Quicker-than-the-drive-thru Turkey Burgers

Whoa, I just realized it smells like Thanksgiving around here, two months early...I made turkey burgers for dinner, and at the same time I have a crust-less pumpkin pie in the crock pot.  Oh my, it goes well together.

Remember that weird shopping phase I went through last month?  Here are the owl paper plates I bought for no particular reason whatsoever.

Here's a quick and healthy meal for you, my dear "Dinner, Done" fans.  I make these for my family about once a month, but I really should make them more often than that, because everyone's crazy about them, and they are so ridiculously fast and easy.  You can make them big (bun-size) for dinner, but they also work fantastic as a breakfast "sausage", just make them a little smaller, and stick them in the fridge for a quick morning re-heat.  Making them smaller also increases their cuteness factor by 200%.

Here's my "recipe":

• 1 egg
• 1 lb ground turkey (I use dark meat free range ground turkey from U.S. Wellness Meats. )
• 1 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. Herbamare seasoning (an all-purpose salt and powdered vegetable seasoning; delicious!  available at most health food stores...) 
• 1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Mix well and form into patties (4 burger-size, or 6 small breakfast sausage size).

Heat some oil in a pan (medium-high heat), and fry burgers, about 5 minutes per side, until no longer pink inside (I use a meat thermometer to check for proper internal temp of 165 degrees).  You may want to just brown it for a couple minutes on each side, then reduce heat and cover to finish cooking.

One important thing...if you are using a stainless steel pan, make sure you give each side enough time to brown and self-release, meaning, you shouldn't have to pry it off the pan to flip it...it should be fairly easy to get a spatula underneath it.  You should not have to jack-hammer away at it to get off the pan.  Also, make sure you have used enough oil on the pan.  Here's what I mean:

If you are like me, and get impatient, and start prying the burger free of the pan, you get a burger that looks like this...

 

However, if you are patient, you will be rewarded with a gorgeous, perfectly browned burger that looks like this:

When the burgers are done, you may want to add a slice of cheese and let it melt on while you toast a bun.  (Also, whenever I take the burgers out of the pan, I will put a couple inches of water into the pan and let it simmer while we eat dinner.  That way it's super-easy to clean up.)

Now for the really complicated part: 

Slow Cookin' Mama's Gourmet Mustard Sauce: 
(This is so gourmet it may be difficult to follow, but please, try to stay with me...)

• One dollop of mayonnaise
• One squirt of Dijon mustard

Mix together. 

Plop a spoonful on your burger. 

Set burger on a toasted bun.

Grab some sliced veggies and dip. 

Eat and smile, because, my friends, dinner...is done.

This was Hubby's turkey burger, with pepper-jack cheese, on a gluten free bun.