It turns out.....I SUCK at blogging.

Which I must admit is a bit surprising to me. Well anywho, it's 2012, it's a brand new year. I'm back and I'm ready to be a GREAT blogger...........an above average blogger. Could this be why my sister is the only one following this blog? ;) Shout out to my sis!

I've had a lot of my girlfriends asking me for recipes lately. Looks like the cooking bug has bitten a lot of us. I've still been cooking as often as I normally do although, I COULD be a lot healthier. I don't know why but suddenly I love cheese.....cheese on EVERYTHING. It's a sickness and admitting it is the first step to getting better. I have two recipes that I've made this week that are total winners.....easy, healthy and DELISH!

Numero uno: Greek Style Turkey burgers. (YUM) -----seriously I got a major pat on the back this week from Brandon, not that he's picky. ;)

This is a great dinner to satisfy that icky fast food craving you're having. It's also great while you're being active/working out for those days that you're ravenously hungry.

For the burger patties:
Ground turkey
crumbled feta cheese (I know, I know....use sparingly)
chopped purple onion
lemon zest
1 clove of minced garlic (or cheat and use the already minced garlic in a jar- 1/2 tsp)

Throw them on the grill or bake at 350 for 30-35 mins (keep an eye on them, every oven is different and they're best when juicy).

I use Natures Own multi-grain sandwich flats (toasted) for the buns. They are SUPER thin and don't make you feel as guilty. They really do give the illusion and trick your belly into thinking your eating a big ol' piece of bread.

Here's my FAVE, yogurt dressing. This replaces that vile substance you all like to call mayo. Eww. I'm not one for sauce on a burger but this stuff is crack-like addictive.

Any lowfat greek yogurt (I used 2 small containers but I like leftovers to dip veggies in during the week)
ginger (this a BIG time cheat but I use the tube stuff, ever seen ginger? freaky!) one inch OR one tablespoon of freshly grated
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon cumin (I put a little more but I LOVE me some cumin)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
couple dashes of salt
2 tablespoons of finely chopped purple onion (I put it through the food processor you do not want big chucks)

Mix, mix mix into a little bowl of heaven. Have I mentioned how fantastic this is for dipping veggies?

I use lettuce, avocado, tomato and sliced cucumbers as the fixin's.

Serve with whatever you like on the side. I've done corn on the cobb OR a quick little cucumber/tomato salad. Maybe both? You so CRAZY.
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The other  recipe is a easy peezy lemon squeezy crock pot dinner:

Let me start by saying that I have spent the majority of my life under the assumption that I hate porkchops. I was SO wrong. If only I could go back and eat all those porkchops I missed out on. *SIGH*. My world was turned upside down the day I discovered how crazy good porkchops are in the slow cooker. They are so incredible. In fact I'll never make them any other way.

You need:
porkchops (I usually make about 4-6....they shrink quite a bit and are so delicious that you'll be fighting over them....seriously we've fought over them.
1 can cream of mushroom soup (they come 99% fat free)
1 packet dry onion soup mix (Some advice, always keep extra of these in your cupboard, they seem to be in EVERY slow cooker recipe I see plus you can put it in sour cream and make delicious onion dip)
1/2 cup water or dry white wine (waste of wine if you ask me ;))
2 medium onions, sliced
pack of mushrooms or canned but eww....canned mushrroms? fresh work just fine and aren't disgusting, thank you VERY much

In slowcooker, place porkchops, pile with onion and mushrooms
In a separate bowl combine soup, dry soup packet, water/wine (I add a dash or two of Worcestershire sauce bc well....it tastes good with everything) mix well and then top over everything. Cook on high 6 hours.

Easy and delicious. Tastes like you did something fancy but really you just dumped a bunch of stuff in a crockpot.

I intend to share my blog with many so I promise to write more. Full disclosure, me giving advice on cooking is like the blind leading the blind but I promise to share my successes because if I can do it......you can too, in fact if I can do it, a 5 year old could.

Till next time wannabe foodies!

xoxo
Jill