Bucking the trend

I’ve never been much of a follower, even as a teenager. I kind of march to the beat of my own drummer. I don’t care what’s “in” or what’s trending…unless we’re talking about #hastags, but I digress. I’ve never owned a pair of Uggs or Tory Burch flats, I didn’t get my belly button pierced or get a tramp stamp in college, and I joined Facebook (begrudgingly) after it was no longer cool. When it comes to food trends, I kind of feel the same way. It takes me a really long time to even become remotely curious what the fuss is all about. I mean it took me ages to try coconut water, and I was rewarded with sweat in a bottle!

Last summer I tried Kale chips for the first time. I was getting tons of Kale in my CSA and I couldn’t keep up. There are only so many salads and smoothies you can eat.  I’d heard multiple people and food blogs claim that “they are just like chips”, so I figure it’s worth a try. I can’t really eat regular potato chips because the added salt and preservatives give me migraines. Maybe this was my healthy alternative. So I make my first batch. Are they crispy, yes. Are they salty, yes. Do they taste like potato chips, NO! They taste like leaves that you just baked in the oven and sprinkled with some salt. Okay, I think, I’ve got to be doing something wrong, so many people say”they are just like chips”. So I scour the web and find another “recipe” with a slight change in prep and additional spices. Take 2…spicy leaves. Let’s be completely honest, even if you didn’t tell me “they were just like chips” I still wouldn’t eat them because they taste like dried up leaves!

This brings me to Monday night’s dinner. I’ve been bucking the grilled lettuce trend for sometime because well, it’s grilled lettuce! I did some Pinterest searching and came up with a nice grilled caesar salad. It sounded like a perfect side to our Spinach and Feta Chicken Burgers (see tweaked recipe below).

Disclaimer:  I’m one of those people who doesn’t understand how people can eat ice cream in the winter and drink coffee and tea in the summer. I also believe that salad/lettuce should be cold and crispy, not warm and limp. I’m not sure what I expected, but I was not impressed. The lettuce itself seemed to lose all its flavor and was just blah. I think I’ll just stick to regular, uncooked lettuce from now on. The burgers however were delicious! The sauce was a nice touch, but I’m not sure it was necessary.

Saturday I was invited to be a part of the One Run for Boston check presentation. The One Run for Boston was a cross-country relay that I ran back in April 2014. The purpose of relay was to raise money for the Boston Marathon bombing victims and the One Fund. This past Saturday we presented the check to the Mayor, Marty Walsh, and Lori van Dam, the executive director of the One Fund. As a group,we raised an amazing $455,089. Little did I know that it would end in an epic selfie with the Mayor that eventually ended up in the Boston Herald! #justyouraveragesaturday

 Spinach and Feta Chicken Burgers

THE SAUCE:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/2 cup feta, crumbled
• 2 cups fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

FOR THE BURGERS:

• 1 pound ground chicken (or turkey)
• 2 cups fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup feta, crumbled
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 2 green onions, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 buns, optionally toasted or grilled

DIRECTIONS:

1. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat until frothy, mix in the flour and cook until a light golden brown, mix in the milk and simmer until it thickens, add the feta and cook until it melts, mix in the spinach and lemon juice, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat when the spinach wilts.
2. Mix the chicken, spinach, feta, garlic, green onions, salt and pepper, form into 4 patties, oil the grill, heat to medium high and cook the patties, about 4-5 minutes per side.
3. Assemble the burgers and enjoy!