Turkey Burgers & Sweet Potato Fries

Last night was home made turkey burgers & home made sweet potato fries for dinner. Super easy, healthy, and yummy. :) I put Caleb in charge of mixing up the meat. No specific recipe for this one - I always change it up with whatever I have in my pantry or fridge. Any flavors I feel like, but I just make sure to put enough flavor since it's very lean ground Turkey .... and I always put an egg in to mix up. It acts as a great binding agent to hold the burgers together while cooking. You can also add a little bit of bread crumbs with the egg for extra umph. So, this is what Caleb came up with, for the most part.

Salt

Pepper

Dried Cranberries

Trader Joes "Soyaki" sauce

Egg

"21 Seasoning" (See pic)

And I'm not sure what else. Seems so simple, if that really was it then that's awesome. I wasn't home to watch him do it either...so we'll just take his word for it.

Mix it up really well, then form into patties. I got 5 patties out of about 1 lb of ground meat. I cook them on the stove top in a skillet but if you want to BBQ then go ahead! :) Roughly 4-5 minutes per side, I can tell when they are done by pushing slightly with my spatula on the top of the patty and when the juices run clear that's a good sign it's done.

We topped our patties with fresh spinach leaves, tomatoes, and I put ketchup/mayo and Caleb used BBQ and Dijon Mustard. The burgers were really juicy though! And as odd as the dried cranberries may seem.....just add them. They add a great slightly sweet little pop of flavor and you're not even sure what it's coming from until you remember what's in them. For buns, we are big fans of the super thin "orowheat" brand, or I think I bought another brand that was on sale (check out the picture) .... less bread so I know it seems like you're getting jipped. But it's a bit healthier and you still get the feeling of eating bread with a burger. Just our preference :)

NOW - for the sweet potato fries. I LOVE LOVE LOVE sweet potatoes. A lot of people get confused. Sweet potato. Yam. Sweet potato. Yam. They are different! Very different! A yam for instance, dark skin and bright orange flesh. This is that thing that you get served sliced open with butter and brown sugar dripping from it.(yummmy by the way) It's also the thing that people bake with marshmallows on top for Thanksgiving meals. HOWEVER.....a sweet potato is actually with the consistancy of a potato. Skin looks like a regular potato skin. The shape is normally longer than a normal baking potato shape and it tends to be irregular and funky looking. Here is a great article on sweet potatoes http://www.sheknows.com/articles/803254/sweet-potato-nutrition-cooking-sweet-potatoes

So what I like to do is peel the sweet potato then slice it in a way that it resembles french fry shape. Personally, we prefer the thicker "steak cut" fry shape. Then you can kind of season how you like, be creative! I like to mix them up with olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder. Play around with dried herbs too though, I have had these fries with herbs in restaurants and it was good!  Then I bake at a very high heat, 400 or so, for about 40 minutes until they are good and crispy. Or less time if you like them a bit softer. Anyways, they are tasty, and good for you! A great substitute for regular potato fries. Try it :)