Posted on

RECIPE: TURKEY BURGERS (or: the saga of the mushroom powder)

About a month ago I had been left to my own devices for a few weeks because everyone I knew besides coworkers was out of town, and I wound up at Whole Foods (as one does) to look for the Nom Nom Paleo stuff that was supposed be sold there. She has a couple of products in the butcher section and her magic mushroom powder, which I was interested in because every review I read said it was truly magical.

<I will be the judge of that>

So, they didn’t have it. They had the signs for it but no product. So, normally I would have been kind of put out by this as I don’t live near any Whole Foods and had driven across town to WC (on a Sunday!!) so it was disappointing but the butcher guy helped me out and was super nice and they had frozen dragon fruit packets in the freezer section which I was pretty stoked about so it wasn’t a fruitless (haha) endeavor.

While I was there, I saw that they carry dried porcinis which the recipe calls for. So, I decided to get those and make the recipe myself. I have a Vitamix now so I knew I could pulverize the mushrooms into the fine powder the recipe needs.

I was very excited about this little project and I went home and ground up the mushrooms. I opened up the Vitamix after it was done and was welcomed by a cloud of awful smelling powder.

I mean, that stuff smelled like cat food.

Like the way canned cat food smells when you open up the can.

WHAT. THE. FUCK.

I am not a pet person for a variety of reasons but I do thank my lucky stars I don’t have to deal with that particular odor on a regular basis. So, you can see how I would be kinda horrified by the scent of the very expensive mushrooms smelling EXACTLY (to me, anyway) like cat food.

With a heavy heart, I made the recipe but thought to myself that it was a waste of money and spices.

A couple of days later I was making chicken in the Instant Pot and wanted gravy but not mushroom soup gravy because I am trying to eat cleanish. I thought about the mushroom powder and was like, well, I guess I could try making a roux with that and some almond flour and the bone broth from the chicken… Why I thought this would be worth doing I don’t know. I don’t really have advanced gravy skills. But I kept thinking about all those articles I read where they were praising the mushroom powder and its umami flavors. I mean, I use deadly smelling fish sauce in Thai cooking and that’s the same sort of thing. Maybe the mushroom powder worked the same way.

I opened up the container I’d placed it in and was like, ugh, still smells like cat food. But, I made a roux and eventually thinned it down with the broth, and you guys:

That was the best damn gravy I have ever made in my life.

I couldn’t get over it. And I hadn’t made very much so it was gone in a flash. A couple of days after that I was planning on making turkey burgers and thought, well, now I know the mushroom powder is okay so let’s try putting it in the turkey burgers.

Those were the best damn turkey burgers I have ever made in my LIFE.

I make an excellent (ground beef) meatloaf from my grandfather’s recipe but it’s not paleo. So I have been experimenting with turkey burgers and meatballs to fill that hole for times when I’m eating less beef.

Here is the recipe. I’ve had several people try them now and the verdict is in: they’re delicious.

  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 1 T magic mushroom powder (linked above)
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup almond milk
  • 1/2 cup onion, minced
  • handful of spinach, de-stemmed and cut up small

Squish everything together and make sure it is well blended together. It will be kind of wet – this is okay. Form into 4-5 patties (depending on how big you want your patties) and fry on a non-stick pan over medium heat. About 5min each side – cook until nicely browned and the internal temp reads 165º F.

Then, enjoy! You could get nice buns and make regular burgers out of them, but they are so tasty that you can eat them plain on their own. I just eat them on their own with delicious sides.

A lone turkey burger awaits its fate (in my belly)
with tater tot sides and purple cauliflower
with acorn squash, potatoes, cauliflower, and homemade mushroom soup

You’re welcome.

Posted on

FO: WARLOCK COWL

I recently came across this nice self striping yarn from Lion Brand called Mandala. It comes in balls of 590 yards and is DK weight.  This one is in the Warlock colorway. I thought it might make a nice cowl. The colors reminded me of my friend whose birthday I had missed due to being in the Caribbean so I decided to make it for her.

I cast on 186 stitches to start and increased and decreased at various points to make it match up stitch count wise. I unfortunately do not have blocked pics but it did wash and dry up very soft and smooth and evened things out! The yarn is acrylic and is machine washable/dry-able. This makes it a good fit for someone who has four little boys and no special “hand dry” rack like us yarn nerds. 🙂

Anyway, so my method of construction is not that complicated. Every time the color changed I made that the start of a new round and started a new stitch pattern. Ultimately, I learned that I should have done a stitch count that was divisible by 10 but now I know and will use that for future projects.

I like the diamond stitch pattern section the best!

I was lucky with several of the sections that there was enough yarn in that color repeat to complete the amount of pattern that I wanted to do.

Wow this picture is super washed out – the bottom two stripes are supposed to be purple!

Anyway, it turned out really nice and my friend seemed to like it so I hope that she finds some use for it in the cold and wintry outback of Los Angeles County. 😉

My favorite section is the gray diamonds through the cream “caterpillar” stitch (the jagged garter section). I think the caterpillar stitch by itself in a solid color would make a really nice cowl. So would the diamond pattern, TBH. Well, I have two more unspoken for balls of Mandala in other colorways, so we’ll see what happens with them!

There is a third ball that I have already started a cowl for me, it is in grey and turquoise stripes.

Posted on

WATCHING / LISTENING 9.29.17

TV:

I can’t even recall what I may have watched this week that is worth talking about. I am watching American Horror Story: Cult, and it is RIDICULOUS. That is not really a compliment but it’s still got my interest. I recently binged the only season I hadn’t watched (Asylum) and it was great, so if you’re going to watch one of the seasons, watch that one. Normally I get about 4 episodes in and am bored. To date, I have only watched Asylum and Roanoke all the way through. Cult still has my attention but we’ll see.

Evil clown cult? Maybe. Hopefully?

***

PODCASTS

Started listening to a couple new ones recently.

The Babysitter’s Club Club – two male friends humorously discuss the popular 80s tween book series. As an avid BSC fan back in the day, I am thoroughly enjoying this podcast. While it’s generally funny, it’s also not mean and there seems to be actual respect for the source material there. The book series deserves to have fun poked at it, but at the same time, it was a big deal back in the day, so it’s nice to see that reflected here. Anyway, they are chronologically analyzing each book and there are a ton of episodes. I’m still at the very beginning.

My Favorite Murder – these gals are pretty funny. Seems a little rough production in these early episodes and they ramble on a bit much but it’s a fun listen (I mean… not that murder is fun but… if you’re a true crime aficionado you will probably enjoy this podcast). I listened to the first 2 episodes this week.

Criminal: Episode 71 – Here is the episode description: “Amber Dawn was 20 when she moved into a one-bedroom apartment in Enumclaw, Washington. On her very first night, she began to notice strange sounds. And they didn’t stop.” It’s exactly as unnerving as that sounds!