What? Fried Burgers?

Fried burgers?  No way!  I am a die hard grill woman.  A burger is grilled on a charcoal grill.  Gas grills are for sissies lazy people!  There is no other way.  I grill as many nights of the week as I can.  And, yes, even in the winter.  I saw some burgers on a show the other day and thought oh my goodness they look delicious, BUT they were fried.  Yeah, fried as in on a pan.  The other loud, loud gasp I had watching that show is that the cook 'smashed' the burgers.  A burger is never, ever to be smashed.  All the goodness is smashed out when you do that.  So, I said to myself.  Self, keep an open mind & try these.  I watched the show, and they did not give me the recipe.  How dare them?  I wrote down what they said they used for ingredients and what I thought they didn't say.  I went free style and guessed on all measurements.  Oh my goodness (or OMG for all you youngsters), these were the best burgers I have ever made!  Every one in my family said the same exact statement.  It was as if all the planets were aligned, because it really is a rare occasion when everyone is in complete 100% agreement.
I would love to have my own burger restaurant one day, so when  my ship comes in and my joint is open this will be on the menu.  So, my apologizes I can not give you my recipe.  It is top secret.  I will tell you that I made a basil pesto mayo w/a few special ingredients that was the star of the burger.  And, the burgers were fried with onions seasoned with about 9 spices, delicious!

Mini Bread Pans

I have wanted a mini bread pan for a long time.  I just didn't want to spend about $20.00 for 4 of them.  I found one today for $1.99.  How could I pass that up?  I bought it, went directly home & my daughter whipped up some banana bread dough for me.  It really isn't anything different than a normal sized bread pan, other than the mini size.  It just looks so darn cute!  Doesn't it?  I can't remember my recipe right now so I'll try to get that to you later.  I've tried quite a few & always go back to this one.  This is the regular in our household.

Summer Veggies

I just came across some pictures of some of our tomatoes from this past summer.  Thank goodness I did a lot of canning.  I miss my gardening, but not the weeding.  Can't wait to dig in the dirt again.

$14.95 meal

I want my own little diner.  You know the one where everything is home made & down right delicious food.  When you think of say...bacon wrapped chicken my little diner is the place you think of first.  We have a fake menu going on at our house, what I'd serve at my diner, & how much each item would be.  This tonight at my kitchen diner was $14.95.

I made three new recipes tonight. Spinach and blue cheese, bacon wrapped stuffed chicken, honey & balsamic green beans, & smashed potatoes. I used my own potatoes and green beans, nothing like it!  It was one of those nights where everyone was 'starving', so I couldn't get a good picture of the food. Never mind the horrible lighting and display, the troops were demanding food!  I should have cut the chicken open & showed you all the gooey cheesy goodness inside of the chicken. Why have I not stuffed my own chicken ever before? I really don't understand, really it is a simple process.

I usually start with a recipe and then make it my own. At the request of a few of you I will add the recipes below.  A word to the wise.  I love to cook therefore I may throw in seasoning, evoo, this & that at my own discretion & that is why there may not be the measurements for some of the ingredients on the recipes.  For example, below for the chicken I have no idea how much spinach I used just take a handful and mix it all together & see if it's enough...really try it, it won't be difficult.

Oh & smile when you are making these dishes because you know anything is over the top good with bacon.  One more thing, let me know if you made any of my recipes and what you did different....I wanna know!  Send me some of your recipes you'd like me to try.  I'll make 'em, take pics of them & post them.

Bacon wrapped, spinach and cheese stuff chicken

4 chicken breasts (bonless, skinless)

blue cheese (I also did a couple with feta cheese)
spinach
arugula
bacon
pepper

Take a paring knife and cut down the middle of the fat side of the chicken about 1/2 way.  Put your finger in the cut to loosen it up.  You will be cutting right in the middle of the breast, don't cut all the way through.

Take some spinach & arugula & mix it together.  Then throw some cheese in the mix & mix it all together.

Put the green/cheese mixture into the cut of the chicken.  Use your finger & really stuff it down in there.

Pepper the chicken.

Wrap bacon around the chicken, like a spiral.

Put in a baking dish at 425 for about 30 minutes.

Honey and Balsamic Green Beans

16 oz green beans
2 garlic cloves
evoo
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp honey
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper

Heat the evoo in a pan over medium heat.  Put in the beans & garlic.  Cover & cook for about 10 minutes. Stir when you feel like it.

Put in the onion powder, honey, balsamic vinegar, & salt & pepper to taste.

Cook for about 3-5 minutes longer.

Smashed potatoes
(my kids can take or leave potatoes depending on how they are cooked.  I've never made this recipe before tonight & they all loved them)


4 medium potatoes
1/4 chicken broth
3 T evoo
4 scallions (green & whites)
salt & pepper

Cook potatoes in boiling water about 15-20 minutes.  Drain. Put back in same pot.

Add evoo, broth, scallions, & salt & pepper to taste.

Smash with the back of a fork.  These will be a bit chunky, not like your Mamma's mashed potatoes.

Eat!

Comfort Food, French Onion Soup

I made some French Onion Soup the other day.  I forgot to take a picture.  For some odd reason, I had some leftovers.  I heated it up today & remembered to take a picture.  Who is with me lovin' this soup?  How can you not love it?  Really, it has lovely cooked onions, toasted bread, & lots and lots of gruyere cheese melted all over the bread and oozing down the sides.  Wipe off your chin and go make some soup!

S'More Cookies! Try 'em, you'll like 'em!

See I told you I would post some sweet entries as well some healthy ones!  I'm still on a S'Mores theme in my mind as I am helping plan a women's retreat at my church.  Can you guess the theme is S'Mores?  I may bring these cookies for a snack.  These really are kidilicious!  I'm not a big sweet person, & geez with the chocolate chips, hershey bars, & marshmallows these are enough for you to unbutton your pants!

Here is some eye candy for you.

Not Your Traditional S'More

This blog isn't all about what's grown in the ground.  Doesn't everyone like some sort of sweet?  The other day I was making home made marshmallows.  They didn't turn out, hence no photo of them!  I had some (gasp) store bought marshmallows so decided to use those to make a new (new to me) kind of s'more.  We are having a s'more event at our church in a few weeks and I get to help make the food portion of it, perfect job for me if I do say so myself!
Aren't these the cutest things you've seen in awhile?  Come on, admit it you like 'em.  Next time I do this I have a lot of other decorating ideas for these plump, white, sugary goodness.