Cilantro Turkey Burger

One of the best things I have done for myself is begin taking photography classes through Flying Photo School. I found a Groupon for them and originally decided to try it on a whim. I have officially completed their Digital 101 and 102 courses.

A few years ago, my husband bought me a decent camera. Before, I was using disposable snap and shoots. Horrific, right? So, once I had a nice camera, I realized that the nice camera doesn’t just take wonderful shots all by itself. I actually had to learn all of the settings. For example, I would play around and mess up a bar that went from, -2 to +2 and have no idea what I did. Then, all the pictures turned out horrible. I became scared of the camera.

When trying to fix it, I pushed buttons like manual focus or changed the settings to “P” or “TV” and didn’t see a difference. I thought TV actually meant it was a video setting. Crazy. 
The long story made short, was that Flying Photo School was an easy way for me to learn the basics of my camera. With the recipe pictures below, hopefully you can see the difference.

If you are interested in checking them out, visit their website at: 

http://www.flyingphotoschool.com/

Now, on to the burger. I made a turkey burger. This was not just any old turkey burger. It was a touch of deliciousness, a glorified tribute to making something healthy and turning it back to being not too healthy again.

Once again, my style for this is flexible. You can add toppings on your own, or subtract others. We used this recipe for three servings, one manly half pound burger, and two smaller quarter pounders for me at different meals. The servings below are proportioned for four quarter pound hamburgers.

Cilantro Turkey Burger Recipe
Serves 4 half pound burgers

Ingredients
12 slices bacon
1 lb ground turkey
1 ½ cup cilantro, chopped
8 slices pepper jack cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Sriracha, to taste (we used 2 Tbsp.)
Juice of ½ lime
4 hamburger buns
1 large tomato, sliced
1 large avocado, sliced

Suggested Equipment:
Large Skillet
Broiler Pan or Flat Sheet Pan

Directions
1. Heat a skillet to high and cook bacon to desired crispness. When finished, place the bacon on a plate with paper towels but do not discard the bacon grease from the skillet. Set it aside.

2. Mix the turkey and cilantro in a large bowl. Pat out four equal sized burger patties. We roll it into a ball, then press down with hand cupped to keep edges together in a circle. Cook the burgers in the skillet with bacon grease on high heat until cooked through.

3. Heat broiler at standard heat, at 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the burgers on the broiler pan and place two slices of pepper jack cheese on top of each. When heat has been reached, put the burgers on top rack and broil until the cheese has melted.

4. Mix the mayonnaise, Sriracha, and lime juice together to form a spicy sauce. 

5. Place the burgers with melted cheese on the bottom hamburger bun. Add three slices of bacon on top of the cheese of each burger. Then divide the tomato and avocado equally to each, placing the tomato and avocado on top of bacon. Drizzle the mayonnaise sauce on top of the stack and finish it with the top bun. Enjoy the masterpiece!