1.25lb Lean Ground Turkey
• 1 pkg (10oz) frozen spinach, thawed and drained
• I pkg (6oz) of crumbled Feta Cheese
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• Dash of Garlic Powder (to taste) – I usually add about 1/2 tsp
• Dash of Nutmeg (to taste) – I usually add about 1/2 tsp

Instructions:

• Mix (I use my hands) the ground turkey, drained spinach, and crumbled feta cheese together in a bowl, making sure the spinach and feta are evenly distributed with the turkey.
• Add the worcestershire, garlic, and nutmeg and mix again (using hands) to make sure that all of the ingredients are fully incorporated.
• Form the meat mixture into patties (this usually makes 6 burgers for me, but it depends on how big or small you want your burgers) and refrigerate them for 30 minutes (it helps bind the meat so that your burgers don’t completely fall apart on the grill).
• Cook the burgers! Sometimes I use a skillet over medium/medium-high heat until the meat is fully cooked in the middle of the burger (with poultry I play it safe and usually fully cut open one of the burgers to see if the meet is fully cooked). When Vicky and I had  George Forman grill (it was really hers), I would use that and it would work fabulously! (I really need to get one of those for myself). So… it’s up to you how you want to cook the burger… just make sure you don’t see any pink with poultry 🙂

So the burgers turned out really good (super delicious, as usual), but I didn’t take a picture of them because they didn’t look particularly appetizing. They were a little darker on the outside than I would have liked, but I think that happened because I was using a new pan and I probably had the gas flame a little too high. Next time I make them I will take a photo and update this post so that everyone can see how beautiful they actually are (when they’re cooked properly…). Ha!