Easy, low calorie turkey sliders!

  I've always had a fondness for burgers. Most people used to call me the burger queen, and not just because my working career began at Burger King. I earned this title with hard work. Hard work comprising of eating way too many cheeseburgers, and then I wondered where I gained all that weight from. A few years ago I was diagnosed with a chronic pain disease and discovered that red meat is more or less my mortal enemy. I found that when prepared properly, ground turkey is a pretty fantastic replacement. I introduced my husband to it without really letting him know it wasn't his beloved red meat, because I didn't want to be beheaded for the concept. Now it's a staple on our grocery list. This recipe is a fun, healthier spin on sliders that is easy to prepare and can be fun to make with other people too!

LC's Turkey Sliders
Slight variation from HG's Queen-of-the-Castle sliders.
Makes four servings.


Only 254 calories per 4-piece sandwich! YAY!


Roughly 10 oz of lean ground turkey. (I use about 3/4 of a 1lb package.)
8 slices of light bread. (You can use other bread, but using light bread makes it so the bread only adds 100 calories per sandwich as opposed to the 200 calories most other types will tack on.)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt.
1 whole onion, white

Optional:
Real Bacon bits.
1 Laughing Cow light swiss spreadable cheese wedge

  Roll up your sleeves and prepare to get your hands dirty. In a medium size bowl, measure and dump all of your dry ingredients. Add the ground turkey into the bowl and mix WELL. I find using your hands works the best to distribute all of the ingredients evenly. Otherwise you might bite into an over-seasoned surprise! 

  Once your meat is well combined, make a small ball slightly smaller than the size of a ping pong ball. Flatten this out and place it on a plate. Repeat for the remaining meat. Remember you will need four patties per sandwich. It's okay to have really tiny patties in order to make enough to accommodate the recipe, it will actually fit better on the bread later. Once you are done assembling the patties, take a knife and poke four holes into each patty. DO NOT pierce all the way through, just enough to create a little slit. This helps the meat absorb the flavor of the onions during cooking. Place the dish with the patties into the freezer for at least five minutes. 

   Multi-tasking time! While your patties are stiffening a bit in the freezer, dice up your onion. I suggest making it relatively thin and cubed since it cooks nicely in the skillet that way. Pre-heat your skillet to medium. Once you are done, you might want to start toasting your bread. 

  When the five minutes are up (or a little longer if you want the patties a little firmer), spread about half of the diced onions around your skillet so it forms a bed. Place your patties, slit side down, on top of the onions. Place a cover over your skillet and allow to cook closed for three minutes. While these are cooking, I suggest cutting your slices of bread into four pieces. These will be your make-shift buns!

  This picture is a testament to how loved these are in my house. My husband was yelling at me how he wanted to eat, so I had to take a speed shot. See? I'm human too! When the patties are done cooking, distribute them evenly between the bread. Make sure you pile some onions on there! What's great about these burgers is there are a large variety of low calorie options to dressing them up a bit. Add a little bacon, or some laughing cow to snazz it up, or eat it plain. Enjoy!