Maple Mustard Turkey Burgers #NationalHamburgerDay

Summer means more grilling!  Did you know that July 28th is National Hamburger Day?  I know....it seems like every single day is a "day" for something.  But Hamburgers?  I had to jump on board by sharing a new burger recipe I came up with a couple of weeks ago!  Heather, from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks has kindly gathered a handful of fantastic burger recipes from other burger loving bloggers.  There is so much burger magic all in one place!  Be sure to check them all out at the end of this post...

Now, we normally eat a lot of beef in our household so I was looking to switch it up a bit with a different meat.  Ground poultry is so versatile.  And lean.  And just delicious!  Since it doesn't have a very high fat content, I thought adding a glaze would be a good idea to amp up the greatness even more.  My obsession with maple has been well documented in the past, so I won't bore you with the backstory of my choice.  See Morning Maple Muffins, Maple Pepper Glazed Chicken Wings, and Gingersnap Maple Pecan Ice Cream for further rambling about the awesomeness of maple.  It's essentially the first sweet flavor that pops into my mind....

Maple mustard turkey burger with melted white cheddar

The simplicity of this burger, with the sweet sticky maple mustard glaze is definitely going to become a new favorite here!   Dress these up with any additional toppings you would like.  I highly recommend white cheddar (who doesn't love gooey, melty cheese), and bacon....because it's bacon.  Additional dijon mustard doesn't hurt, either.

The Health & Happiness Cookbook Review

A couple of months ago I received the most wonderful gift from Kimberley Copithorne - a copy of her recently published book, The Health and Happiness Cookbook.   I first came across her blog, Prairie Winds Life, when she joined the Food Bloggers of Canada.  I'm also a fairly new member, and when she was welcomed to the group, I immediately checked out her blog.  It caught my eye because she lives reasonably close to Calgary, on a ranch outside the Rockies.   Sigh.....can you imagine waking up to those mountains everyday?  What I soon discovered after poking around her blog was that she basically cooks and bakes all the foods of my dreams.  Seriously.  You need to check it out.  NOW.

Since I've been conversing back and forth with Kimberley for the last few months,  I've also learned that besides being food twins (my claim, not hers), we have kids that are essentially the same age.  I'm now kinda-sorta that creepy fan  that's like "lets be friends, let's be friends!!"  We're definitely hanging out soon.  Why did I share that here?  I don't know.  I'm just super pumped to meet her in person.

Here is the part where I need to tell you (I kind of already did), that I received this copy from Kimberley for free.  I am under no obligation to write anything (good or bad) about what I think of it.  All opinions are strictly my own.  I am not being compensated to tell you how darn amazing every page is.

So, about this book:

The Health and Happiness Cookbook is inspired by the Health and Happiness Society book series, written by Katie Cross.  I haven't read this award winning Chick Lit book series, but I can assure you I will.  In the foreword to the cookbook, both Katie and Kimberley stress the pursuit of a balanced and happy lifestyle, where it's ok (and encouraged!) to enjoy both healthy and nutritious foods, as well as the odd treat.  And trust me, after sampling one of the recipes from the chapter Healthy Girl-Power Recipes, I can assure you that Kimberley's healthy choices are so delicious that you can essentially call them a treat too :)


The recipes throughout this book are inspired by the characters in Katie Cross' book series.  (For those interested, these titles include Bon Bons to Yoga Pants and I Am Girl Power).  You can find out more about them and the author at www.kcrosswriting.com.  The recipes in the cookbook are grouped into chapters according to the characters that inspired them.  How fun is that?!  I picked one recipe from each chapter to try and tell you about here.  On that note, let me say it was almost impossible to pick one per chapter.  I basically could have cooked my way through the entire book (trust me, I will).  This is one of those cookbooks where every single page is flagged.  Read on to see the delicious discoveries I've tried so far!

the book you all need