Weekly < 30 minute Recipe #12

Teriyaki Turkey Burgers are one of my favorite meals. They are yummy served over rice but that bumps up the points a lot. So you can serve them over lettuce.

1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 egg
salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
8 Tbs. Teriyaki sauce (like Kikkoman's)
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
can of pineapple rings in juice, with 8 Tbs. juice reserved
electric skillet if you have one
Romaine or green leaf lettuce as much as you want.

Put turkey in bowl, make a well and crack egg into it. Take off your rings and squish it all up. Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder, squish a little more and form 4 patties. Pre-heat skillet to med-high heat. Whisk Teriyaki sauce, ginger and pineapple juice together in bowl.

Brown each burger 1-2 minutes each side in skillet. Reduce heat to low or simmer on electric skillet. Pour at least 2 Tbs. of sauce over each burger, and simmer with lid on for 2 minutes. Flip burgers and pour 2 more Tbs. of sauce (that should finish it off) over each burger and simmer for 2 more minutes with lid on so the sauce doesn't boil off. Check center of burger to make sure it's not pink. Serve over lettuce topped with a pineapple ring.

Turkey burger with egg is 4.5 points, the sauce for each burger is 1.5 points, each pineapple ring is 1/2 a point. Lettuce is zero points. So one turkey burger with pineapple and lettuce is 6.5 points.

Weekly < 30 minute Recipe #11

Last week got away from me, so I owe all of you 2, less than 30 minute recipes. I am going to focus on low-carb since this week is Passover.

By the way a matzoh-ball is 2 points, and chicken broth is zero, so if you have 3 balls in some broth you have 6 points. A matzoh cracker is 2 points.

This week my recipe is Thai Beef Salad. This is sooo yummy you can serve it to guests. Fresh sliced oranges are perfect with this as a sweet side dish.

10 ounces lean boneless beef loin cut into strips
3 Tbs. soy sauce
2 Tbs. minced seeded jalapeno pepper (don't rub your eyes)
1 crushed garlic clove (use more if you like, I am allergic too much garlic is not good)
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger or 1 tsp. fresh minced ginger root
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
2 tsps. sesame oil
8 cups washed baby spinach


Cook beef over med-high heat in nonstick skillet for 30 seconds or no longer pink. Add soy, jalapeno, garlic and ginger IF USING FRESH, cook and stir for 3 minutes. Add ginger IF USING POWDER and green onions and stir and cook for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and add cilantro and sesame oil and toss.

Divide fresh spinach into 4 bowls and top with 1/4 of beef mixture each bowl. Each bowl is only 4 points so feel free to double up.

I am on the Chicago Sun-Times

Holy Shit!!! Something completely goofy, and random I wrote on my other blog ended up on the Chicago Sun- Times! Ok, ok online version, but still kind of cool.

Erik's Birthday

Here is a picture of my husband being the awesome daddy that he is and playing with Michael in the park. Erik turned 39 last Thursday.

For dinner that night I put out some salami, olives, bread and fresh mozzarella for starters and then grilled up some chicken for a Caesar salad. We had some champagne and beer too. And some lovin' of course.

We did our real celebration Saturday night by going out to a yummy Italian restaurant in Pleasanton called Baci. We were so stuffed after dinner so we walked around the nice downtown and stopped into Hap's so Erik could have a drink (cranberry-club soda for me the designated driver). While we were there some awesome friends texted us to ask what we were doing. Turns out they got some last minute babysitting and were in Danville at an excellent dive bar called Elliott's. Well hell yeah we will join you!!

By the way, Elliott's is a dive that has been around since 1907, so that link above just takes you to a review, not a website. Dive bars don't have websites.

At Elliott's I stuck with club soda so as to commiserate with my buddy who is preggers. Drinking beer when she can't is not fun at all, even if I wasn't driving. She is an excellent beer buddy. Erik took a couple of shots of Jack but the highlight of my evening was my friend's husband telling me that he reads my blog when he is sitting on the toilet. I felt really bonded to him because I do a lot of posting on my blog when I am sitting on the toilet.

Today is Sunday and we took turns snoozing and caring for the monkeys, then hit the gym. I got an awesome work out as well as hitting the adult pool. No nudity, adult just means no kids allowed, woo hoo! And the water is saline and not chlorine, which is kind of cool. During the summer they serve you drinks poolside so you can pretend you are in Mexico instead of unincorporated Pleasanton.

As the weather warms up I am going to have to start taking the kids swimming too, right now I am just drying my bathingsuit after they go to bed at night. If they knew I was swimming without them they would feel betrayed. But taking all 3 of them swimming by myself is beyond stressful. Way more fun for them than for me!

I forgot to mention that Friday night I had a Girl's Night Out with my new and improved mom's club. The hostess had a friend there selling jewelry and I got a pretty necklace. Then I puked all over my friend's patio, but I won't bore you with that.