Is it Christmas? Presents For Me?!

When I got home from the pool (after a kick ass 1.25 mile swim) I saw this:

Michael surprised me with two additional lights for the lightbox and….what? A present? For me?

I’d mentioned a few days ago to Michael that I had hoped to buy new hiking boots before Arizona but thought I’d run out of time. With his super-duper hook-up he got me a pair of hiking boots!

Fat Kitty was ALL excited about the bows. NOM NOM NOM

If there is wrapping paper, paper bags, boxes or bows and ribbons anywhere within his sight-line (or hearing range) he goes nuts. We both stood there and watched as Fat Kitty struggled to bite the bow, rip it off, throw it on the ground and then get the second bow. It was quite hilarious. Next time I’ll have foresight and shoot video.

Plus another box arrived for me from giveaway I won. I had lots of things to open! And he had dinner ready for me. What a great guy. I was famished (and a little nauseous from not eating enough before my swim–oops). Turkey burgers!

A Diverse Food: Ground Turkey

The Cheeseburger: a food group that many associate with America and typical American Foods. Even the vegetarians I know love burgers (meatless alternatives of course). There is just something delicious and awesome about a burger, bun and cheese. A healthier alternative to those juicy, high calorie burgers that I discovered a few years ago is the turkey burger. Burgers made from lean ground turkey (not the dark meat) are lower in calories than ground beef.

We use ground turkey that’s at least 94% lean and has less than four grams of saturated fat. Jenny-O Lean and Foster Farms ground turkey are a good option and we buy it at Costco.

“As a low carb food, turkey naturally scores low on the glycemic index scale and should be regarded as a food that can be helpful in regulating blood sugar. It’s relatively high protein concentration is an important factor in this regard, since protein helps food keep a steady pace as it moves through your digestive tract – not too fast and not too slow. (source)”

Lean turkey is a good source of protein, which promotes healthy skin, nails, hair and muscles. Ground turkey is much lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than ground beef is. One 3.5-oz. grilled, fat-free turkey burger provides 48 percent of the daily value of protein. 4 ounces of lean ground turkey from Foster Farms is 230 calories.

It also tastes great (and in my opinion, better than ground beef). One other benefit of using white meat ground turkey: it will take on whatever flavor you want it too. Sometimes we add feta cheese and olives to the patty mixture Michael makes. The recent type he makes has chopped jalapenos and pieces of bacon–another good one!

You can add ground turkey to a lot of different types of meals (lasagna, chili, casseroles to name a few) and save a lot of calories in the dish.  Here is a Weight Watchers recipe page on ground turkey.

Of course, where you get into “trouble” with something like turkey burgers is adding “extras” that are high calories: bacon, cheese, mayo, high calorie buns…Often times I would use a Sandwich Thin as the bun- 100 calories. With light mayo, mustard and one slice of cheese it is a low calorie food item that will fill me up. Lately I’ve been obsessed with the onion buns I found at Fred Meyer. They are 200 calories (a few brands I’ve tried are 250 calories) but honestly? That extra 100 calories is totally worth to me after I’ve swam for an hour!

Last night I had Gouda cheese melted on my turkey burger, steamed broccoli as my side and I settled in with candlelight, new boots, Fat Kitty and a very thoughtful boyfriend!

QUESTION: What was the highlight of your week? And how often do you use ground turkey meat?