Burgers that can be both delicious and tasty. And done in a plenty of choices, with or without the preferred spices.
Burger:
The sight is all too familiar. There is a festive mood in the family, and the setting is usually situated in America. Celebration around the family table takes place, and there is this huge bird that is stuffed with many things. The whole family enjoys it. None of them are actually thinking about calories of such a voluminous meal, and it should be very clear why. It is Thanksgiving, and family and reunions are more emphasized than anyone’s particular fitness goals for losing weight. Holidays usually have such an effect on people. Sadly, many of them rethink their approach later on when New Year comes, and they hurry to sign in to the gyms. Oh yeah, and turkey can be your friend instead. Not the whole turkey. But the version we will talk about here.
Burgers-The infamous meal:
Burgers are traditionally thought of as unhealthy meals. This may hold some truth to it, especially when we consider that they can be unnecessarily made with ketchup, refined buns and ketchup. Ingredients mentioned here are not necessary, unless you want your burger to be a comfort meal that does not necessarily serve any of your fitness goals.
Burger in homemade form is a good source of protein and carbohydrates. These two are major building blocks in any serious training program. Problem lies in the fact that when you are not preparing and taking caution of what is in your burger (which you can’t do, unless you work in that kitchen) you are sabotaging your way to health. This is the case with many meals that are typically considered unhealthy. If you made them and adapted the ingredients and oil that you are using, there wouldn’t be so many problems with traditional unhealthy meals. That is the takeaway lesson from this little disambiguation. Prepare food for yourself at home, and see how it goes a long way in serving you to build muscle and gain strength.
Thanksgiving to go:
In our variant of the turkey meal, we firstly have to make some clear distinctions about the meat itself. That way, you can make adjustments accordingly and have good and valuable info for your future adventures with turkey meals. Types of turkey are
- White meat turkey: Comes from the breast. It is boneless and skinless. Netting is usually on it, and you should remove it to start cutting it to two equal parts. These parts are called cutlets, and they can be made the same way you would make veal cutlets if that is your thing. You can roast it, or make medallions out of it.
- Dark meat: drumsticks, wings and thighs. The skin on these is full of fat. Wanting anything remotely close to your fitness goals would include taking that fat off. Good for stews. You can also add them into chicken broth, if you don’t feel like removing much.
- Ground turkey: Made from white and dark meat. Leanest of all, except from ground turkey breast. Frozen ground turkey is mostly dark meat, and is full of fat.
Preparation:
For the purpose of these burgers, we will use ground turkey or ground turkey breast. About 500 grams will be enough. You will need a large bowl, along with egg and garlic, some parsley and shallots. You can substitute shallots with onions if you are feeling brave enough. Paprikas are also welcome, as is any other seasoning in moderation. Grilling these burgers is also an option.
Problem with turkey is that it is not so much ‘’stable’’ or concrete as red meat, so you would be highly advised to add some breadcrumbs to it to keep it from falling apart. Ideally, you would use cooking spray for making the patties instead of butter, but it is your choice after all.
Use salt and black pepper and a tablespoon of olive oil.
How do you do this:
- Mix eggs, turkey and seasonings into the large bowl
- Form patties out of the mixture
- Add cooking spray to the skillet and cook the patties (usually about 5 minutes)
- You can grill the patties as well as buns. In this step, you can grill the paprikas to char
- Use wholemeal buns to put the patties in
- Add the remaining toppings and seasonings of your choice.
This meal has about 500 calories and is filled with fat that will give you energy even for the most demanding training sessions. There are plenty of options for added sauce, however, that sauce goes against the health side of things, so you can do that with caution. You can use the soy sauce, grated zucchini, mushrooms, cheese of your preference, chilli sauce. Mozzarella or any melted cheese can hold it better than breadcrumbs, but then you are just making excuses for weight gain. Worchester sauce is also good. You add the sauces in the initial mix in the bowl. Ingredients that you add after you have mixed it in the bowl can be grilled or baked in the skillet. And there you go. It can be very simple and healthy, or very elaborate and, well, not so healthy. Your choice after all.