Home Ground Chicken Burgers

I'm on a savings kick. We've been a bit on edge with some major financial costs this year, as I know many people are, but we're finally starting to feel the weight of me not working and so I've been trying to cut corners as much as possible. As I noted in another post I hate ground beef, but ground chicken (my usual go to ground meat) has gone up $1 per package since last year. So remembering that I bought a food mill/meat grinder last summer, I decided to grind my own chicken!

Now the last time I remember using a meat grinder was back in my culinary class days using an industrial one that ran so smoothly I had no problems...let me say this was not the case with my kitchen aid attachment! You should have seen the site, both Anastasio & I made a mess and lost about 1.5-2 lbs of chicken trying to figure out the black grease spewing from the center of the attachment.

After researching online we found some good tips & tricks so next time shouldn't be as much of a fiasco! It really is a very easy thing to do, so we'll keep grinding our own chicken meat from now on. End result only cost us the same as if we bought pre-ground, which means next time the savings will be huge at a little over $2 a pound!

Home Ground Chicken Burgers with Spinach & Cheddar
Serves 2

1 Chicken Breast (or 1/2 lb Store Bought Ground Chicken)
1/2 C Loose Fresh Spinach
1/4 C Sharp Cheddar (Grated)
3 Tbsp Plain Bread Crumbs
1 Egg Yolk
Salt, Pepper & Cayenne To Taste

-Slice the Chicken Breast in strips that will fit through the meat grinder and run through.
-Meanwhile, bring a medium size pot with ~6 cups of water to a boil.
-Using tongs drop in a big handful of Spinach and blanch for about 30-45 seconds.
-Remove spinach to a colander or plate with towel to drain.
-Once cool enough to handle, chop Spinach.
-Combine the Ground Chicken with Spinach & remaining ingredients and form into 2 patties.
-Either grill or cook in frying pan with a little oil until browned on both sides.