Hungry Southern Belle is back…back again.  Yes she’s back…so tell a friend!  Hey y’all!!!!  Long time, no writing from me.  Geez!  I am so very sorry to all of my loyal followers for not posting sooner.  While chatting with my Mom and Dad last night at our weekly family dinner, they asked when I was going to write again.  That’s when I realized that I hadn’t posted since NOVEMBER 2015!!!!! Oh my goodness y’all!

I suppose a quick update is in order on what has kept our HSB house busy since November.  As most of you know, Clemson had a STELLAR year and we were able to take advantage of traveling to Charlotte, NC for the ACC Championship, to Miami, FL for the Orange Bowl and to Phoenix, AZ for the National Championship.  We had an amazing time and were able to capture so many priceless memories.  GO TIGERS!  (and well Auburn… there’s always next year WAR EAGLE!)

That brings me to the biggest and most exciting update!  Riche and I were married on January 16, 2016 in St. George’s, Grenada.  We had the most amazing time and there are so many stories to share.  A fun little tid bit, I managed to break my foot while we were in Miami for the Orange Bowl just two weeks shy of our wedding.  No biggie!  I just decorated my air cast and kept on going!

We got back to Atlanta and into the swing of things and next thing you know, tax season is behind us and here it is almost May and I’ve shared none of the super yummy recipes we’ve been testing in our Hungry Southern Belle kitchen.  I didn’t even know where to begin in selecting a recipe for my first post back.  I know that my hubby (oh how I love saying that!!!) loves burgers.  We also focus on eating well and working out.  So a good compromise was this delicious recipe for Italian Turkey Burgers.  The addition of fennel seeds makes these burgers reminiscent of Italian sausage.  I topped them with fresh basil and tomato for a wonderful summer main course.  I hope that you all enjoy them as much as we did!

So thanks again for waiting around for us to get back into the swing of things.  Now we’re back and have lots of yummy recipes to share.  Until next time, enjoy y’all!!!

Italian Turkey Burgers

Ingredients:

• 2 spray(s) cooking spray   
• 1 pound(s) uncooked 93% lean ground turkey   
•  1/3 cup(s) uncooked onion(s), chopped   
• 2 tsp minced garlic   
• 2 tsp fennel seed   
• 1/2 tsp table salt   
• 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground   
• 4 item(s) reduced calorie hamburger roll(s)   
• 4 spray(s) olive oil cooking spray   
•  2 small fresh tomato(es), ripe, yellow and/or red, thickly sliced   
• 1 cup(s) basil, fresh, leaves, torn or thinly shredded   

Instructions:

• Coat a grill or grill pan with cooking spray; preheat to medium-high.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine turkey, onion, garlic, fennel seed, salt and pepper; form into four 1/2-inch-thick patties. Coat burgers and inside of rolls with cooking spray.
• Grill burgers for 5 minutes; flip burgers and add rolls to grill. Grill open-face rolls until lightly charred, about 1 to 2 minutes; remove to serving plates. Grill burgers until cooked through, about 5 minutes more.
• To serve, top grilled rolls with burgers and tomato slices; garnish with basil. Yields 1 burger per serving.

Notes:

Cook the burgers until a minimum internal temperature of 165°F.

For an extra hit of flavor, rub the bread with a cut garlic clove as it comes off the grill.

Try these burgers with arugula leaves instead of the basil.