Protein Style Turkey Burgers, and Chia Pudding!

HIIT is kicking my butt!  It is hard!  I'm sure you eventually become more adapted to it- but yikes!  Luckily I had a fun dinner planned to look forward to.  As usual- there was a lone package of ground turkey in my freezer that I was itching to use, and having just watched the new Barefoot Contessa epi about burgers, I was inspired to make some.  Of course in this episode, they're making beef burgers with like 80/20 ground beef or something ridiculous- but what I liked was how simply they prepared them.  Usually with burgers I'll throw in a ton of things- an egg, Worcestershire, scallions, bbq sauce, etc- and then in the process I overmix it and the burgers come out mealy.  Ick!  On this show, they formed the meat into patties, brushed them with butter, and seasoned them before grilling.  Awesome!  Rather than using butter, I glazed the patties with EVOO and then used some sea salt and black pepper.  I thought it was great and am never going to mess with the meat again.  Why bother?  We had burgers a la In-n-Out's Protein Style- with butter lettuce as the bun, grilled onions, tomato, and avocado, and TJ's frozen haricot verts on the side (the best green beans ever- seriously).  S ate an enormous plate of turkey burger, avocado, and green beans.  Good girl!  I am so thrilled she is now saying mama all the time- I didn't really mind that she wasn't saying it- I knew she would when she was ready, but now that she is- I swear my heart melts everytime I hear it!  Should I be offended she started saying ELLLLLLLMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO a good two weeks before she even tried to say mama???  haha. 

Soooooooo Chia Pudding.  Yeah......  This was one of those times where the whole scenario played out in my head beforehand- I knew I wouldn't like it but I have seen different recipes on pretty much every single blog under the sun and every blogger is like- OMG it's the best it's so delicious and easy and all the Omegas and blah blah blah- and I figured- there's hardly any ingredients I may as well try it.

It wasn't god awful.  I actually kinda liked it.  Not enough to eat more than a spoonful or so- but it really wasn't bad.  Am I the only one that thinks that Chia has a sort of lavender-y flavor?  Not bad at all- and goes great with fruit in my protein smoothies- but this particular pudding was of the cocoa variety and they didn't go together too well.  I think if you went in a more cinnamon/vanilla direction it would end up resembling tapioca pudding- so I'll try that next.  I mean, Omega 3's people come on!  Anyways- if you are familiar with that lavender taste I mean and think you'd enjoy with chocolate- give this a whirl. 

Chocolate Chia Pudding
2 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 cup filtered water (don't use tap!)
1/4 cup milk (all I had was whole- if you use skim make it a 1/2 cup and lose the water, or use nutmilk to veganize it)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp stevia in the raw

Mix ingredients and refrigerate for a few hours.  Gets nice and puddingy.  Next time I'll try vanilla almond milk with cinnamon.  haha- typing cinnamon makes me laugh- yesterday I had a little incident with cinnamon.  I've been taking cinnamon supplements this week- and I'm not sure why exactly but I actually burped cinnamon after swallowing a pill and it actually came out of my nose!  Like a little cloud of cinnamon!  It kind of hurt!  It was not pleasant!  TMI I know- but how many people have actually had cinnamon come out of their nose?  Not many.  Guess that makes me pretty darn special.  XoXoGFG