Grilled Pepper Jack Meat Loaf Burgers

Safeway had Nature's Pride multi-grain bread on sale this week for $2.50 per 24-ounce loaf and Jennie-O lean ground turkey patties for 99 cents per pound. They also had Lucerne cheese for $5.99 per 2-pound block, prompting me to create this recipe. If you prefer a vegan version, omit the egg and cheese and use a mixture of cooked lentils, chickpeas and black beans to make your burger.

1/4 cup fresh parsley
2 eggs (omit for vegan version)
2-quart mixing bowl
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup minced onion
2 cloves minced garlic
8 slices multi-grain bread
Food processor
1 pound ground beef or vegan substitute (see suggestions above)
4 ounces shredded pepper jack cheese
4 ounces tomato paste
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1 green bell pepper, cut into strips
Yellow pepper rings
Hamburger buns

Step 1: Chop the parsley as fine as you can.

Step 2: Use a fork to beat the eggs to an even, light-yellow froth in a 2-quart mixing bowl. Add the parsley, hot sauce, pepper, onion and garlic and stir until well-blended.

Step 3: Pulse the bread in your food processor until you get even-textured bread crumbs. Add the bread crumbs to the egg mixture and stir until well-blended. Omit the eggs when making a vegan version.

Step 4: Add the ground beef or vegan substitute. Mix just enough to distribute the bread crumb mixture throughout the ground beef or vegan substitute.

Step 5: Divide the mixture into 8 equal portions. Flatten four portions to 1/2-inch thickness.

Step 6: Make a slight depression in the center of each portion, using the back of a tablespoon.

Step 7: Fill the depression with 1 ounce of shredded pepper jack cheese, vegan cheese substitute or diced vegetables of your choice.

Step 8: Flatten the remaining four portions of ground beef or vegan substitute. Top each of the first four patties with one of the remaining four patties.

Step 9: Pinch and smooth the patties along the seam.

Step 10: Grill each patty for 4 minutes on each side. Top each grilled patty with 1 ounce of tomato paste and grill for one additional minute.

Step 11: Serve on hamburger buns, topped with grilled red and green bell pepper slices and yellow pepper rings.