Okay, yes, this post is six months late, but Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop Prompt (Watcha’ cookin? Share a recipe.) inspired me to finally finish the blog post that I began this summer.

The last time I ate at Umami Burger in Santa Monica, California was in July 2010, so while preparing to write this post I went to the restaurant’s website to link up the Jurkey Burger, the best restaurant turkey burger that I ever ate.  It wasn’t on the menu, so I called the restaurant and found out that–noooooo!–they replaced the Jurkey Burger with the Greenbird.  Described as “shelton farms turkey, crushed avocado, green cheese, butter lettuce, spouts, green goddess,” the Greenbird sounds good, I guess, but not as good as jerk-spiced turkey topped with a plantain.   I took this photo of the Jurkey Burger back in July; doesn’t it look simply divine?  (Hang tight.  I’m getting to the “cookin’” and “sharing a recipe” part.)

Sadly, I will never taste that again.   BUT!–the recipe below for Jerk Turkey Burgers With Mango Slow is just as good as Umami’s Jurkey Burger.  Spicy from the jerk seasoning and juicy from the apples, this turkey burger is delicious; my family gobbles it up and asks for more.  I use whole wheat buns and low-fat mayonnaise to make it healthier and grill the patties on my panini maker.   Using a pre-packaged mix of shredded cabbage and carrots make this easy recipe even easier.

I serve some Alexia Spicy Sweet Potato Julienne Fries on the side and you can’t tell me that aren’t in some hip Los Angeles eatery.  Except we aren’t.  Did I mention that we sat next to Tom Hanks at Umami Burger?

Jerk Turkey Burgers With Mango Slaw

Recipe from Foodnetwork.com

(yields 4)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey (*organic of course!)
• 1 tablespoon jerk seasoning, plus more for sprinkling
• 1 small green apple, peeled and grated
• 1/2 cup finely chopped scallions
• 1/4 cup panko
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise, plus more for brushing
• 1/4 cup mango chutney, roughly chopped
• 3 cups shredded green cabbage
• 1 carrot, shredded
• Canola oil, for the grill
• 4 hamburger buns or challah rolls, split

Directions:

Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium high. Mix the turkey, jerk seasoning, apple, 1/4 cup scallions and the panko in a bowl; season with salt and pepper. Form into four 1-inch-thick patties and make a small indentation in the middle of each with your thumb to prevent it from puffing up on the grill. Refrigerate.

Whisk the mayonnaise and chutney in a large bowl. Add the cabbage, carrot and the remaining 1/4 cup scallions, season with salt and pepper and toss to coat.

Brush the grill with canola oil. Grill the turkey patties until browned and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes per side.

Brush the cut sides of the buns with mayonnaise and sprinkle with jerk seasoning; toast on the grill, about 30 seconds. Serve the burgers and slaw on the buns.

Per serving: Calories 504; Fat 20 g (Saturated 3 g); Cholesterol 51 mg; Sodium 894 mg; Carbohydrate 51 g; Fiber 4 g; Protein 36 g

photo credit: foodnetwork.com, Antonis Achilleos

See Umami Burger; I don’t need your Jurkey Burger!  I can make my own delicious turkey burger at home!  See; I’m just fine.  See….

*Please Umani Burger, please bring back the Jurkey Burger.  Please.  Pretty Please.  For me?

Visit Mama Kat’s Losin It to write a prompt of your own.

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Other Cooking Groovy posts that you may like:

Whole-What Spaghetti With Lemon, Basil And Salmon

Lemony Shrimp With White Beans and Couscous

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

My Happiness Project is a personal quest to bring more happiness into my everyday life.  As I continue to explore, experiment and write about My Happiness Project, I hope that you would share your happy experiences and thoughts with me.

Like Gretchen Rubin did in her book, The Happiness Project, I decided to make a list of activities that I consider fun and that I don’t consider fun.  The idea is the do the fun things and don’t waste my time doing the things that are not fun.  This is my list.  Your list will be different.  Don’t judge me.

FUN

Playing board games (except Monopoly; I will never play with my family again.)

Riding roller coasters.

Traveling.

Organizing.

Baking.

Decorating.

Reading a book.

Going for a walk.

Hooping (as in hula).

Playing with my dog.

Singing out loud.

Dancing with abandon.

Talking (in person) to friends.

Going to art museums.

Seeing live theater productions.

Browsing a hardware store.

Getting a pedicure.

Playing Wii Just Dance 2.

I’m playing Wii Just Dance 2 at Blogalicious 2010. Fun!

NOT FUN

Cooking.

Talking on the phone.

Watching television.

Getting a manicure.

Participating in a cold outdoor sport.

Running.

Running in a 5k fundraiser for kids’ school.  Never. Again.

Hmm….the Not Fun list isn’t very long.  I must be lying to myself somehow because I’m too quirky and opinionated to have a short list like that.  I will think about this some more and add to the list.  And I see that my husband doesn’t like anything on my Fun List.  Hmmm…..

Do you have a defined list of what you consider fun and not fun activities?

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Other Posts About My Happiness Project:

My Happiness Project: Appreciate The Small Things That Make Me Happy

My Happiness Project: Laugh Some More

My Happiness Project: Laugh More

My Happiness Project

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Today I’m participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop by answering the prompt: 2.) Finding the balance. How do you manage?

Answer: I don’t.  I was going to ask YOU that question because I can use some hep.  When the kids aren’t in school, I’m pretty much a one-woman show around here, juggling.  But not balancing.  Balls are being dropped all the time.

So what I want to know is: when do you find time to do what you do?  Write/work on your business?   Clean?  Cook?  Plan vacations?  Attend to the nagging household tasks like fixing the jiggly door handle or figuring out where to put the new coffee-maker that your mother insisted on giving you, but you really don’t have the space for?  When do you call the doctor/dentist/plumber for an appointment or carve out 20 minutes to be on hold with the health insurance provider?   Do you exercise?  Do you have a hobby?  Do you volunteer at your church/school/community center?  Do you spend time with friends and extended family?   Do you pray/mediate?  Are you playing with/reading to your kids?

How do you balance it all?  How do you manage?  Share your secrets with me please.  I won’t tell anyone, I promise.

Visit Mama Kat’s Losin It to write a prompt of your own.

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

I haven’t blog in a week, but I’ve been doing some much needed geeky things behind the scenes: fixing bugs on my website, adding cool new plug-ins and joining various online communities, all to make Funkidivagirl.com a better experience for you, dear reader.

Something that has been on my “to do” for awhile is making a About.me page and I finally got around to it last week.   While my name is not typical, it’s not that unusual either and I wanted to make sure that I got the url before someone else did.   Although About.me hasn’t really caught on with the masses as of yet, I believe that will quickly change.  I think it’s a great idea.  Right now you know me as Funkidivagirl, but as my interests diversify this can be a central place to capture all of my personas and created communities.   I like that I can give someone just one url that contains all of my contact information instead of several.

Before creating my page I poked around a bit and saw that I liked the profiles that were cool and esoteric rather than straight forward.  That’s more my style and also I don’t have any straight-forward photos of myself (it seems like I need to schedule a photo shoot, hmm?).  So I played around with one of my favorite photos and I like the results.

This is the original photo.

Next, I turned it black & white and added a cool border.

I liked it in black & white, but wanted to keep my pink toenails.  It was tricky, but I I figured it out.

Finally, I uploaded my photo to my About.me profile page and added my name and a brief bio.  There are links to all my online profiles and “Dig it” actually links back to my Funkidivagirl.com About Me page.   Check it out at About.me/Sherrelle and let me know what you think!

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Giada De Laurentiis is one of my favorite Food Network stars; she has such a big smile and cooks food that is fresh and satisfying, but easy to prepare.  Besides, I love the way she says “spaghetti.”

I saw her make this dish on her show Everyday Italian and it’s been in my dinner rotation ever since.  In under 30 minutes I can have a fresh, healthy dinner on the table that my family will eat.  I served this to my kids this week when my husband was out of town and it would have been so easy for me to just order take-out.  But this meal was just as easy and healthier.  Even my picky “I don’t like that” daughter will eat this meal, although she doesn’t like the capers.  Don’t include them if you don’t like capers either.    I love basil so I add plenty to the recipe and I was really geeked to use my new zester for the lemon.  Why did it take me so long to buy one?  It has changed my cooking.  (Add that to my list of Small Things That Make Me Happy–a zester.)

photo credit: foodnetwork.com

Whole-Wheat Spaghetti with Lemon, Basil, and Salmon

Recipe by Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound whole-wheat spaghetti pasta
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil  *plus more for cooking salmon–my addition
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more for seasoning
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 (4-ounce) pieces salmon
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 3 tablespoons capers
• 1 lemon, zested
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta and transfer to a large bowl. Add the garlic, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. Toss to combine.

Meanwhile, warm the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Add the fish to the pan and cook until medium-rare, about 2 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the fish. Remove the salmon from the pan.

Add the basil, capers, lemon zest, and lemon juice to the spaghetti mixture and toss to combine. Set out 4 serving plates or shallow bowls. Place 1/2 cup spinach in each bowl. Top with 1/4 of the pasta. Top each mound of pasta with a piece of salmon. Serve immediately.

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Other posts about What’s For Dinner that you may like:

What’s For Dinner: Lemony Shrimp withWhite Beans & Couscous

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.