Recipe: Open-Faced Turkey Avocado Burgers

This is the perfect recipe for a weekend BBQ. The recipe actually calls for ground chicken, but I substituted ground turkey breast (NOT ground turkey, just a personal preference), since I already had it in my freezer. (this will change the nutritional information - for the better - on the link I'm including). I thought I had the nutritional info for the sauce, but I must have written it down in the magazine. Email me if you're really interested in it and I'll dig it up. While the grill was on, we grilled corn on the cob and asparagus (one of my absolute favorite grilled veggies). The other recipe we used was one from Giada, for a Parmesean Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad. It was ok, but not my favorite. I made it a few days later just roasting the veggies in the oven, rather than trying to coat them in parmesan and cook them in olive oil (it just seemed like the veggies soaked up the oil when we did it the way the recipe called for. Plus I don't like frying vegetables anyway). It was much better this way. The dressing was really light and good though - and a great way to get lots of veggies in one dish.

Back to the main course though - the burgers. HERE is the recipe. I have made these a couple times now, and the flavor in the burgers themselves is just fantastic. I love when four ingredients are all you need! Ground turkey breast, parmesean, pesto, and garlic. YUM! A few tips. The avocado spread is good, but it makes a ton (you would have to slather it on to use all of it in 4 servings - no wonder the calories/fat are so high on the site!) and doesn't last long, so keep that in mind. I think you could get away with cutting it in half. The second time I made these, we just sliced fresh avocado instead (always a good choice in my opinion). And, I firmly believe that fresh mozzarella makes anything better, so how can you go wrong? For my local friends: Wegmans bakes an awesome fresh Italian bread that you should definitely consider using for this. It is also good sans the bread. Serve with a caprese salad on the side (or on top) and you're in for a treat. Now if only I had my own garden to grow tomatoes (and a number of other things)...

For those interested in the nutritional information, for the burger only (not including any toppings): 174 calories, 5.6g fat (1.7g sat), 59.3mg cholesterol, 236.8mg sodium, 1.7g carbs, 0.2g fiber, 0.3g sugar, and 28.4g protein