Turkey Burgers

We're so excited about our newest book, COOKING LIGHT THE COMPLETE QUICK COOK. Given the number of interviews and such we've had in the last few days, it appears other people are, too.

One of my favorite recipes in the book is for turkey burgers. We're getting to the recipe, but if you want to see us in a video making these burgers, click here. (And what's with my hair?!?)

No matter how much I love turkey burgers, there's a problem. They can turn into hockey pucks, hard little disks without much juice at all. Yuck. They might be quick, but they're not good. And that's nobody's idea of dinner.

We've come up with a solution: add some rolled oats. Yep, the whole grain offers lots of great moisture to the burgers, keeping them tender and juicy.

Once you've got the burgers, all you need are toasted onion rolls, sliced tomatoes, and crunchy lettuce.

So here's the skinny:

Mix 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey, one 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes, 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, 1 cup finely chopped sweet onion, 1 tablespoon chili powder, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 2 large, lightly beaten egg whites in a big bowl. Form this mixture into 6 equal patties.

Spray a large grill pan with nonstick spray and set it over medium-high heat. Add the patties and cook for 6 minutes on each side or until done.

And you're done, too. That's a great dinner! Quick and healthy. What could be better?

White Wine Coq au Vin

I've taken to cooking dinner for Bruce on Wednesday nights while he teaches knitting in Millerton, New York. You might not think this is much of a news flash. After all, we've written twenty-one cookbooks (that counts the ghost projects for celebs). But as I've said before, I'm the writer. I don't cook much anymore. So Wednesday nights have given me a great opportunity to get in the kitchen and create dishes on my own.

The other night, it was blustery, going down to freezing; and I wanted something warm and comforting. I wanted coq au vin. And 6:30. Not gonna happen, I thought.

As you know, true coq au vin (something like old hen with wine) is traditionally made with red wine. The tough, old layer is set in wine and aromatics overnight to soften the skin and infuse the outer surfaces of the stringy meat with some sort of flavor. In the classic interpretation, the chicken is then braised for hours and the sauce finally thickened with chicken blood. (No lie.)

As I said, not gonna happen. Not on a Wednesday night. So I set about creating a simpler coq au vin, one made with white wine, lighter by far, and with lots of vegetables. I think the vegetables are the key to a good coq au vin. It's almost as if the chicken flavors them, rather than the other way around. Sure, the meat is tender and juicy, but the vegetables really catch my attention.

So here's what I finally came up with, a dish big enough for a family supper or dinner with weekend friends. . . .

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Summer Mussels

OK, not the kind that might first leap to mind. Not the kind that looks good in a bathing suit. I think at my advanced age--Good grief, how in the world did I let fifty happen to me?--I'm a little beyond those sorts of summer things. But I do know I like a fast dinner. And especially one that's real food.

Already on this tour, we've met so many people who are so excited about following our plan, learning how to eat real food, getting off the processed stuff. But of course, we often meet that moment of resistance: will it take a long time?

Not a pot of mussels. It's dinner in minutes. Here's how to make 2 servings:

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Pickle Brined Chicken Breasts

What's that, you ask? Some lurid bit of recipe testing gone terribly wrong? What's left after the liposuction? Last year's gefilte fish?

Um, no. Those are chicken breasts in pickle brine. In other words, a quick and easy solution to the problem of boring and overcooked boneless skinless cutlets. (Oh, that nasty sharding! Oh, that tasteless nothingness!)

I was going to blog a lovely Arabic rice pilaf today. It'll have to wait until next week. Instead, I'm giving props to Bruce for this one. Necessity is not the only mother of invention. Laziness bears children, too.

Last night, he made boneless skinless chicken breasts for dinner. In case you don't know, they are my least favorite food, period, hands down, no questions, get out of Dodge, pull out my teeth and call me gummy. I find them pointless. I whine in their very presence.

So he came up with a pretty ingenious solution. Mostly to shut me up. But also to make them better. Ready?

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