Recipes from Helle

Okay so one of my addictions is the Bruschetta burgers at Applebee’s but I rarely want to pay their prices when I can make enough to serve several at home for the same price. Here’s my suggestions

I make my burgers with turkey. To make the patties more tasty, I crumble up a handful of….. cool ranch doritos or a handful of sour cream and onion chips– a good way to use up those crumbs that end up impossible to eat at the bottom of the bag. I am a little odd about this stuff anyway so don’t worry if this sounds weird. I make my burgers on the mini George Foreman grill and I really love that thing because it takes about 10 minutes (less if its warmed up for a while) to cook these and I can just kinda ignore it. Other options are of course the barbecue, the stove etc, but I’m just telling you how I do this. The nice thing about adding the chips is you don’t need much extra seasoning. You can use ground beef of course, but I like the turkey for the price and health benefits. To this you add fresh basil leaves, bruschetta either home made or store bought. Where there are Trader Joe’s I LOVE their Trader Giotto’s Bruschetta but here in the Joe’s bereft midwest I just buy mine from Wal Mart (gasp I know thats bad) when fresh tomatoes and basil aren’t available for making my own. (Recipe coming soon I promise) Okay so you’ve got your burger patty made up, all you need to do is top it with the fresh basil, bruschetta, nice thick slices of mozzarella and Claussen’s Kosher Dill pickles or similar. Hy Vee here in the KC metro area has a nice store version of these that is cheaper than Claussen. I serve these babies on light rye bread that is toasted just a little. These things are a bit addictive and I love love love them when going out to eat is out of the question. I have been known to make these with the garlic mashed potatoes and sit down with my sister in laws to watch chick flicks. Great way to spend a Friday or Saturday  girls night in.