Italian Chicken Burger

I've been buying Yummy Magazine since they released their first magazine. I enjoy browsing through the pages and experimenting with the different recipes every month.

This is my first attempt in documenting my monthly cooking experiment using Yummy magazine recipes. :-)

Mamang gave me a meat grinder and I was so excited to use it. I found a perfect recipe on the front page of the January/ February 2011 release. These burgers are a great alternative to the fatty beef burgers but it takes some getting used to also because it's herby. I didn't cook the french fries anymore.

Makes: 6 burgers

Preparation time: 1 hour and 45 minutes (including meat grinding, and 1 hour chilling time)

Total cooking time: 7 minutes

3 tbsps fresh rosemary

1 cup button mushrooms

1/4 cup white onion

1 tbsp Dijon Mustard

2 heads roasted garlic roasted, mashed into a paste with 1 tbsp salt

freshly ground pepper

1 kilo chicken thigh fillet - remove the skin

olive oil for frying

1. Grind the thigh fillet using the meat grinder. You can also buy ground chicken meat already. Place in a large bowl.

2. Put rosemary, mushrooms, white onion, mustard, ground pepper into a food processor until chopped and blended

3. Mix garlic paste into the rosemary mixture

4. Add rosemary mixture into the meat. Mix well until all ingredients are well blended. Using hands to mix is the best way to blend everything together.

5. Form into burger patties and chill for an hour to let the flavor settle and blend together.

6. Fry in a nonstick pan over medium heat with 1 tbsp olive oil or until the juices run clear, about 2 minutes on each side. (I cooked mine in a George Foreman grill. Its less juicier but lesser fat.

I'm not a fan of burger buns so I made garlic mayonnaise, spread it on whole wheat bread, placed cheese, burger and pressed it in a panini maker.

Pretty ok... not something I will cook often but it was a good try.

Oatmeal and Buttermilk Muffins

Super yummy and healthy for breakfast. You can even prepare it a day or two in advance and pop it in the oven on a busy morning before going to work. I gave some to Glenn's mom and she liked it. :-)

Makes 12 muffins:

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup buttermilk (if you can't find buttermilk, you can substitute this with 1 cup milk and 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice and let stand for 10 minutes)

1/2 cup butter at room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed firmly

1 egg

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1/4 cup walnuts or raisins (optional)

1. In a bowl, combine the oats and buttermilk and leave to soak for 1 hour (I leave mine for 45 minutes)

2. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan

3. Preheat the oven 400F

4. With an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy

5. Beat in the egg

6. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt

7. Stir into the butter mixture, alternate with the oat mixture. Fold in the raisins/ walnuts. Do not overmix.

8. Flll the prepared cups 2/3 full.

9. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean, around 20 to 25 minutes.

10. Transfer to a rack to cool.

For more recipes, you can go to http://lyshrecipes.blogspot.com.