Let me preface this burger blog by confessing I'm an old-fashioned kind of a burger girl. But I'm picky and prefer purchasing grinds made from grass-fed, sustainably-raised beef. Then I give myself the green light to mold the beef into large patties and enjoy it rare, seared over hot coals. Predictably my husband, Richard, tells me he hears it "moo". Bad joke. I just hear the crunch of the lettuce.

Bittman suggests using ground chicken or turkey thighs, beef chuck or sirloin or lamb shoulder for the grind. I was curious to see if ground, lean turkey breast would yield a moist burger as well. Thrilled to report, yes it did.

I also fried a bit of seasoned meat in advance to insure the salt, cumin and pepper were to my taste. I skipped adding chopped onion to the meat topping the burger with sliced onion, instead.

Bittman gives options for bulgher, cracked wheat, steel-cut oats or whole-wheat couscous. (This website clarifies the difference between cracked wheat and bulgher.) I used soaked crack wheat with excellent results. I added additional information to his recipe for soaking cracked wheat.

Bittman's recipe yields 6 burgers, which is perfect for an average burger. I like thick burgers so the recipe yielded only 4 burgers for me. It takes at least twice as long to cook thicker poultry burgers--with ground turkey or chicken, you want to make doubly sure the meat is cooked throughout.

All told, this is a delicious burger and kudos to Mark Bittman, for suppling me with a great recipe for a healthy and satisfying burger. This is a complete meal in a burger with higher fiber and less saturated fat than my usual hamburger of choice. (You will, however, find me shopping at Arbor Farms for grinds from Manchester's Lamb Farm. It's the season for burgers on the grill and I'm still craving that juicy rare hamburger!)

This recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman's Meat-and-Grain Burgers recipe found in the June, 2010 issue of Runner's World magazine.

Yield: 4-6 burgers, depending on thickness of burger
Time: 45 minutes
Cost: apx. $13.00

Ingredients

2 cups soaked cracked wheat*
1 pound fresh spinach leaves, longer stems removed
1 pound lean ground turkey breast
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic
1-3 teaspoons ground cumin
Pinch or more cayenne
1-3 teaspoons kosher salt
1 large egg
1 tomato, sliced (optional)
1 onion, sliced (optional)
4 large lettuce leaves (optional)
4 whole-grain buns
Condiments, such as mustards, mayonnaise and salsa

*Place 1/2 cup dry cracked wheat in a pan; cover with 1 cup boiling water. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes, stirring once.

Directions

1. Boil a large pot of salted water. Put spinach in boiling water for 30 seconds; drain in a colander, rinsing under ice cold water. With your hands or clean towels, squeeze spinach dry then chop.
2. Place spinach in a bowl. Add ground turkey, garlic, 1 teaspoon cumin, pinch of cayenne, 1 teaspoon salt, egg and soaked cracked wheat. Thoroughly combine then fry or microwave a bit of meat and add additional cumin, cayenne and salt to taste.
3. Preheat gas or charcoal grill to medium heat*. Oil grill grates.
4. Shape ground turkey mixture into 4-6 burgers. Place burgers on grill grates and cover. For thinner burgers, grill 4-6 minutes per side, for thicker burgers grill 10-12 minutes per side or until cooked to 170Ëš.
5. Lightly toast buns on grill, if desired. Spread condiments on cut side of buns then layer buns with lettuce, tomatoes and onion, if using, and burger.
*Bake burgers on a greased baking sheet in a 400Ëš oven, 20-40 minutes, instead of grilling, if desired.