Determined to make better food choices? Ease your way into it with these chicken avocado burgers

I don’t know about you but I’ve been dreaming of warmer weather lately. I’m experiencing a lull in my appreciation of cold weather. It may even be the winter blues. The other day the sun was shining and all I could think was how nice it looks out but the 30-degree temperature made me think twice about why I decided to leave the house. The sun’s warmth just seemed so far away.

Since it’s a new year we’ve decided to try and make better food choices in our house, slowly cutting out refined carbohydrates. Basically, anything processed is a refined carb, so that includes bread. I hope you heard me correctly. Maybe I’ll just repeat that: BREAD.

Do you recall my love for cheese? I have a strong love for bread as well. It’s almost like an extremity of my body and soul. Love of bread basically runs in the family; it’s in my blood — a given. So since we’ve decided to make better food choices that will be better for our health in the long run, I’ve decided to cut off a limb.  

Okay, I’m being a little dramatic — we’re slowly eliminating or finding different replacements for things we love.

With all of that being said, the stars kind of aligned and we had bun-less chicken avocado burgers for dinner. Almost a twist on a ‘California style’ meal to bring a little warmth into our lives. We had just received a gorgeous head of iceberg lettuce from our Goodale Farm Share, I know I’ve seen lettuce tacos and I think I’ve seen burgers wrapped in lettuce so I thought we’d give it a whirl to complete our bun-less meal. It was actually really tasty, I’d have to say I surprised myself. Even better, my husband liked it. Sometimes he doesn’t take well to strange things such as burgers wrapped in a huge leaf of lettuce.

Simply put it was just like having a regular burger, condiments and all. The lettuce added a nice crunch and was perfect for holding all of those tasty fixings. We used cheddar cheese, pickles and sliced onion. I hope the recipe below sends a little warmth your way.

Avocado Chicken Burgers
Makes 4-5 patties

Ingredients
1-1/2 lbs ground chicken
1 medium ripened avocado, diced small
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1-2 tablespoons olive oil

• • • In a medium bowl combine the ground chicken, diced avocado, seasonings, lime juice and panko bread crumbs until well combined. Form the meat into 4-5 even sized patties. Dampen hands with water to prevent the meat from sticking; set aside.
    • Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook the chicken burgers in batches, 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown and cooked through to approximately 164 degrees. Serve on a toasted bun, wrapped in lettuce or on its own with your favorite condiments.