Grilling is for Girls: REAL SIMPLE Cheddar Turkey Burgers with Mashed Avocado

 

Last week I started my six-week REAL SIMPLE grilling challenge.

 

Jared showed me how to operate the grill, and I learned a few valuable lessons.  One of them was not to buy pre-made patties, since for many of these recipes, you have to mix in other ingredients and reshape the patties yourself.  The other was to make the burgers earlier in the week so you don't have to freeze the meat and then thaw it (last week's spiced burgers REALLY did not want to combine).

 

Last week's meal dripping through the grill grate

I asked Jared before grocery shopping which burger he wanted next, and he voted for the Cheddar Turkey Burger with Mashed Avocado.

 

 

The recipe calls for a ripe avocado, but since I only went grocery shopping on Monday, by Tuesday morning the avocado was still hard.  I had no apple or paper bag to try that speed ripening trick (or is it a banana?) so I just rotated the avocado around the house and onto the porch so that it was in the sun all day, which really helped!

 

 

In the evening, when it was time for dinner, I decided to prep the mashed avocado before worrying about the grill. 

 

 

Last time it took me too long to prep the food for the grill and so I wasted a lot of energy (literally) by letting it sit out there empty but hot.

 

 

I was afraid the sun hadn't helped enough, but the ripeness was actually perfect: it kept the "mashed avocado" from turning into guacamole. 

 

 

I got the grill out, but couldn't get it to light.  Apparently the propane tank was starting to run low.  Jared used a match to get things started for me.  While the grill heated up, I combined the ground turkey with shredded sharp cheddar and "grated" onion (I bought pre-shredded cheese to save time and just cut the onion into tiny pieces).

 

 

When I went out to flip the burgers, I brought the wheat buns so I could grill them at the very end, and found that the grill had died down.  Jared got it going with another match.

 

 

I went back in to start cleaning up while I waited for the final side of the burgers to cook, but when I came back, the grill had died down again.

 

 

I ended up finishing the burgers on a pan and toasting the buns instead of grilling them:

 

 

 

It worked out well - the burgers were really moist with great flavor. We topped them with thinly sliced onion and the mashed avocado. 

Jared had two, which means I get the last one for lunch today!