"Turkey Burgers" - Try Jenny-O's !

Tell me, who doesn't like burgers?

I do love burgers! Believe me, I used to eat 2 double- burgers a day...and just tried to burn it by working out 2x a day!

Yeah, I stayed slim, but I was just fooling myself because my cholesterol went up and my gallbladder complained as well. So I tried to stay away from patties...well, at least from fastfood burgers.

We still go out and have burgers once in awhile, but we try to eat the "cooked-from-scratch" ones(and make sure the patties have not been stored in a warehouse for a couple of years before they got served to us!).

We like going to John's or Paul's Place for lean burgers, but we try to avoid ordering oily sides (no fries, nor onion rings), and just enjoy it with lemonade, or iced tea. Not easy, but we TRY really hard.

Once inawhile I make burger patties (and meatballs) from scratch, using a mix of ground lean beef (10% fat) and ground lean turkey meat.

But the best discovery for me is trying "JENNIE-O TURKEY STORE® All Natural Quarter-Pound Turkey Burgers" (not the Premium White nor the Savory Seasoned, as these two have higher sodium content!). These turkey burger patties are a tasty alternative to the usual beef burgers! These are made of ground lean turkey meat, have less fat, low sodium than the usual patties we can get from the market.

[CHICHAY TIP: I like other Jenny-O products - like breakfast sausages links and ground meat. I use the sausage links in fried rice, omelets...it's kind of chewy, so the texture is perfect as a replacement for chorizo in some dishes that require this ingredient.]

We avoid eating processed foods, but I believe this Jenny-O product makes it to my list of good alternatives to the "real" stuff.

Going back to the burger patties, I was reading an article yesterday about deceiving dishes/meals that are usually listed under "healthy choices" in restaurant menus, but in reality have more calories/fats than the "real" stuff. They said that in one famous restaurant, the turkey burger item is loaded with fats/calories, only because of the way they cooked the patty, the dressings and all the sides they include in the meal. Makes sense.

I suggest that to be consistent with trying to eat healthy, we then try to cook our meat in a healthier manner. Instead of frying your patties in regular oil, use olive oil instead.

[CHICHAY TIP: Olive oil doesn't have trans fats, not even saturated fat. According to an article I read in Consumer Reports' "ON Health", olive oil is good fat and it CAN help reduce cardiovascular diseases, because it has PHENOL (also found in oatmeal), an ingredient that keeps the arteries elastic. ]

So what I do with the Jenny-O patties is pan-fry it in some olive oil, or sometimes grill it - just spray it with some PAM olive oil so it's not too dry, and then [CHICHAY TIP: I just finish it in the oven for a few minutes, and wrap it in foil, minutes before I serve it, to lock in the juices on the meat (this keeps it warm and juicy upon serving it, not dry.]

Today, I just thought of having Jenny-O Turkey patties with a side of tomato and lettuce salad... great with oatnut bread, or with rice - OF COURSE! :-)

- Chichay