Hamburgler didn't strike here!

Hamburgler didn't strike here!

Hey folks! I decided to make some hamburgers, buns, roasted red potatoes, and a salad (no recipe included....it was pretty basic) for dinner. Here are the recipes for the hamburgers, buns, and roasted red potatoes! I should note, this dinner fed 8 people, so adjust accordingly for smaller groups.

Hamburger Buns

So I was get really ambitious when I am on vacation! You could buy hamburger buns, but Martha Stewart and Paula Dean would frown. I apologize for the lack of pictures during this recipe!

Ingredients:

1 cup milk
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. Combine the milk, 1 cup of water, butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let stand until lukewarm. If you don't let it cool it will kill the yeast, if it cools too much you won't activate the yeast!

2. In a large bowl, stir the flour and yeast. Pour in the milk mixture. If you have a kitchen aid mixer use the dough hook to mix for about 8 minutes. If not, first think about getting a kitchen aid mixer and the ice cream attachment, then, knead by hand on a floured surface for about 10 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl, and turn the dough around in the greased bowl to coat it. Cover and let stand for an hour. or until it doubles in size.

3.  Punch down the dough and divide into 12 portions They should be a little larger than a golf ball. Make tight balls out of the dough by pulling the dough tightly around and pinching it at the bottom. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. After the rolls sit for a minute and relax, flatten each ball with the palm of your hand until it is 3 to 4 inches wide. You may want to oil your hand first. Set rolls aside until they double in size, about 20 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Mix the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl. Brush onto the tops of the rolls. Position 2 oven racks so they are situated in the middle of the oven.

5. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Rotate the baking sheets so each set of buns can get brown. Continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until nicely browned on the top and bottom.

Slightly mis-shapen, but delicious hamburger buns!

Next up......

Hamburgers

I made something similar senior year of college when Christina had the beer pong tournament at her house. They are delicious!

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef ( I used super lean from Martin's)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

2 tablespoons Sambal (crushed red pepper paste)

4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 

1/4 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon salt

I mixed it all together with my hands!

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together. Shape into 8 patties. I stuck them in the fridge for about an hour to  try and help them keep their shape, not sure if it helped. Grill until done (about 20-30 min depending on how you like your burgers cooked). Place on buns, top with your favorite, and enjoy!

Ready to grill!

And finally.....

Roasted Red Potatoes

A wonderful side dish for the hamburger. 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon salt

10 red potatoes, quartered

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F

2. In a large bowl combine all the ingredients

3. Place potatoes in a single layer on a roasting pan or baking sheet. I place foil under them for easy clean up!

Ready to roast!

4. Roast for 40 min (depends how the size of the potatoes) turning occasionally so they will brown on all sides!

I put a little kick in the potatoes and hamburger with the crushed red pepper and sambal! You may need a glass of milk if you are prone to meat/heat sweats!

I added some grilled onion and A1 to my burger!

Mailman and Enjoy!

Spicy Quinoa Stuffed Avocados

Background:

Every since coming back from Chile I have missed avocados or palta as they call them over there.  I think palta is a more appropriate name for them anyways.  Their abundance is overwhelming in Chile and yet I never got sick of them.  They eat them in the morning on toast (we're talking a whole avocado mashed with salt on toast), at lunch in salads, at the afternoon once (snack) again a whole one on toast, and even at night for dinner.  That being said you can find them at the grocery store and they fill up an entire stand in the produce section separated into three sections: avocados for right now, for 2-3 days, and unripe avocados (I don't know who buys those ones).  So, I have been very sad with the exponential decrease in availability and ripeness of avocados, but I found some great ones at Jewel and decided to stuff them with deliciousness.

I must give credit where credit's due as this recipe is yet again from Pinterest.  

Spicy Quinoa Stuffed Avocados
Avocados (1 per person)
1/2 C quinoa
1 C vegetable broth
1 can black beans (rinsed)
1/2 chopped red pepper
1/2 cup corn
1/2 chopped red onion
1/4 C chopped cilantro + garnish if you desire to make it look pretty
1 T taco seasoning (choose your spiciness)

Cilantro 'Sour Cream' 
(I can't vouch for the deliciousness of this like I can for the the above as I don't have a blender and couldn't make it)
1 C cashews soaked for at least 2 hours
2 T cilantro
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp agave (if you want it sweet)
dash of salt

1. Rinse the quinoa well and place it in a saucepan to toast for 2 minutes or until it starts smelling toasty. (RINSE the quinoa! I didn't once and it tasted like dirt).  Add one cup of vegetable broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer covered until all the liquid is absorbed.

2. Chop the red onion, red pepper, and cilantro.  Mix it in a bowl with rinsed black beans, corn, and taco seasoning.  Set aside until quinoa is finished and cooled.

3. Once the quinoa has cooled, add it to the veggie mixture.  It says to put it in the fridge to cool, but after I waited for it to cool I couldn't wait any longer and just ate it.

4. Drain cashews and put in blender.  Add 1/4 C water, apple cider vinegar, agave, salt, and blend until mixture is silky smooth.  Put in fridge to cool.

5. Cut avocados in half, remove the skin and the pit.   Scoop quinoa mixture into each avocado.  I recommend overflowing them to get a good avocado to quinoa ratio.  Top with the fancy sour cream or just regular sour cream like I did and ENJOY!  Don't forget to mailman!

Mushroom Risotto

Hey kids, mind if this old lady joins you?

This is a simple dish, but makes for good eating.

Mushroom Risotto (based on Mario Batali's Risotto Milanese recipe)

 4 T olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
500 g mushrooms, sliced
4 c. chicken broth
2 c. arborio rice
1/2 c. white wine
4 T butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 c. grated parmesan


1. put chicken broth into small saucepan and bring to boil, then lower heat - leave it on the back burner, keeping it hot.

2. heat 2 T oil in skillet, add mushrooms, salt generously - keep stirring them occasionally while they saute

3.  in a large saucepan/pasta pot, heat 2 T oil and add the onions - cook until translucent

4. add rice to the onions & stir 3-4 minutes with wooden spoon until rice is toasted and opaque

5. add wine to rice & stir, allow rice to absorb

All the components cooking at once

6. add chicken broth one ladle at a time, stirring rice and allowing the broth to absorb before adding more

7. keep adding broth and cooking until rice is creamy and soft (about 15-20 min)
   (if the rice isn't softening, put a lid on while cooking to keep in more moisture)

8. add butter and grated cheese

9. throw in mushrooms

10. serve with extra cheese

My first time mailmaning. I hope I'm doing it right.

Leftover Note: Leftover risotto is a little cement-like. but it's great if you fry it up a bit. You can just flatten it out into a skillet and let it get a nice crust to it. Or you can make fritters by mixing in an egg, forming them into patties, coat them in flour, and frying those up.

BBQ Asparagus

The asparagus came in early this year, so Natalie and I have been cooking lots of it. This little masterpiece was modified from the oven to fit the ol' Weber and came out delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 lb Nice, thick asparagus
• Olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
• Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

• Light coals, allow to get nice and hot
• Make a foil tray and place asparagus (ends chopped off) into tray
• Liberally drizzle with olive oil (use lots of it!)
• Season with salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese
• Place on grill, but not directly over heat, give some space
• Cover grill, cook for 10-15 minutes until thickest asparagus are tender
• Serve, gorge, repeat as necessary

We ate this so fast this was the only picture I was able to take of it :)

Happy cooking mailmanning!

Mint Julep

This is a little late considering that Derby Day was last weekend, but you can use them for next year!

Yes I realize that "Iowa Bourbon Whiskey" is not technically Bourbon. Get off your high horse because this was some good ass whiskey.

Ingredients:

1. Mint leaves
2. Simple syrup OR sugar
3. Ice (preferably crushed)
4. Bourbon

Directions:

• Put 7-8 mint leaves at the bottom of a large glass
• Pour 1/2 shot of simple syrup (or 2 teaspoons sugar)
• Muddle mint leaves until mint aroma comes out strongly

I need a muddler. Birthday gift anyone?

• Add crushed ice to top of glass (crushed ice will melt into the whiskey better, which will improve the flavor combinations)
• Add ~2-3 shots of bourbon whiskey (or however much you feel is appropriate)
• Be sure that the whiskey is at room temperature. Ice cold whiskey is a rookie mistake.

You know you want one...

• Mailman the shit out of it while your favorite horse inevitably loses you money :)

Confession: We didn't watch the derby. We drank mint juleps and watched Sherlock :)

 Happy drinking mailmanning!

Monkey Muffins (aka heavenly goodness)

Greg has been wanting me to make monkey bread for a while now, but it seemed like quite the feat.  I decided to take the easy way out with the ridiculously simple, but amazingly delicious recipe.  These are addicting and kind of like a glorified cinnamon roll.  Notes: Next time, I would cut the biscuits smaller to get a more even coating and roll them around in the mixture before cooking.

Monkey Muffins
2 cans Grands Homestlye biscuits
butter (about 1 to 1 1/2 sticks), melted
cinnamon
sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Add about 1/2 tsp butter to each muffin cup
3. Sprinkle 1 tsp sugar and 1/4 tsp cinnamon into each muffin cup (mix them together)
4. Cut biscuits into quarters (I'd recommend 6ths).  Roll into balls and place 3 into each muffin cup.  (If you go the smaller route I'd put 4-5 in each cup).  Roll them around to coat in mixture
5. Top muffins with another 1/2 tsp butter, 1/3 tsp sugar, and a pinch of cinnamon.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden and bubbly
7. Remove from oven and immediately drizzle with sweetened condensed milk.  Be extremely generous.  (I tried to use the whole can)  She says to allow the rolls to cool completely before serving.  That is simply a joke as you cannot wait to eat them.  Let them cool a minute or two so you don't burn your tongue and ENJOY! 

I dare you to eat just one!  Don't forget to mailman.

As you can see I only waited long enough so as not to burn my tongue 

 

and it was a close call!

PF Changs Style Lettuce Wraps

So, Greg and I love PF Changs and their lettuce wraps and decided to try them out on our own.  We didn't know that ground chicken existed so we used finely chopped chicken breasts.  We also didn't want to buy chile garlic sauce, so we used Sriracha (delicious!!!).  I think they were a bit spicier because of this, but the spicier the better, right?  This is actually a really easy recipe to make, but just needs some prep chopping which Greg is especially good at :)





1lb ground chicken breast
1/2 onion minced
salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1" knob ginger, peeled and minced
2 1/2 T soy sauce
1 T + 1 tsp rice vinegar
1 T sesame oil
1 T peanut butter
1/2 T water
1/2 T honey
2 tsp chile garlic sauce (or more if you like it spicier)
dash of pepper
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 8oz can sliced water chesnuts, drained and chopped
1/4 C peanuts, chopped
10-12 large outer lettuce leaves, rinsed and patted

1. Heat a large nonstick skillet on high.  Add chicken, onion, and season with salt and pepper.  Cook until chicken is nearly done.  Add garlic and ginger.  Cook chicken through.

2. In a microwave safe bowl, combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, oil, pb, water, honey, chile garlic sauce (this is where we used sriracha) and pepper.  Microwave for 20 seconds.  Stir until smooth.  Add to skillet and stir to combine.

3. Add green onions and water chesnuts.  Cook for 1-2 minutes until onions are soft and water chesnuts are heated through.

4.  Sprinkle with chopped peanuts.  Serve with lettuce leaves.

This is truly delicious and probably healthier and cheaper than PF Chang's version.  We had it with some nice green grapes which balanced the spiciness.

Spinach and Ricotta Stuffed Chicken Breast

This is something I make when I want to pretend to be healthy (aka spinach and chicken) but really just want to eat something a little slutty (aka pasta and cheese).  Super easy to make, but from start to eating, it takes a while due to the time it takes chicken to cook.  Sometimes I mix it up with different cheese or vegetables, but this is my favorite, easy combo.  Also, this is not a pretty meal, so I apologize for the photos.

Just a note, this makes a lot of food, so feel free to cut in half.  I like leftovers so I usually make big meals on the weekends and save for leftovers during the week!

Ingredients

• 2 lb chicken breasts
• 15 oz. ricotta cheese (I use fat free from TJ's)
• 3/4 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
• 10 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and drained 
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced (adjust to your ideal garlic taste)
• 1 egg
• 1 jar of tomato sauce (I like tomato basil from TJ's)
• Pepper to taste
• Pasta of choice (I use corn pasta because I'm a freak human that can't have gluten

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375
2. Trim fat off chicken breasts and pound them so that they are about 1/4" thick

3. In a bowl, mix ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, spinach, garlic and egg

4. Spread the mixture into the middle of each flattened chicken breast

5. Fold the chicken breast in half (secure with toothpicks or twine if necessary -- I just squish mine together to make them stay)

6. Place stuffed chicken breasts into a lightly greased pan
7. Pour tomato sauce on top/around chicken

8. Cook for 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked all the way through (my oven is weird and so it usually takes longer, or maybe my recipe is just wrong)
9. While the chicken cooks, make pasta
10. Put on plate: pasta, then chicken/cheesy deliciousness

11. Mailman and enjoy, preferably with wine

Buffalo Chicken Burgers

So this is a new recipe that I just tried last night and it turned out pretty delicious!  It was also really quick and easy, so a good weeknight meal.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup grated onion
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 2-3 cloves garlic, grated (or chopped if you have that pre-chopped kind)
• 1 lb. ground chicken (or ground turkey would work)
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs (seasoned or unseasoned, or panko if you want)
• 1/4 cup Frank's Hot Sauce + extra for topping
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup blue cheese (if desired -- Joe doesn't like it so I left it out in a few)
• 4 buns / rolls
• Toppings: chopped carrot / celery / onion, ranch or blue cheese, extra Frank's

Instructions:
1. Grate your veggies if needed
2. In a bowl, mix grated veggies/garlic, chicken, bread crumbs, spices, and blue cheese until well combined
3. Cook on a hot griddle or grill ~6 minutes per side (will totally depend on the grill or stove you use, but that's about what mine was) -- make sure they are cooked through until all the way white
4. Put on bun, top with assorted toppings (see ideas above), mailman!

Delish!  I added a bit of blue cheese dressing and some carrots / onions...

Grilled Tomato and Cheese on Toast with a Fried Egg

This is a meal I had nearly every day on Inishbofin this summer, well not every day but at least twice a week after it's discovery! I eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner because it is delicious. If you haven't noticed I have a lot of quick easy, semi-well rounded meals (This one has a tomato in it!). I am super excited to move into a new apartment in August (with more kitchen space) and do fun/semi-elaborate like bake bread!

Ingredients-
1 egg
1 slice of sandwich bread
1 tomato
1/4 c Shredded Cheese (I totally made up this amount, really I make it super cheesy)
Cooking spray (I use a Misto filled with Olive Oil)
salt and pepper
Hot sauce/spicy spices

Sometimes I get super hungry and double the recipe, and by sometimes I mean most of the time.

Directions-
First toast the bread. While the bread is toasting slice the tomato. I tend to remove the guts of the tomato so the bread doesn't get too soggy (even though you pre-toast it I still gut them). I use a toaster oven for all toasting. It makes clean up super easy, but I suppose you could do the next step in a proper oven. Next take your toast, add a layer of sliced tomatoes, top with shredded cheese (Sometimes I uses slices).  Put it in the toaster oven on Medium.

Cheese!

While the bread/cheese/tomato are in the toaster oven I fry the egg. You can prepare the egg any way you like, but I like over easy so it can be gooey.

Then I plate it up! Bread first, then the egg on top. I chose to add some spices with a little kick to the egg. Please note the Cholula in the picture. I used it too.

This was a dinner meal- note the wine. If there was a bloody it would have been breakfast! Speaking of which- if anyone has a really good bloody from scratch mix I would be interested!

Don't forget to mailman!