Cranberry Turkey Burgers...or Meatballs...whatever floats your boat

Apparently I don't cook anything unless there's at least 4 words in the description.

Start with about 1 lb of ground turkey. I buy the stacks of frozen turkey burgers from Costco, so this would be the equivalent to36 patties, since each one is 1/3 lb.

Put the ground turkey in a bowl and add...

2 small handfuls of dried cranberries.
Some chopped parsley
1/2 packet of onion soup mix.
1 tsp turmeric.
1 egg.
Some Matzo meal or breadcrumbs.
Parmesan
Sriracha

I've done this recipe with green onions, black pepper, jalapenos, whatever. Go crazy. As long as you get the turkey and cranberries in there, you're getting the general idea.

Mix everything together and either form patties or grab a tablespoon measuring spoon. Use this to scoop and form meatballs. I wanted to grill these, so I made patties, but with meatballs you can fry them in a bit of olive oil or butter. Best to fry in batches, or else they're going to all stick together.

Make sure you cook them thoroughly, or if you plan to make them to eat later, cook until the outside is just cooked and then microwave or put in the oven just before eating, like if you want to make them party food.

These are really good alone, or served over rice in lettuce cups.

Mother's Day Decoupaged Vase

What to do with kids artwork, part 1 of infinity.

My kids bring home so much artwork from school, and for the most part I stash it all in a big bin until I can decide what to do with it. I'm always looking for fun ways to preserve it and this was pretty cute, IMHO.

I also happen to have a few cheap vases lying around from when I get a delivery from 1-800-flowers or something. I don't claim to be getting roses every Friday, but I did have two of them and have no use for fresh cut flowers sitting around the house for the cats to eat and vomit up on the counter.

This is the part that made my son cry. I took a few pieces of painted artwork and cut them into small pieces. "I don't like it when you do that," he tells me. Oh well, it's better than throwing it in the garbage, but of course I can't say that to a four year old. One day he'll appreciate it. Today is not that day. Anyway, take each piece of cut paper and either dip it or brush with some Mod Podge and attach it to the vase. I worked bottom up so I could get a feel for how the paper would respond since the top part is a lot curvier.

I considered this curve for a good five minutes before taking it on. Luckily the paper gets really soft even though it's crusted over with 18 layers of paint when it's immersed in the Podge.

See the edges picking up a bit? This needed a few more coats.

I ended up doing two of these - one for my mom and one for my MIL. I did one matte and one glossy, and I liked the glossy better so I'll keep that in mind for next time.

Put a bouquet in and enjoy!

Argentinian Steak Sammich

Okay, I wouldn't exactly claim to know what I'm doing in the realm of South American food...wait, Argentina IS in South America, right? See, I don't even know where the damn country is. Wait...Argentina IS a country, right? Hooray for public school edumacation!

The one thing I do know about Argentinian food is that you need a good Chimichurri sauce. I have no idea what Chimichurri means nor do I think I can pronounce it right. It's pretty similar to how I make cilantro pesto with a few variations.

I had some fresh parsley and I managed to scrounge up the last little pathetic bundle of cilantro at da Jewels, so I used an even portion of each, maybe totalling to about one cup if you smashed it all together. Then I used too much garlic, according to Charlie, a shallot, and the juice of one lemon and threw it all in the food processor.

There is nothing prettier than a white dish full of spices. This is about 3 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp of pepper and 1 tbsp of red pepper that my MIL dropped off the other day. Forget McCormick crushed red pepper, this stuff makes that stuff taste like white sugar.

Then add 3/4 a cup of olive oil (or so...measuring is for chumps) and maybe 3 tbsp (or so) of red wine vinegar. Let it mix up in the food processor.

Chimichurri! It looks a bit lighter than I expected it would, but it was pretty good. Though per Charlie, too much garlic. Everything I make gets at least one piece of criticism from Charlie, and that was it this time.

For the steak, I improvised and used the same spice mix (salt, pepper, red pepper) that I used for the sauce and mixed in some olive oil.

Add the marinade to some slightly tenderized steaks. I used ribeyes because, well...they're the best. I guess if you're not into steaks with a higher fat content then meat content, you should use strip or flank steaks, but I'm a ribeye girl, and it's not like I eat red meat often enough to care about the fat content of my steaks, blah blah blah. Why am I apologizing?

Have someone who knows what they're doing (maybe even you!) to grill the steaks. These were more cooked than we liked but that's the whole point of Argentinian steaks, I hear. They're not supposed to be mooing. I served these on French rolls with the chimichurri sauce drizzled (okay, slathered) on the meat. Good stuff!

Then the next morning, take some leftover steak, leftover grilled corn, some chimi and hot sauce and throw it all in a tortilla. Breakfast of champions!