A Walk in the Woods

We're nearing the end of summer, and we've managed to cross most stuff off our fun summer to do list. Hiking, however, lingered until yesterday.  There's a great state park about 3 miles from us.  If you haven't been to Callahan State Park and you live in the area, you should absolutely go.  That goes double if you have dogs, since the whole place is very dog friendly.  

There's two entrances, and we normally go to one of them (helpful, huh?  I just can't remember which one.  The North one?  The West one?)  I'll look it up.  Okay, I think that we go to the Millwood Street entrance. That side of the park has some wooded areas, some open fields, and a great little muddy pond that dogs love to swim in.  Not our dogs, mind you, as they don't really like other dogs and I'm not about to bring them someplace where they're going to be stressed out and get in a fight.  That would be bad doggy parenting.  Anyway, this time, we decided to try the other side of the park.  It was okay.  Much more wooded, and the paths weren't marked as well.

It was as steep as it looks.  

We didn't intentionally color coordinate the lunch bag and the outfit.  Swear it.

Most importantly, I learned that if you can't really read a trail map and have a poor sense of direction, don't go hiking someplace new with your children.  We had to give up and turn around after about 45 minutes of my saying "I'm pretty sure we're headed in the right direction."  But we didn't get hopelessly lost, and we did see some frogs, a snake, and got to pee behind a huge rock.  Everyone wins.

Then we got well earned ice cream at Gerards, which thankfully reopened.  Again, if you live around here, go.  And go early, because they close at 6 and the BBQ is really good.  

So we were hot and tired and I wanted an easy dinner.  Grill!  Possibly the best thing about the grill is that there are almost no dishes to do after cooking.

Given that, we grill a lot in the summer.  But you can only eat so many hamburgers before you want to change things up.  These are a little healthier, easy to throw together, and look nice on a plate.

Greek Turkey Burgers
(There has got to be a bad history teacher joke here about Greece and Turkey, but I'm not making it)

1 lb ground turkey
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
10 black olives, chopped (optional)
1 egg, lightly beaten

rolls, lettuce, tomato, and whatever else you like on a burger for serving.

Place all of the ingredients for the turkey burgers in a large bowl and mix with a fork.  Try to make sure that everything's well incorporated, without making the turkey too mushy.  It's a fine line.

Form the mix into patties.  I made 6 patties, but if you'd like a slightly more substantial burger, make 5.  Make the patties only about 1/2-3/4 inch thick, because you want them to cook all the way through without being charred on the outside.

Preheat the grill to medium, and make sure your grates are well oiled.  When the grill is hot, place the burgers gently on the grates and let cook for about 6 minutes without disturbing them.

Gently flip the burgers and let cook for another 6 minutes.  Check to make sure that the turkey is cooked all the way through.

Place on rolls and top as you like.  I served with orzo and a salad.  

Healthy and yummy.