Cajun Turkey Burgers & French Green Beans

{Also known as "Cooking Tip #648: Oil & Water"}

I legitimately cooked today.

I turned on the stove and everything!

Whoaaa, now.

May I present to you, *tada*, my dinner!



 Below is how I did it, with lessons learned in bold.

... And the title apparently.

Cajun Turkey Burgers with French Green Beans:

{serves... heh. One.}

Ingredients:

2 frozen turkey burgers {I know, so gourmet}

A tad of canola oil, if you're not using a non-stick pan

Cajun seasoning

French green beans

{man, this is sounding complicated...}

Instructions:

Step One: If you're using a non-stick pan, you don't really need the canola oil. I found this out the hard way. I put in about a tablespoon of canola oil {I was watching the pretty patterns it made on the pan, not really the amount... bad self!}, heated up the pan, stuck the first frozen burger in, and BAM. Hot oil splattered everywhere.

I freaked like you wouldn't believe.

Let's just say there were panicked thoughts of putting water in the pan to put out the splattering, coherent thoughts of "That'd make it even worse, stupid!", a mad grab for an oven mitt, & an almost flinging of the pan off that burner and onto another.

I also turned off the fire, on the off chance it might help stop the crackling noises.

It didn't. But it did make me feel a smidge better.

As soon as the oven mitt was off my hand, I called my dad & asked "WHAT DO I DOOO? WHAT HAVE I DONNNE?" He explained that the frozen turkey burgers have water & when that frozen water hits the hot oil, KAPOW! Things start flying everywhere.

Needless to say, lesson learned.

Step Two: Here you can either heat up the pan and then put the turkey burgers in, or you can put the turkey burgers in and then turn on the fire.

It doesn't really matter too much.

Step Three: Watch the edges of the burgers that touch the pan. When they change color from pink to brown/tanish, go ahead and flip them over.

Step Four: Once you've flipped them over, sprinkle however much of your Cajun seasoning you'd like onto your burger.

Step Five: Give them a little time, and then flip them back over to see how that bottom side is doing. If it doesn't look done, you can just keep flipping it over again and give it some more time. Remember to sprinkle more seasoning on the bottom side though at some point.

Step Six: Once you think they're done {my unofficial, not really recommended method of checking involves taking the edge of the spatula and cutting into the burger a little in the middle. If it's not pink, you're good to go}, move them to your plate and put in your green beans.

I didn't specify an amount because it's really up to you, you grown up college student, you.

Step Seven: If your green beans are frozen, but cooked, then you just need to move them around the pan a little to heat them up and let them soak up your Cajun seasoning.

If they're fresh & uncooked, though, you might want to add a little water to the pan {I know what I said about hot oil & water mixing and the results thereof, but my parents somehow do this successfully, which tells me that it can be done!}. Be sure to cover the pan with a lid though so the green beans can kind of steam/cook.

When the beans are somewhat soft to the spatula-poking {as opposed to rock solid due to being frozen or uncooked}, you can either just trust in your cooking skills and transfer them to your plate or you can taste one to see if it's the way you want it.

Step Eight: Technically, you're done now and can go eat!

However, if you were like me and that oil splattered everywhere and made it look like it rained droplets all over the stovetop, then you have just one more thing left to do... besides washing your dishes, pan, & spatula.

My cleaning tip of the day {or rather, my dad's} is that to get rid of those oil droplets on a smooth surface like the stove, simply wipe the surface down with a Lysol wipe {or whatever cleaning type wipe you want to use. I just happen to have the Lysol ones} and that'll cut through the oil and make it all go away!

I also used a wet paper towel and went over everything I Lysol-wiped down so that the chemicals wouldn't catch on fire or whatever next time I turn on the stove.

If you're picky like me and the wet streaks bother you, run a dry paper napkin over it and your stove will look like new!

*sparkle*

---

And I thought my pancake recipe post was long...

I'm guessing that I might post a few more of my 'recipes' {heh} sometime soon, although it might take me a bit to get used the fact that I'm being strange and showing you how I usually make oatmeal or scrambled eggs, but hey. College student. As I learn, the recipes should get better, right? You never know what you might learn from going back to the basics!

I was raised by a nutrition/dietetics person, so maybe I'll have some tips that you didn't know before.

... Or maybe you really don't know how to make scrambled eggs, in which case, I can help.

And just as a tada!moment, my turkey burger & green beans really did turn out pretty well, considering I freaked out about the oil & water thing and everything after that was still a little panicked.

Not bad, self, not bad.

*nods*