Ginger Scallion Turkey Burgers

Is anybody else doing a version of the 7-365-20 dinner challenge? (It's where you feed kids every single night for 20 years). I'm currently struggling a bit to keep it going. I recently had hernia surgery, and then our water heater broke, and we're in the middle of the end of the year sprint, so I've been giving my kids (and myself) a lot more processed food than I would like.

The problem is, once my family gets in the habit of sugary cereals, greasy takeout and frozen dinners, it's hard to get everyone back to balanced eating. When I feel like I'm eating too much garbage, I just want to eat this Perfect Kale Salad and Edamame, Fennel and Mint Salad. My kids, however, are different. After a couple of weeks of processed foods, they really resist going straight from "tan (fried) foods" to all beans and greens. They need to stair step back to healthier habits.

These turkey burgers are a nice bridge away from fast food and, if you're already eating healthy, just an all around nice meal. The kids love that they're still eating delicious burgers. I love that these burgers taste herbaceous and don't taste like sweaty fast food. They come together in less than 30 minutes so they make for a great weeknight option.

Plated Turkey Burger with a Bun

Note About Turkey Burgers

Ground turkey gets a bad rap. People tend to see it as a healthy substitute for ground beef. This means that most people cook against ground turkey's flavor and not with it. But ground turkey is not beef. That means that it combines well with lighter/"grassier" flavors as compared to the richer flavors we often pair with beef. Ground turkey sings when combined with cilantro, ginger, green onions, soy sauce, and sesame oil.

Because turkey complements these lighter flavors so well this turkey burger is the perfect introductory burger for spring and the perfect use of all those green onions and herbs at the farmers market. Pair them with Brioche Style Buns and your family will be living the spring dream. You can elevate them even further with some Aleppo Avocado Mayo for yourself.

Note about Grilling Turkey Burgers

We grill everything in our house. We have absolutely grilled these burgers. That said, they can get a little messy on the grill so for best results, I recommend cooking them on the stove top instead.

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Ginger Scallion Turkey Burgers

Makes 5 adult sized burgers or 6-7 smaller burgers. Takes 10 minutes to assemble 10-20 minutes to cook.

Ingredients

1 pound ground turkey

3 cloves crushed or minced garlic

2 knuckle's worth of fresh ginger peeled and minced

4 large scallions chopped into 1/6 inch rings

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1 large egg

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 cup panko breadcrumbs or home made bread crumbs divided

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes to taste

neutral oil for pan frying the burgers

Step One

Spread 1/2 cup bread crumbs on a plate and set aside. Combine all the other ingredients (including the other 1/2 cup bread crumbs) in mixing bowl and kneed with your hands or a fork until thoroughly mixed.

Step Two

Form the burgers into roughly 4" diameter by 1" thick patties and then place them on the plate with the bread crumbs. Press the patties gently into the crumbs so that they stick and then flip the patties over and press breadcrumbs onto the other side.

Step Three

Preheat a wide pan with about 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil over medium heat until a bread crumb sizzles when dropped into the pan. Then, add however many burgers fit on your pan without crowding them, and turn down the heat to medium-low. Cook for 4-6 minutes until bread crumbs form a golden-brown crust. Flip and cook the burgers on the other side until they get crispy and until they reach an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Remove once cooked and add more oil as needed to cook the rest of the burgers. (I usually cook 3-4 burgers at a time)

Serve with slices of avocado, mayo, extra cilantro or other greens, hot sauce, or Aleppo-Avocado Mayo

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Aleppo-Avocado Mayo

5 minutes to make. Adapted from Love and Lemon's Avocado Sauce

Ingredients

1 medium avacado

3 tablespoons mayonaise

1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

1 handful of fresh cilantro included smaller stems

1/2 teaspoon of dried Aleppo pepper

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

juice of 1/2 lime

Step One

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor bowl or in a small mixing bowl. Process to combine. Or mince cilantro and mash the ingredients together with the back of a fork.

Best if used within 2-3 days. Store covered in the fridge.

Thin Pancakes with Rhubarb Compote and (no) Boogers

Last year, during a series of "life events," I stopped requiring my kids to do anything in the kitchen. With temporary housing, plastic utensils, a boxed-up kitchen, and all of that, it was just too hard to have them make even their own toast. It was easier for everyone if I just did it. Then, by the time we were set up in our new house, my kids were 100 percent helpless in the kitchen.

If there were a reboot of the Box Car Children series where all the adults disappeared (died) and then the very polite siblings had to survive on their own, my kids would not be in it. Instead, my kids would be the dead children in a German fairytale. They’d lie dead on the ground with really dirty fingernails, surrounded by top ramen packages that they had somehow failed to open. They would serve as a warning to other children: learn to boil water because if you don’t, all you’ll have to eat are your own boogers.

Once we were settled into our new home, I swore that my kids would no longer be warnings in a German fairytale, but "Boxcar Children" who could take care of themselves! But I put off actually doing anything for a few months. Until, finally, I hit my limit and began "empowering" my kids. My 10 year old did a Great British Bake Off cook-along challenge, and my 4 year old and 8 year old started making pancakes with me. Making breakfast together was something that they vaguely remember from our old life in Michigan, which gave it a nostalgic feeling and made it not as scary as cooking something totally new. Below is our current, absolute favorite, liebchen, booger free, pancake recipe.

Thin Pancakes with Rhubarb Compote!

If thick buttermilk pancakes are the quintessential winter pancakes, then these thin pancakes are the quintessential summer pancakes. These pancakes are not as thin or intimidating as traditional crepes but are far thinner than most pancakes. They color beautifully and, despite their thinness, have a springy yet fluffy texture. We love to top them with seasonal fruit, and rhubarb compote is everyone's current favorite topping (even more so than maple syrup!). But most days my kids (and I) just roll them up and dip them in syrup, and none of us have ever complained.

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Note About How to Cook Pancakes with Kids

The practical aspect of making pancakes with kids is simple: first, drink your coffee in peace. Next, use step stools or chairs so that your kids can see inside any bowls and reach any ingredients they’ll need. Then, start to introduce them to measurements. At first, my kids had trouble understanding that they need to fill a whole teaspoon not just part and not a heaped spoonful. In fact, the first time you cook together you’ll probably end up measuring most of the ingredients yourself and then handing them to your kid(s) to dump in a bowl. That’s fine! especially for younger kids!

The beauty of pancake batter is that any mistake is almost always fixable, you can always add a tablespoon or two liquid or flour at the end. Furthermore, my kids stir the hell out of pancake batter, and we have never yet made glutenous pancakes. So please don’t stress if your kids stir things more than you think they should. I then let them watch (safely) as I cook the pancakes at the stove. By the time the first ones are ready to eat, my kids are starving and so proud/grateful to be fed.

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Thin Pancakes with Rhubarb Compote

Serves 5-7. Time 20 minutes to make the compote and pancakes. (5 minutes to prep the compote with 15 minutes cook time, 10 minutes to prep the pancakes, 10-15 minutes to cook the pancakes). Adapted from Kiano Moju's "Koko;s Pancakes" in AfriCali (2024)

Ingredients

• 2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (220 grams)

• 1 and 1/4 cup water

• 1 cup milk

• 3 tablespoons butter plus another 3 (or so) for the pan

• 3 eggs

• 2 tablespoon sugar

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoons Diamond kosher salt or heaped 1/4 teaspoon table salt

• toppings for serving rhubarb compote recipe below

Step One

Add your dry ingredients to a large bowl: flour, baking powder, salt, sugar. Mix them together and set aside.

STEP TWO

Melt your butter in a medium/large microwave safe bowl, and then add your milk, water and eggs in with the butter. Mix until eggs are broken up and fairly well combined.

STEP THREE

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and whisk together with a fork or whisk. Whisk until any lumps are smaller than a grape nut. You should have a thin batter.

STEP FOUR

Preheat a nonstick or cast iron pan on medium heat until hot enough to make your butter sizzle. Then take your stick of butter, peel back the wrapper by about an inch, and rub a bit of butter (about a teaspoon) directly on the pan. Then pour in 1/4 cup of batter into the pan. I like to use a measuring scoop for this because I can use the flat back of the scoop to encourage the batter to spread a bit further (see photos below). You're looking for about a 6-7 inch diameter pancake. Keep the heat on medium and cook until bottom takes on a toasty brown color (about 1 minute if your pan is truly hot). There is a sweet-spot temperature: hot enough to cook your pancakes quickly but not hot enough to make the butter smoke. Use a spatula to flip your pancakes and cook the other side until it takes on color too. If your first pancake seems too thick, add a tablespoon or two of water to your batter to thin it out.

STEP FIVE

Make the rest of your pancakes.

Pancakes can be kept warm in the oven until you're ready to eat. We've never had any leftovers; however, if we did, I'm sure my kids would make rollup sandwiches with them and eat them for snack. Makes about 18-20 thin pancakes.

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Rhubarb Compote

Takes 5 minutes to prep 10-15 minutes to cook. serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1 pound rhubarb chopped into 1/4 inch pieces

• 1/2 lemon

• 1/2 cup white granulated sugar

STEP ONE

Combine rhubarb and sugar in a small pot. Squeeze lemon juice over the rhubarb and then add the lemon to the pot as well. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Once simmering, turn heat to very low and stir every few minutes until rhubarb breaks down to desired consistency. This will take between 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat. Remove lemon and serve.

Serve warm. Cover and store any leftovers in the fridge. Compote will last for 3-5 days and is a great topping for oatmeal, ice cream, and yogurt. Or freeze rhubarb compote for a special treat later in the year.

Blue Cheese Coleslaw: Picnic/BBQ Optional

I like most coleslaws enough to scoop some on my plate at a picnic. I like a several coleslaws enough to make them myself to bring to a picnic, but there are only a few that I love so much I will make them just for the joy of eating them (no picnic necessary). This Blue Cheese Coleslaw is one of the few. I will eat bowls of it while standing in the corner of the kitchen, spoiling my appetite before I even get to the party.

It highlights the sharp mineral taste of real mustard seeds which then blends with the earthy complexity of blue cheese, and it's all accentuated by the acidic kick of celery salt and apple cider vinegar.

This masterpiece of a slaw is inspired by an Ina Garten recipe I first made about 15 years ago. Garten introduced me to the addition of blue cheese to coleslaw, and if you're having this at a BBQ instead of a picnic, try putting it on top of a burger, or even better a lamb burger with a brioche bun. Just remember to send me an invitation.

Blue Cheese Coleslaw

Special equipment: food processor. Takes 15 minutes to make. Plus 1-2 hours flavors to come together. Makes about 10-12 servings. Keeps 3 days in the fridge. Adapted from Ina Garten's

Ingredients

• 1 small green cabbage (roughly 1.5 pounds) or 1/2 small green cabbage and 1/2 small purple cabbage

• 3 large-ish carrots

• 2 large green onions (green and pale green parts only)

• 1/2 cup chopped parsley

• 1 cup mayonnaise (230 grams)

• 3 tablespoons "stone ground" dijon mustard (OR 1 slightly heaped tablespoon whole grain mustard plus 2 tablespoons dijon mustard)

• 1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (plus additional 1-2 teaspoons to taste)

• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt

• 1/8 teaspoon white pepper (optional but I highly recommend)

• 1/2 teaspoon diamond brand kosher salt plus extra to taste

• fresh cracked pepper

• 6 ounces about 1.5 cups crumbled blue cheese (I really like buttermilk blue cheese for this recipe.)

STEP ONE

Using the slicing disk, shred the cabbage in the food processor. Then using the grating dish shred the carrots. Combine cabbage and carrots in a large mixing bowl. Slice green onions into 1/8 of an inch rings and add them to the cabbage and carrots. Chop your parsley and (reserving 1-2 tablespoon for garnish) add to the bowl. Set cabbage mixture to the side.

STEP TWO

Next make your dressing: Combine mayo, mustard(s), apple cider vinegar, celery salt, white pepper, and salt. Stir to combine.

STEP THREE

Dress your cabbage mixture and toss to combine. Crumble your blue cheese and add to the salad and stir again. Garnish with the remaining parsley. Cover coleslaw so that it doesn't dry out and place it in the fridge for 1-2 hours so flavors can come together.