Mediterranean Turkey Burgers and Spiced Couscous

It was a beautiful Sunday, slightly warmer than its been, clear and sunny. I slept in and then spent a few hours hanging out poolside with a friend who was visiting. HBO had just started re airing season 3 of True Blood and so I was looking forward making dinner and watching it in the evening. Last summer that was Kevin's and my Sunday routine- spend the day outside, cook dinner, watch True Blood. Except this weekend my favorite sous chef was sick. I still enjoy cooking when its just me, but this Sunday made me miss our summer Sundays, I can't wait to for it be consistently nice weather so we can get back into that routine.



I went for a Mediterranean theme with turkey burgers, using whole wheat pitas instead of buns, and a spiced couscous with fennel and roasted red peppers. I'm into fennel big time right now. A few weeks back I did a fennel risotto, and just love the complex flavor that fennel brings to a dish. If you haven't had it before fennel has a mild black licorice/anise flavor, crossed with a little bit of onion, and slightly sweet. I've never had it raw before but apparently you can eat it both ways. Back to dinner... I've made turkey burgers previously using a variety of spice combinations but this is my favorite so far. It's really pretty easy to just add in a few ingredients to your burgers and it makes a huge difference in flavor.

Stuffed Peppers

Per Uncle C's request I've included a review of this recipe at the beginning
This recipe is for healthy stuffed bell peppers made with lots of veggies, ground turkey, and brown rice
Kevin's Review: "this is delicious" 

Lately I've been big into pre-making and freezing things. I'll do this with spaghetti sauce, chili, chicken stew, pesto sauce, etc, but really hadn't tried freezing an entire entree before. A few other blogs and websites said that stuffed peppers freeze well, so decided to try it. I got the recipe for these peppers from my friend Amber who is an excellent cook.  





Turkey Chili with White Beans

Last weekend my friend had a party at her house for the Chargers game and held a "Chili Cook off". There were 8 different varieties of chili to try and it was a lot of fun! Unfortunately due to a impromptu trip to Vegas and a wedding the night before I didn't have time to cook chili myself and felt a little left out so I decided to do it this week. I mashed up recipes from Epicurious and Cooking Light and this is what happened...