Do you know what a hypnic jerk is?  It’s that involuntary twitch that happens when you are just about to fall asleep.  I am sitting in our family room, Perry Mason is trying to get to the bottom of this week’s murder case, the cat is snoring softly and my husband is reclined on the opposite end of the sofa a few feet from me.  I wouldn’t be surprised if, in a few minutes, he were to start snoring softly himself.  It’s not quite 6:30 pm and our earlier conversation has relinquished the stage to the arguments between Perry Mason and Ham[ilton] Burger.  From the corner of my eye I’ve observed a few of those twitches and turning my head towards my husband just now, I see he might be done for the day.

My über-athletic husband who can ride his road bike for at least 3o miles each day finally gave in to my constant invitations to walk the 5 1/2-mile Stanford Dish loop and it wiped him out!  I’ve been trying to get him to walk the trail with me for years but he would never give in.  I’d about given up asking him but I really do enjoy his company during our walks around our neighborhood so imagine my surprise when he (reluctantly) agreed to accompany me today.  I’ve been feeling under the weather the last couple of days and refused to succumb so rather than spend the afternoon in bed, I decided to take a walk.

In hindsight it probably wasn’t the best idea to get him to walk the trail with me during the hottest part of the day.  But in my defense, he’s always telling me to encourage him to walk with me on the days that he doesn’t ride his bike.  We are in the middle of planning our annual September trip and if all goes according to plan, we’ll be doing a lot of walking in just a couple of months.  We need to get his walking legs ready, right?  By mile 3.5 most of the conversation had stopped (it did return a half mile later). He was no longer looking for creatures (as he’s wont to do when outdoors) or observing the scenery around him.  It was hot and I guess I failed to mention that there would be no shade for most of this walk.

His silence was like a ticking time bomb.  Was it just a matter of time before I would get an earful about what an awful idea this was?  Was it my imagination or was he starting to limp? (My husband can be quite dramatic when wanting to make a point.)  Worse yet, would he divorce me after this?

To his credit, he made the walk just fine.  Really, the guy can walk for miles when we’re traveling or camping–when you attach the word “exercise” to the activity is when he starts to dread it.  He was happy to finally reach our car after an hour a half and he did say he was glad he did it and would actually walk the trail with me again.

“But only early in the morning when it’s not so darn hot!” he said.

That’s good enough for me.  And now he knows how I feel when he takes me on epic bike rides when I haven’t put in enough time on the saddle!

After running errands all morning, spending the rest of the time on the phone making travel arrangements while being under the weather the last thing I wanted to do was cook.  We had turkey sandwiches for dinner and ice cream for dessert.  But do you know what I really wanted?  This turkey burger and cole slaw.  The batch I made for our Father’s Day dinner is long gone but my taste buds are still dreaming of it.  A juicy burger given a little kick from chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and a tangy slaw also enhanced with a bit of the adobo sauce made for a wonderfully satisfying meal especially with a toasted sourdough roll.  The fixings—pepper jack cheese, red onion, tomatoes, avocado and grilled green peppers–completed the southwestern character of this easy, tasty meal.  The best part?  These burgers feel absolutely guilt-free…well, maybe after a 5 1/2 mile walk!

5 from 3 votes

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Chipotle Turkey Burgers with Southwestern Slaw

These healthy turkey burgers and slaw get a flavor boost from chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.

Course Main

Cuisine American

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 4

Author Lemons & Anchovies

Ingredients

• ***For Southwestern Slaw makes about 1/2 cup dressing***
• 4 cups chopped cabbage and carrots I used the bagged kind
• 2 tablespoons mayo
• 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from the canned chipotle peppers
• Chopped chives about 2 tablespoons
• salt and pepper to taste
• ***For the Turkey Burgers***
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 2/3 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup chopped chives
• 2 tablespoons mayo
• 1 egg
• About 1/3 cup chopped red onion
• 1 chipotle pepper and 2 teaspoons of the adobo sauce not much heat, can add more for more punch, puréed or finely chopped
• Splash soy sauce about 1 teaspoon
• salt and pepper
• Hamburger buns (I used slightly smaller sourdough rolls
• Fixings: pepper jack cheese tomato slices, avocado slices, red onion, grilled green bell pepper slices (2 for 4 people), mayo, mustard, ketchup

Instructions

1. To prepare the slaw, combine the dressing ingredients and toss with the cabbage and carrots. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. To prepare the burgers, preheat your grill to 375 - 400℉. Prepare the patties by combining all the ingredients from the ground turkey to the salt and pepper in a large bowl. This mixture will be good enough for 4 large burgers or 5 smaller ones. Form them into patties and grill for about 5 minutes on each side. If you decide to use the bell peppers, put them on the grill after you flip the burgers to cook on the second side.
3. Assemble the burgers--I highly recommend serving the slaw on the burger--and serve.

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