Bourbon Bacon Glazed Burgers

Looking for a new way to cook burgers? This may just be the ticket!

Ingredients:

Bourbon Bacon Glaze:

3 strips of bacon,  cut into pieces
1 Tablespoon onion, finely chopped
¼ cup water
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 Tablespoon ketchup
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
¼ cup bourbon

Burgers:

4 (6 ounce) hamburger patties
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Other:
4 hamburger buns
Burger toppings of your choice (like lettuce, onion, pickles, cheese, and tomato)

Directions:
Cook the bacon in a saucepan on medium heat until cooked through. Add the onion and cook for about 3 minutes, just until the onion is just soft. Add the rest of the glaze ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until it is slightly thickened. Turn off the heat.

Salt and pepper the burgers and cook in a skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes on one side.

Flip the burger and spoon about 1 teaspoon of the glaze on each burger. Cook for 2 more minutes and then flip again.

Spoon over another 1 teaspoon of glaze. Cook for another 4 minutes, then flip again, and glaze the top once more.

Cook for two more minutes and then flip, and add the last bit of glaze. Put each burger on a bun with your favorite toppings and serve.

Vegetable Beef Soup

I do love soup. This is one of my favorites. The long and slow cooking makes for an incredibly rich and flavorful meal. This is a great way to get lots of veggies in and smells wonderful while it’s cooking. You can change up the vegetables to suit yourself and I’m sure you could even use some frozen veggies, like green beans. This is probably a great recipe for a crock pot, but I haven’t tried that.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds chuck roast
2 large carrots, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
2 ribs of celery, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup onion, roughly chopped
½ cup green pepper, roughly chopped
2 large, fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped (and their juice) (about 3 cups)
4 cups vegetable broth/beef broth OR water
1 cup vegetable juice (like V8®)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
½ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (or more to taste)
1 teaspoon grill seasoning (like Montreal steak seasoning)
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried marjoram
1 cup zucchini, roughly chopped
1 cup yellow squash, roughly chopped
1 large potato, cut into half inch cubes (tip: don’t cut the potato until it is almost ready for the soup to lessen the browning)
1 cup frozen peas, thawed

Directions:

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the chuck roast and sear on all sides. Remove the roast to a plate and add the carrots, celery, onion and green pepper to the Dutch oven. Cook, stirring often until the vegetables are soft and fragrant but not brown (about 5 minutes). Add the roast back into the Dutch oven, add the tomatoes and their juice, broth or water, Worcestershire, salt, pepper, grill seasoning, thyme and marjoram. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover the pot. Simmer for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste the soup and adjust seasonings to your liking. Remove the beef to a plate and pull it into pieces using two forks or a knife and fork. Discard any really obvious fat from the meat. Put the beef back in the Dutch oven and add the zucchini, yellow squash and potato. Cover again and cook for another 30 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Remove from the heat and stir in the peas-they don’t really need to cook.  Serve in big bowls with hunks of French or Italian bread. 

Brownie Sundae with Fresh Cherry Sauce

Sometimes life IS just a bowl of cherries. And brownies. And ice cream........ 

Ingredients:

Brownies:

2 ½ ounces unsweetened chocolate (I used 4 and a half .50 ounce squares from a Baker’s unsweetened baking bar)
½ cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup flour
1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
½ teaspoon instant espresso powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Fresh Cherry Sauce:

2 cups fresh, sweet cherries-cleaned stemmed and pitted (see note)
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Water
½ teaspoon vanilla

Additional:

Vanilla ice cream
Fresh mint sprigs
Whipped cream

Directions:

Brownies:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and spray an 8x8 inch baking pan with cooking spray. In a large saucepan, melt chocolate and butter on low heat. Stir in the sugar and remove from heat. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour, cocoa, espresso powder and salt. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out relatively clean and dry. Let cool and cut into 6 squares.

Fresh Cherry Sauce:

Place cherries in a bowl. Sprinkle with sugar and stir. Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour to macerate, stirring occasionally. Drain the liquid from the cherries (reserving cherries in the bowl) into a measuring cup and add water to make 1 ½ cups liquid. Place the cherry liquid into a saucepan and heat to boiling. Meanwhile, mix 2 Tablespoons cold water with the cornstarch in a cup. Once the cherry liquid has boiled, add in the cornstarch mixture and cook, stirring constantly, until the sauce becomes thick and translucent (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat and add the vanilla and reserved cherries. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

To assemble:

Place one brownie on a plate. Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the brownie and ladle over some cherry sauce. Top with whipped cream and mint sprigs.

Note: A quick way to pit your cherries is to place them in a single layer on a plate with a rim, cover with a sheet of wax paper and press down gently but firmly with a heavy plate, cast iron skillet or the palms of your hands. Then, just pick out the pits and discard. Put any cherry juice from the plate into your cherry bowl.

Fresh Peach Float

A lovely way to have fresh peaches. Please make each float according to your own taste-more or less peaches, sugar, soda, ice cream.

Ingredients (enough for two tall floats):

Cinnamon Sugar Pie Crust strips:
6 or so (1/2 inch wide by 2 inches long) strips of pre-made pie crust
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Peaches:
2 large or 3 small fresh peaches, pitted and chopped (peel them if you want, but I’m leaving the skin on)
2 Tablespoons (more or less) of sugar (depending on how sweet your peaches are)
To finish:
3-4 cups club soda
4 scoops vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lay the pie crust strips on a foiled baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Mix together the 2 teaspoons of sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture on the pie crust strips.  Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool and set aside.

Put the peaches and 2 Tablespoons of sugar in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Move the peach syrup to a container and chill for at least 30 minutes.

When you are ready to assemble your floats, divide the peaches evenly between 2 tall glasses. Add 2 cups of club soda to each and stir. Put 2 scoops of ice cream into each glass and garnish with a pie crust strip and serve the rest alongside of the float. .

Bacon and Cheddar Cornmeal Waffles

If you know me, you must know that I adore breakfast foods. Anytime.

Ingredients (makes about 12 or 13):

1 ¼ cups flour
¾ cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 ¾ cup milk
2 large eggs, separated
4 Tablespoons butter, melted
½ cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 green onion, chopped (optional)
1 jalapeno, finely diced (optional)

Directions:

In one mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together the milk, egg yolks and melted butter. Fold the wet mixture into the dry. Gently add in the cheese, bacon, green onion and jalapeno (if using). Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the milk mixture. Cook in your waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions. These make a great fried egg sandwich or a perfect all-in-one breakfast by themselves.

For reference, I have a 2 waffle Belgian style waffle maker and timed for 4 minutes. I also used a 1/3 cup ladle to put the batter right into the middle of each waffle slot and spread the tops out a little. The waffle iron does the rest.

Fresh Blackberries!

This is not a recipe post--I just was excited because I got to pick the first blackberries off of my canes.



Turkey Salad

I was lucky enough to find a piece of skinless rotisserie turkey breast in my neighborhood deli case. This is so quick and it is great for a hot night when you don’t want to turn on the oven. Plus, you can make this ahead (it takes all of about 6 minutes) and chill until you want to eat it.

Ingredients:

Dressing:
2 to 3 Tablespoons low fat mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons low fat sour cream
1 teaspoon Dijon (or other) mustard
1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt

Remaining ingredients:

½ pound turkey breast, diced into ¼ inch pieces
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/2 cup finely chopped cabbage (packaged cole slaw works great)
1/3 cup frozen peas, thawed
1/3 cup shredded cheddar
Chopped chives to garnish (optional)

Directions:

Mix the dressing ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add in the remaining ingredients and mix well. Garnish with a sprinkle of chopped chives. That’s it. Serve wrapped in a tortilla, with crackers, on top of cucumber slices, on lettuce leaves, stuff it in a bun, however you wish.

Get creative on me: Switch out leftover chicken or tuna steaks for the turkey. Use a bottled dressing rather than making one (I think Thousand Island might be really nice in this). Switch out veggies that you don’t like for ones you do like celery, chives, cucumber, etc. Not spicy enough for you? Add in some chopped jalapenos.

Cherry-Pineapple Crunch Pie

This is dedicated to Sharon and Rick! Thank you for inviting me out today, even though I had to work. I finished my work stuff and made this. Hope today was wonderful!

This only takes a few minutes to put together and you have a fantastic homemade pie to serve. I think Aunt Bee might be proud.

Ingredients:

1 unbaked pie crust (I use the refrigerated ones)

1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling
1 (8 ounce) can pineapple tidbits, drained

½ cup flour

¼ cup brown sugar, packed
¼ cup granulated sugar
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
¼ cup (1/2 of a stick) of butter, cold and cut into small pieces

Scoops of vanilla ice cream to serve

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place the pie crust in a 9 inch pie plate, fluting the edges as you like. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cherry pie filling and the drained pineapple. Spoon into the pie crust. In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugars and spices together. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle this topping over the pie and cover the edges of your pie shell with foil. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 25 minutes or until the top is bubbly and golden and the edges are lightly golden.

Let cool on a wire rack before slicing. Put a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side if you wish!

Beef and Vegetable Stuffed Bread

This is a super easy, super versatile dinner dish. You can change the veggies and cheese to anything you want or have around the house.

Ingredients:

1 (1 pound) loaf of uncut bread, like Italian or French (any combo of breads work here-I had ½ mini-Italian loaf and 2 6 inch chunks of French bread and used both)
1 pound ground chuck
1 cup onion, coarsely chopped
½ cup zucchini, coarsely chopped
1 cup mushrooms, coarsely chopped
½ cup fresh tomato, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon dry onion soup mix
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 cup cheddar cheese, cut into ¼ inch cubes

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Cut the loaf of bread horizontally into two long halves. Scoop out some of the soft interior of the bread, leaving a shell about ½ inch thick on all sides. Place the hollowed out bread cut side up on the baking sheet. Save the torn out bread in the freezer for homemade bread crumbs or croutons another time.

Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Crumble in the ground chuck and cook until almost browned through. Add the onions, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes, salt, pepper, onion soup mix and Worcestershire and cook until the veggies are tender.

Toss the cubed cheese into the beef and veggie mixture and pile into each piece of bread. Smooth over the top to make sure the filling goes all the way to the edges of the bread. If you have extra leftover filling, just save it in a container for a sandwich another day. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before slicing into serving size pieces.

Melon, Feta and Frizzled Ham Salad

I think I’m in love. Salty ham (Ham Bacon!!!) gives way to creamy cheese and then into sweet melon. So good! This goes together in a snap, too—you can cut up the fruit and pre-cook the ham to make it easy and quick. One caveat: don’t put the cheese on the salad until you are ready to serve or it will get mushy.

Don’t get caught up in how big the slices of ham should be or how brown they should get—just do as much as you want to the crispiness you like.

Ingredients:

Dressing:

¼ cup honey
2 Tablespoons very warm water
½-1 teaspoon fresh lime juice (one big squirt)
2 teaspoons fresh mint, chopped

Salad:

3-4 slices of thinly sliced deli ham (or prosciutto)—enough to cover the bottom of your skillet without much overlapping
2 cups cantaloupe, cubed
½ cup blueberries
1/3 cup crumbled feta (drained) or goat cheese
Fresh cracked black pepper to taste (optional)

Directions: Stir the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. I just used a one cup measure to make the dressing.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and spray with cooking spray. Lay out the ham slices in the skillet so they are not overlapping much. Cook for 15-18 minutes, flipping occasionally, until brown and crispy. The thinner your ham, the faster it will cook. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and let cool.

Place the cantaloupe cubes and blueberries in a serving bowl. Drizzle ¾ of the dressing over the fruit. Crumble the feta on top. Crumble the ham on top of that and drizzle the whole bowl with the remaining dressing. Crack pepper over the top, if using. Grab forks.

Chicken under a Skillet



Normally, you would put the chicken IN the skillet, right? I wanted to do chicken under a brick, but I thought I would bet better coverage with a heavy old cast iron pan, so that is what I did. Having the weight and the balsamic vinegar on the chicken give it a lovely, crunchy skin while the inside is nice and buttery. 

Ingredients:

4 skin on chicken thighs
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons herbes de Provence or other seasoning blend

Directions:

Put the chicken on a plate and rub the oil and vinegar over it. Sprinkle with salt and then seasoning blend. Let rest for 15 minutes in the fridge. Oil your grill by putting a little oil on some paper towels and rubbing that over the grill grates (I use tongs to hold the paper towels). Heat your grill to medium heat. Cover the bottom of a 10 inch cast iron skillet with foil, spray with cooking spray (it is very easy if you just turn the skillet bottom side up). Set  aside.

Remove the chicken from the fridge and tap off any excess liquid by holding it with tongs over a paper towel. This will prevent flare ups (no need to wipe off the chicken, just hold it with tongs and let the excess liquid drip off the edge).

Place the chicken, skin side down, on the grill and place the skillet over the chicken with the foiled and sprayed bottom of the skillet making contact with the chicken. Cook for 6-8 minutes or until the chicken lifts without sticking. Remove the skillet (use hot pads, please--the skillet gets very hot). Flip the chicken over, put the skillet back on top and cook for another 6-8 minutes or until you have an internal temp of about 165 degrees F.

If you have big flare ups during the grilling, just remove the skillet (using hot pads) and move the chicken to a cooler part of the grill until the flames die down.

Put the chicken on a clean plate and let rest for 5 minutes and dive in!

PS-on the side, I just tossed some veggies in olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and herbes de Provence (just like the chicken) threaded them on soaked wooden skewers and cooked for the same amount of time.

Fresh Corn and Honey Cakes

Makes 8-10 large cakes

Is it ok to tell you that I really didn’t know what I was doing here? I had fresh sweet corn that I wanted to use, so I came up with this and they are wonderful! These are slightly sweet, slightly savory cakes (somewhere between a corn fritter and a johnny cake) with beautifully crisp edges and soft insides. If you are planning to have spicy food, these would make a fantastic side dish. I’m also thinking of having some for breakfast with bacon and eggs.

Ingredients:

1 cup buttermilk
1 egg
¼ cup honey
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon salt
Corn cut from two ears of fresh corn (about 1 ½ cups) or the same amount frozen/canned corn, thawed and drained)
2-4 Tablespoons canola oil

Directions: In one mixing bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and honey. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet then add the corn kernels. Stir just enough so that there are no lumps. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Heat a skillet to medium heat and add the oil. Add about ¼ cup of the cake mixture to the pan and pat down to get a very flat cake. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until you can see the bottom and sides start to turn golden. Flip and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Once your oil is really hot, it will probably only be about 2 minutes per side. Keep an eye on them—they can turn dark brown very quickly! Remove to a paper towel lined plate while you repeat with the remaining cake batter, adding more canola oil as you see fit.

Serve warm with butter and maybe a side of fresh tomato slices and/or bacon or ham steak.

Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup with Pumpernickel Croutons

What a wonderful soup to have on a rainy, chilly night. The frozen potatoes and broccoli, along with the pre-shredded cheese really cut down on prep time. If you haven’t messed with leeks because they are bothersome to clean and chop, look for frozen, pre-chopped leeks at the grocery.

Ingredients:

Croutons:
2 Tablespoons canola oil
4 slices pumpernickel bread, torn
1 teaspoon garlic salt

4 Tablespoons butter, divided

Soup Base:
1 cup chopped leeks (or onion)
5 cups chicken broth
2 ½ cups frozen hash brown potatoes, slightly thawed (I’m using the cube style rather than shredded)
2 cups fully cooked ham, diced
2 ½ cups frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
Salt and pepper to taste

Cheese sauce:
2 Tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions: In a medium skillet, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Toss in the bread, toss gently in the oil, and sprinkle with the garlic salt. Cook for about 8 minutes, stirring often, or until the croutons are crisp around the edges and are fragrant. Remove to a plate and set aside.

In a large (5 or 6 quart) Dutch oven, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat and add the leeks. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring often, or until the leeks are soft and translucent, but not brown. Add in the broth, hash browns, and ham. Bring this soup base up to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for 45 minutes.

About 15 minutes before the soup base is done simmer, put a skillet on the stove and melt the remaining 2 Tablespoons of butter over medium heat. When it’s melted, add in the flour and whisk for a minute. Add in the milk gradually while still whisking. Bring the mixture to a low boil by increasing the heat to medium high. Slowly add in the cheese, whisking the whole time until each addition of cheese is melted. Turn off the heat for the cheese sauce.

Whisk the cheese sauce gradually into your soup base and then add the broccoli and salt and pepper. Let simmer 20 minutes more, stirring often. Taste and adjust seasonings (a little dry mustard perhaps?) and then serve in bowls topped with the reserved croutons.