Quick — Name the number one preconceived notion about turkey burgers … 3 … 2 … 1 … you said they are dry and have no flavor, right?  This ingenious recipe from Cook Yourself Thin is going to convert you into a lifetime turkey burger lover.  I promise.  I was never a big turkey burger fan because they generally tasted like dried out sawdust.  This recipe incorporates diced green chilies in the burgers which not only keep the burgers profoundly moist (even if you over cook them!) and but also give them a flavorful kick in the behind!

No joke, I’ve eaten these burgers three times in the last two weeks.  They are just that good!  When I was asked to whip up a recipe for an interview segment on WithJosh.com, these turkey burgers were the first thing that came to mind.  Yes, you read that right … an interview segment!  My first interview!  Cooking up the burgers was a blast and the best part was that we got to eat all the leftovers.

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Italian food intimidates me.  I’ve heard the stories about Italian women spending entire days making sauce and unspoken recipes with no actual measurements. This scares me.  I didn’t grow up eating a lot of pasta and as a result never developed much of a taste for it.  But I’m well aware that the rest of the world is rather fond of it.  I’ve heard all the campaigns: It’s so easy! It’s so versatile! It’s so delicious!

These social pressures have, in fact, led me to obsessively keep a box of dry pasta in my pantry out of the fear that I will have an unexpected guest show up who wants pasta for dinner.  Now, this same box has moved with me to at least three different apartments.  As it turns out, people don’t frequently show up at my house demanding pasta.  Nonetheless, I’ve always been terrified that someone will ask for pasta and I won’t know how to cook it! Oh the embarrassment! Can you imagine? You can’t cook pasta!?!?! For shame!

They always say “But it’s so easy!  Just boil water and throw in the pasta!”  I didn’t believe them.  I was certain there was something they weren’t telling me.  Then they would toss around words like al dente and I’d be done for!!  But I had a revelation.  Thanks to Giada.

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Having never worked with leeks, I was always so intrigued to hear them described as “creamy” on cooking shows (ok, mostly Top Chef).  How can an over-sized scallion be creamy?  It seems counter intuitive, against nature, and frankly, unbelievable.  Thoroughly intrigued nonetheless, I began inspecting leek recipes for one to sufficiently spark my interest.  As someone who doesn’t eat a lot of cream-based soups, the idea of using this allegedly creamy vegetable to achieve a smooth soup base was very appealing.  Plus, I’ve been dying to try out the new immersion blender my boyfriend just bought me!

The most common pairing I came across was leeks and potatoes.  I generally try to avoid potatoes (they aren’t South Beach friendly!) and I wasn’t happy at the idea of wasting these creamy leeks in a mess of pureed potatoes.  After reviewing a couple different leek soup recipes, I decided to venture out on my own.  The resulting creating is a hybrid of a couple different recipes, with my own added twist.  I’m proud to report that the result was utterly delicious!!

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We are major mushroom fans.  Sauteed mushrooms, stuffed mushrooms, sliced mushrooms all make frequent appearances in the kitchen.  It’s been so cold lately that I’ve been looking for more soup recipes and when I saw Kalyn’s Double Mushroom Soup I knew it would only be a matter weeks before I was making it myself.

The trickiest part was locating the dried mushrooms. Not a single employee at our decent-sized grocery store could say whether they carried dried mushrooms and if they did where they would be located. Luckily, I have an extremely patient boyfriend who searched high and low until finding a box of dried porcini mushrooms.  I had never worked with dried mushrooms before but was pleasantly surprised to find that the rehydration process was painless and they added a nice extra mushroom-y dimension to the soup.

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