Spicy Chicken Burgers & Baked Fries

Happy St. Joseph's day and almost Friday friends! The weekend is so close and I couldn't be more excited minus the chance of some snow tomorrow. The first day of spring and a snow prediction on the way—are the weather gods playing tricks on us? I started off my morning finally finishing up the last of Sunday's brunch treats from this passed weekend. I made some hazelnut coffee and slowly savored the last piece of my friend Meg's homemade blueberry buckle. It is by far one of my favorite sweets that she makes and I can't wait to try the recipe on my very own.

John surprised me last night with some St. Joseph's pastries and I couldn't have been more excited. My mom typically gets a dozen or so from one of our favorite bakeries in the Bronx, but since I no longer reside with the Parisis, John figured he'd bring the Bronx to Long Island! They were so damn good and I definitely favored the cannoli cream filled puff

Like my spring inspired plates? I seriously use them for almost every meal. I guess they bring a little bit of floral inspiration to my everyday dinnerware. John had half days all week, so I figured I'd make something that wouldn't take too long since he'd be home on the earlier side. Good ol' American burgers and fries, but with our own spin. Chicken burgers are super easy to make and are a healthy alternative to the ground beef burger that we all love. You can add anything into your ground chicken like feta, spinach, onions, peppers—whatever satisfies your taste buds. We decided on some spicy buffalo chicken burgers for tonight and boy did they have a kick. We start off by spraying a baking sheet with nonstick spray and cook the burgers on 375 degrees for 20 minutes flipping half way through. I like mine nice and charcoaled on each side. Two for John, one for me :) Don't mind our baking sheets, believe it or not they are under a year old. I guess we just have baked the hell out of them!

 

I decided on making fries after coming across a recipe for "Man Approved Spicy Oven Baked French Fries." I figured they would pair nicely with our spicy buffalo burgers. Here's everything you need for these tasty manly spuds.

Ingredients: 

-5 medium potatoes 

-2 egg whites

-1 1/2 tsp chili powder

-1 1/2 tsp ground cumin

-1 1/4 tsp paprika 

-2 tsp of oregano and garlic salt or powder

-1 1/4 tsp salt

-veggie oil 

Directions: 

First, preheat your oven to 430 degrees. Next, peel, wash and dry your potatoes by patting dry with a paper towel. Then, using a sharp knife, slice a 1/4-inch piece off the potato lengthwise in order to create a stable base for you to work with. Lay the potato flat on its cut side and slice into even planks. Then cut each plank into even wedges until you have gotten through all of your potatoes. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites lightly and in a small bowl, combine your spices—chili powder, ground cumin, paprika, Italian seasoning and salt. Dip the cut potatoes in egg whites and coat well. Sprinkle the spices over the potatoes and toss to coat completely. Next, spray or brush a baking sheet with a generous amount of vegetable oil and then place wedges onto baking sheet. Bake for a total of 40 minutes making sure to move around ever 5-7 minutes with your spatula. And voilà! You have yourself some man approved french fries and one damn good side dish. 

 

 

As the fries baked for about half their needed time, we popped in the burgers on the top rack and allowed them to bake for a bit. Note: Make sure to separate fries on the baking sheet so they bake evenly and get a nice, crispy base. 

 

As our burgers and fries baked away, I made a chipotle aioli to dip our fries into. I combined 1/4 cup of olive oil mayo, garlic powder, salt, pepper, paprika and chilli powder. After I mixed everything together, I then spooned some into cute dipping bowls. I love to use these for soy sauce, ketchup, mustard—they are always the perfect serving size for condiments. 

Once our fries were crispy and our burgers browned on both sides, we popped them out of the oven and plated them. John sauteed up some onions with a few red hot pepper flakes and topped our burgers with them. And there you have it, our version of burgers and fries. This is another one of our go-to week night meals. The chicken burgers cook in 20 minutes and are always just the right amount of protein. I could barely finish mine tonight, but that could also be because I knew I had my favorite bottle of wine waiting to be opened.

This is one of our favorite wines from our local distributor and what's even better is that its a whopping $11. I'm typically not into sweet wines, but this gives just enough bite vs. sweet and is as fancy as I need it to be for a weekday evening in front of the TV. I'm actually sipping as I am typing to you all and it taste oh so good! The weekend is pretty much empty with a few things booked here and there, but I am mostly looking forward to a Saturday of absolutely nothing! Maybe a trip to Homegoods and the grocery store will be in order, but that is about it my friends. I like to consider this the calm before the storm, before our schedules are filled up this summer. I am appreciating every single moment of weekend freedom. We have a ton of movie gift certificates that we have yet to use but we aren't big movie goers and typically prefer a movie on the couch with wine, cheese and our favorite throw. Any good movie recommendations? Maybe that will be our Saturday night to-do.

I just got an email last night that my 21-day fix should be here by Saturday. Yay! That gives me the weekend to make sure I have everything I need for the week and prep all of my meals. I am really excited about it and have been pinning a ton of 21-day fix meals, snacks, tips and tricks. I will let you all know how everything looks once I get my delivery in the mail. Since we have a ton of meat in the freezer I was thinking of making an Asian inspired dish for dinner this weekend. I came across a recipe for Asian beef with mushrooms and snow peas and the only ingredients I will need to pick up are rice vinegar and mushrooms. Pretty easy peasy. Well, I hope you all have some fun weekend plans booked. What are you planning on cooking this weekend? Until next time...xo