Featured Guest Chef: Stephanie Ito

I am so excited to introduce Notion's featured guest chef, Stephanie Ito!

As you can tell from all my Thursday posts I love food. And love to share recipes.

So I was super thrilled when personal chef Stephanie Ito of Nourish Personal Chef + Catering gernerously offered to contribute on our blog. Stephanic will be sharing "The Best Thing I Made This Month" how fun and yummy is that?!

So turn on the grill and try her Chutney Turkey Burgers and Roasted Sweet Potato Fries tonight! Here's what Stephanie has to share with us:

Turkey burgers are a great meal for summer – you can cook them on the grill or you can broil or pan-fry them. Any way you cook them, these Chutney Turkey Burgers from The Joy of Cooking are some of our favorites here at Nourish Personal Chef + Catering. The turkey stays moist, and the combination of spices and mango chutney (which you can find near the mustards and condiments in most supermarkets) give the burgers an unusual, slightly sweet, and international flavor.

Since turkey breasts have less fat than beef, these burgers can be a healthy alternative to ground beef burgers this summer – but make sure you look for ground turkey breast at the store. Some packaged ground turkey has as much fat as beef because it includes skin and dark meat along with the breast.

The perfect accompaniment to these turkey burgers is baked sweet potato “fries”. They are super easy to make, and absolutely delicious. They get a little crunchy on the outside from roasting them at a high temperature (especially if you cut them nice and thin) and have a wonderful sweet-and-savory flavor, thanks to the natural sugars in the sweet potatoes and the garlic powder that you dust them with.

Not only are these great barbecue dishes, or perfect for a weeknight dinner, they also provide you with lots of high-quality, lean protein from the burgers and also lots of nutrients (including vitamins A and C in particular) from the sweet potatoes. This is a meal you can enjoy and feel good about eating.

I hope this has inspired you to give these simple recipes a try!

Chutney Turkey Burgers
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking

For the sauce:
½ cup prepared mango chutney
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons lemon juice

For the burgers:
1 pound ground turkey breast
3 tablespoons prepared Mango Chutney
2 scallions, minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Additional ingredients:
8 slices of sourdough bread (or 4 hamburger buns)
Lettuce and thinly sliced red onion

To make the sauce, stir together the mango chutney, Dijon mustard, and lemon juice in a small bowl, and set aside.

To make the patties, combine turkey breast, chutney, scallions, cumin, coriander, and salt and pepper in another bowl and shape into four patties. Grill, broil, or pan fry, turning once, just until cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes on each side. (If you are nervous about getting them cooked all the way through, use a meat thermometer and cook them to 160˚ - much higher than that and they can get dried out.)

Meanwhile, spread the chutney mixture over the bread, and top 4 slices of the bread with the lettuce and onion. Place the burgers on top and season with salt and pepper to taste.


Roasted Sweet Potato “Fries”From Nourish Personal Chef + Catering

2 medium-sized sweet potatoes, scrubbed well
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon granulated garlic (or garlic powder)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Non-stick spray

Preheat the oven to 400˚F.

Cut the sweet potatoes into French-fry sized matchsticks (leave the skins on). Combine the sweet potatoes, olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a large bowl and toss to coat.

Coat a large baking sheet with non-stick spray and then arrange the sweet potatoes on the sheet. Roast the potatoes for about 25 – 30 minutes, stirring once or twice during cooking. The sweet potatoes should be slightly browned and soft inside when you take them out.

Nourish Personal Chef + Catering provides customized meal services in the Chicago area, offering the convenience of ready-to-eat meals with the taste and nutrition of home-cooked food. We can save you hours each week that you would normally spend preparing meals and going out to eat! We use only the best and freshest ingredients to ensure that your meals are not only delicious, but also well balanced and healthy.

Our services are designed for busy people in all walks of life: professionals with no time to cook, families with children and hectic schedules, older adults who have special dietary requirements, athletes with specific nutritional needs, new parents, and those who just don't enjoy cooking but do enjoy good food! All meals are made just for you - based on your likes and dislikes - and special requests are always welcome.