When did Wednesday happen???

Oh, I dropped the ball this week, didn't I??  All that Valentine crafting apparently wore me out.  Or something.  Monday night slipped by and all I could force myself to do was crawl into bed.  I didn't even have to change into pajamas because I was already wearing them... wait.  TMI?  Ah, well.  Just keeping it real.  Last night I had worked on another post and was starting this one, but my hubby surprised me with flowers and a romantic steak dinner made by him (complete with candles, people!) and a movie after putting the kids to bed early.  I couldn't very well be all, "oh, this is great honey.  Let me just do this blog post first." ** two hours later **  
Not that I haven't done that before.  But that's kind of the point.  And then TONIGHT I had to sing and speak in this program at church for the high school aged girls... Phew. Glad that's over.


In any case, I hope I didn't leave any of you foodies hanging.  We did have a delicious Yummy Monday I wanted to share with you, so this week we'll have Yummy Monday late Wednesday night!  

Soooo, remember that one time when I made that ridiculously yummy low calorie shrimp dinner with spaghetti squash instead of pasta?  Of course you do.  It was last week.  Well, when I was scouring Dr. Oz's website for the Stella family recipes and information (which I still encourage you to check out), I came across this recipe for Scooped Turkey Burgers from Chef Spike Mendelsohn of Washington DC.  And boy am I glad I did.
Let's be clear.  I've tried ground turkey substituted for beef before.  And I wasn't ever really a fan.  But this time?  This time was different.  And this burger will go in the rotation if for no other reason than that you don't feel guilty after eating it - BUT it's also super tasty to boot.  So how's that for a win win?  I made his South Lawn Garden Herb Mayo to go with - as the recipe suggests.  You can get that recipe at the link - along with tons of other yummy ideas.

Scooped Turkey Burgers

5 tbsp olive oil

1 cup celery, diced

1 cup scallions, diced

2 green apples, cored and diced

2 lbs ground lean turkey

1/4 cup grated lemon zest

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Multigrain buns, sliced

1 bag fresh spinach

Pour 2 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the celery, scallions and apples. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the turkey, lemon zest, sea salt and pepper. Stir until well combined.

To make the patties, roll 6 turkey balls, about 4 oz each, and form each into a patty. Arrange on a tray, cover and refrigerate.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the remaining olive oil to cover the entire bottom. After 2 minutes, reduce the heat to medium and place the patties into the skillet. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 4 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side for 1 minute. 

Take the buns and “scoop” out the top and bottom so your patty can fit within the bun. To assemble the burgers, place one patty on a bun bottom into the “scoop”. Top the patty with fresh spinach and a dollop of the South Lawn herb mayonnaise, cover with the bun top. Repeat with all the remaining ingredients.

I was skeptical that anything could replace good, old fashioned, riddled with fat and calories HELMAN'S.  I mean, really skeptical.  It is a sad fact that when I was a child I ate mayonnaise sandwiches.  I tell you this not to make you gag or judge me, but to give you a frame of reference for my tastes when it comes to sandwiches of any sort - and I mean ANY sort.  I even put it on my hot dogs.  Not a lot, ok, it's not like I drink the stuff.  Anyway.  So I was skeptical.  I dipped my finger and had a little taste test.  And it made me even more dubious.  It was so laden with herbs it was green.  And it didn't help that my food processor broke in the middle of making it so it was NOT the right consistency.
However, one taste with it all together and I was SOLD.  Somehow all the flavors combined makes for one delicious (healthy) burger.  The moss-colored mayo is imbued with some kind of herbal tongue tickling magic.  And you know what?  I even liked the uber-grainy, meant for horses buns we ate them on.  

Anyway, to keep things on the (kind of) lighter side, I decided to make what I refer to as lemon lava cakes.  I posted about them here.  I originally got the recipe from Beat Until Fluffy and she calls them Lemon Curd Mini Cakes.  She makes hers individually in little ramekins and tells you how to mix up one serving and cook it in a microwave - convenient!  But because I was making them for more than just me, I had to alter her recipe a little bit.


First off, I made my lemon curd.  I found a few recipes for lemon curd online, and this is the one I like best.

Lemon Curd

1/2 C butter

3/4 C sugar

1/2 C FRESH lemon juice (can supplement with bottled if you are a bit shy)

3 TBLSP lemon zest

1 pinch of salt

6 large egg yolks

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest and salt.  Whisk in the egg yolks and continue whisking until it’s smooth.  Cook this, whisking constantly, until it thickens (don’t worry if it’s not as thick as you think it should be at this point, because it will thicken while it’s chilling) Don’t let it boil.  Immediately poor the mixture through a mesh strainer into a bowl.  Cover and chill.

And my version of the recipe goes something like this.

Lemon Lava Cakes
1 Box of Lemon Cake Mix
4 eggs
1/2 C milk
1/4 C water
1/4 C oil
lemon curd


Mix the cake mix and eggs until well combined.  Add the milk, water and oil.  Pour the batter into ramekins, filling nearly to the top.  Pour about 3 T of lemon curd into each ramekin, over the batter.  Place the ramekins on a baking sheet to catch any drips.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and pour about 3 T more lemon curd into each ramekin while the cake is still hot.


We ate ours with vanilla ice cream.  And oh my delicious.  You know my love affair with chocolate will never be usurped.  But this lemon lava cake might come close.  Yes.  Very close.

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