Fitness Friday: Southwest Turkey Burgers

I promised last week that I’d share some recipes with you. And I like to keep my blogging promises. So, here’s one of my favorites!

Since the beginning of January, I’ve been making one or two recipes a week from the P90X2 Nutrition Guide. These Southwest Turkey Burgers are one of my favorites, and the only one I’ve made twice (so far). They are so quick and yummy…even my kids love them.

(And by “kids” I mean 2 of the 3. It’s a rare day when every kid loves the meal. But I’m cool with that. You can’t please all the people all the time, right?  Sometimes, it’s more a reflection of their feelings for their mother at the moment, and less about the burger.)

Serve these up with a platter of fresh veggies and dip. For the children you can add a side of homemade French fries or a fruit smoothie! Or BOTH!!

(and by “children” I mean “your offspring and your husband who are not trying to lose weight.”)

Southwest Turkey (or Chicken) Burgers

Ingredients: 

10 oz ground turkey breast (I used ground chicken, because I cannot, for the life of me, find organic, free range ground turkey! What’s up with that?? I may have to join some kind of farm co-op, just for the turkey.)

½ cup salsa, with corn and beans added. (I used jarred, all natural, medium heat)

½ tsp garlic powder

¼ cup seasoned breadcrumbs

4 toasted whole-grain hamburger buns

4 thick slices tomato

4 large romaine lettuce leaves

4 slices red onion

4 thin slices cheddar cheese (I used raw cheddar and sliced it myself)

Directions:

1. Combine turkey (or chicken), salsa, garlic powder and breadcrumbs in a bowl.

2. Form into 4 patties and grill or broil until cooked through. (The first time, I broiled and they came out beautifully. The second time I started on the grill and finished in a 400-degree oven until the rest of dinner was done—also beautiful.  You can make these ahead of time, store in fridge, and cook later.)

3. Serve burgers on buns topped with lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese (For my kids, I omitted to tomato and onion cuz they think that’s just gross. And you do NOT need a condiment on these! They are so tasty and moist. Trust me.)

Serves 4

Calories: 357
Fat: 12g
Saturated fat: 5g
Carbohydrate: 32g
Protein: 30g
Fiber: 3.5g
Sodium: 433 mg
Cholesterol: 56 mg

Let me know if you make these and how you like them!

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Do you see those clothes right there?

Do you want to know that they are?

I went shopping.

I know of this great place called Sandy’s Storage Room—a lovely boutique conveniently located in my basement.  There, you will find 2 giant bins of clothes I packed away last winter, to end a crying epidemic that occurred every time I got dressed and realized I was unable to pull yet ANOTHER item of clothing over my thighs–or arms–or stomach–depending on the item.

(18 pounds will do that to you.)

(23 pounds will REALLY do that to you.)

(Thank you to all my real life friends and husband who pretended that you didn’t notice and told me I was beautiful anyway.)

(I didn’t feel beautiful.)

(Yes, I know I’m beautiful on the inside.)

(But still.)

If you started a fitness program as a New Year’s Resolution, right about now is when you should start seeing some serious results.

Unless, of course, you are me.  Then you should see some serious results in February of the year 2014.  But hang in there.  It’ll be here before you know it.

(Last Sunday, my first real-life friend noticed that I am losing weight.)

(She commented on the size of my shrinking butt. Which is awesome and embarrassing.)

(But mostly awesome.)

These are some of the clothes that I love and prayed that I’d someday be able to wear again. You can’t tell from the picture, but some of them still have tags.  I literally, bought them, gained a bunch of weight on Lexapro, and then couldn’t wear them.  All in like 8 weeks.

I actually had another 2 bins of clothes that didn’t fit that I donated to Goodwill.  Obviously, I didn’t love them as much as I loved these.  But I still cried when I couldn’t fit into them.  My entire closet, ya’ll.

I can now fit into these clothes.

I can hardly believe it.

I am happy.

I have written a lot of short, choppy sentences in this post.

Sorry.

That is all.

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Linking up with Jill and a bunch of other fitness-minded bloggers at Fitness Friday.