Zucchini Turkey Burgers >>>>> cooked ground turkey in non-burger form

Having gone the route of just cooking up a bunch of ground turkey and throwing it in/under/on top of things last week to meet some of my protein needs for my nutrition plan, I wanted to do something a little more interesting this week to make sure I am not running myself into food-boredom too quickly (which my nutrition coach warned against, and as someone who likes to cook I should be able to avoid pretty easily.) This Spicy Turkey and Zucchini Burger recipe popped up in my The Old Reader feed (Google Reader, I miss you so.) I decided to give it a try, omitting the ingredients I didn't have on hand and baking the burger for 30 minutes at 350 degrees on parchment rather than frying them. What actually went into my burgers was:

• 2.2# ground turkey 
• .75# zucchini, grated (1 medium and 1 small zucc)
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1-2 TB egg whites (I just splashed some out of the carton to help hold everything together. Egg whites in a carton from Trader Joe's are pretty awesome, they're one of my new recent favorite finds.)

I got 8 good-sized burgers out of this, but that could probably have been stretched to 10-12 smaller ones if you wanted (but I did not, because I eat a lot of meat and also because I am lazy :)

And seriously? These are REALLY GOOD. I'm sure they're even better if you make them as the recipe calls for with the extra herbs. But seriously, really, really good.

UPDATE: I have found that depending on the size of the burgers they may need closer to 45-55 minutes to be cooked all the way through. Use a meat thermometer or just cut one open - you shouldn't see any pink! I would err on the side of over-cooking these, as the zucchini really does a great job of keeping them moist and delicious!