There's no such thing as a buffalo turkey!

Yesterday may have been Labor Day to you but to me and two of my closest friends, it was Girls’ Day. I had Nichole and Sage over to hang out, eat, and plan our friend Katie’s baby shower. So yes, we mixed business and pleasure and ended up hanging out well into the night but the tiredness I am feeling today is totally worth it.

I played tennis in the morning with an awesome group of people (who actually asked me to join them again so I must not have been too terrible) so I prepped for Girls’ Day the night before by making the buffalo-turkey patties so they’d be ready to grill when I got home.

Tennis ran long and the girls beat me to my house so I did not hesitate to put them to work when they offered. Sage made the salad and Nichole took notes on the baby shower while I grilled up the burgers even though according to Sage, “there is no such thing as a buffalo turkey.” Sage may be an expert in many areas like Olympic Weightlifting and advice-giving but she doesn’t know that much about cooking (yet) which is why I usually have her over to eat instead of the other way around.

We wrapped the burgers in lettuce and ate them alongside Sage’s lovely salad while sitting in the back yard and catching up on all the things going on in each of our lives. We proved many things that day and one is that time really does fly when you are gossiping with a gaggle of good friends. Before we knew it, it was nearly 5PM and Sage took off for the grocery store and then home to study. Nichole stayed around to hang out so I decided to give her an impromptu cooking lesson. She was in a pretty bad car accident a few weeks ago and has just now got back to a regular routine including proper meals and has, admittedly, never really known how to navigate the kitchen.

I opened the fridge to see what was available. Since I probably should have joined Sage at the store, there wasn’t much to the naked eye but what I saw was potential for an Asian-inspired almond chicken. I quickly thawed a couple chicken breasts and whipped us up a meal in about 10 minutes. Nichole seemed highly impressed so I let her take home some of the leftovers for making me feel so smart.

Buffalo-Turkey Burgers
2 lbs. ground bison (Costco has started carrying this along w/ bison NY strips)
1 lb. ground turkey
3 cloves minced fresh garlic (or 3T pre-minced stuff in a jar)
Fresh basil, finely chopped (I got it from my friend Krazy K’s garden but it was probably 2 store pkgs.)
Salt & pepper

Put all ingredients in bowl and mix well. Form meat into about ten baseball size balls and flatten each into a patty. Grill what you are going to use immediately then individually plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze the rest for a quick meal later on. Serve on large pieces of lettuce w/ all the fixins.

Almond Chicken
2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced
½ onion, thinly sliced
1 small red or orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 cloves fresh garlic (or 2T pre-minced)
1 jalapeno, minced or a sprinkle or three of red pepper flakes (optional for heat factor)
2T sesame oil
4T almond butter
4T (approximately) chicken broth (I always have a container in the fridge for such occasions)
2 cups raw broccoli, chopped into bite size pieces

Sautee onions, peppers, garlic, and jalapenos in sesame oil on medium-high heat until veggies start to soften. Add chicken and cook through. Turn heat to medium-low and add almond butter and chicken broth and mix in until a sauce forms and coats the meat. Toss in broccoli and cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve.