Why Should I Follow Directions?

Because THIS happens:Let me explain what it is you're looking at. That's a turkey burger that disintegrated upon being turned while it was cooking on the grill. All of the burger is now underneath the grill instead of on top of it.

The directions for this recipe said to use a grill pan. I thought it would taste better on the grill. I mean, anything tastes better on the grill. How was I to know it would fall apart like that? We're very glad we made four of them, and were able to enjoy the other three once we brought them inside and cooked them in a skillet.

Barbecue Turkey Burgers
from Cooking Light

¼ cup chopped onion
¼ cup barbecue sauce, divided
2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
¾ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 lb. ground turkey
Cooking spray
4 large leaf lettuce leaves
4 (¼-inch-thick) slices tomato
4 (1 1/2-ounce) hamburger buns
Combine the onion, 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce, breadcrumbs, and the next 5 ingredients (breadcrumbs through turkey) in a medium bowl. Divide turkey mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1 1/2 inch-thick patty. Heat a grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Place patties in pan; cook 7 minutes on each side or until done. Place 1 lettuce leaf, 1 tomato slice, and 1 patty on the bottom half of each bun. Spread each patty with 1 1/2 teaspoons barbecue sauce. Cover with top halves of buns.

I made one minor change at the end on my burger: I used some of yesterday's chipotle mayonnaise. Don had the barbecue sauce. We both think this recipe is wonderful. I tasted some of the meat before I had it with the chipotle mayonnaise, and I think these seasonings would make for a great meat loaf.

This is my entry for Paul and Freya's event, the Big Burger Ballyhoo 2007. I will probably get disqualified, though, since the main requirement was that "All submissions must be able to be cooked on a barbecue," and this definitely couldn't! But it's a burger, and I started to cook it on the grill, until it fell apart.





On the side, I made some stovetop macaroni and cheese. I've been looking for a long time for a recipe that didn't use flour. It always seemed that I could taste the flour, when I was hoping for creamy. This recipe originally called for all shredded cheddar, but I'm a Texas born and bred Velveeta fan, so I used 1/2 cup cheddar and 1 cup Velveeta. It came out tasting 10 times better than that stuff in the blue box.

Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese
1 1/2 cups uncooked macaroni (I used small shells)
1 egg
4 oz. evaporated milk (don't use fresh)
1/2 tsp. dry mustard dissolved in 1/2 tsp. water
dash Tabasco sauce
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed Velveeta

Boil 2 quarts of water; add macaroni and cook until tender but still firm. Drain. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, half of the evaporated milk, the Tabasco sauce, and pepper. Return pasta to cooking pot, turn on low heat and stir in butter until melted. Stir in egg mixture and the cheddar. Cook over low heat, gradually stirring in Velveeta and milk until all is hot and creamy.