Mini Baked Hamwiches

I've been making these for years, we just call them hamwiches.  For some reason I love them, they're such cheerful little things.  The original recipe is from the King's Hawaiian website.  I've changed it a bit, including cutting back on the butter substantially.  
  
For the rolls, you can use a 12 pack of the stuck together King's Hawaiian rolls, or a store brand.  They just need to be the rectangular stuck together kind, click on the recipe link above to see what I mean.  I personally love the sweet Hawaiian rolls, but my husband prefers the kind that is not sweet.  I am a nice person, so usually use the not sweet variety.
 
Mini Baked Hamwiches
 

12 pack of stuck together rolls

1/2 lb shaved ham

1/2 lb sliced cheddar

4 T butter

1 1/2 t dried minced onion

1 1/2 t Worcestershire sauce

1 1/2 T dijon mustard
 

Preheat oven to 350.  Slice slab of rolls in half so you have 2 big halves, like a giant hamburger bun.  Place the bottom half in a 9 by 13 baking dish.  Top evenly with ham and cheese, then the top roll half.  Melt butter in microwave.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Spoon evenly over rolls.  Bake until lightly browned. 15-20 minutes (mine took 20).  Cut through sandwiches to separate. 
 
Yield: 4-6 main dish servings

Banjo Picker Sandwich

This is a recipe I've made about once a year for the past 5 years, basically since it was originally published on Southern Plate.  It has become our traditional "dinner after visiting the fair" meal.  Fair food is so expensive, unhealthy, and I'm always worried about getting food poisoning, but it's also fun and tasty.  This is our answer!  We always get Dippin' Dots or a soft pretzel or something at the fair, but then come home and I make this for dinner.  It is also not exactly healthy what with the hot dogs and white bread, but undoubtedly a nutritional upgrade from fair food.  It's also very, very good!  The ingredient combination is a little odd, but a real winner.
 
As I mentioned, this recipe is originally from Southern Plate. I never would have thought of it on my own and am glad I came upon it years ago.  Of course, I changed it a bit.  Basically, I tweaked it (mostly the method rather than the ingredients) every year for a few years before settling on the perfect approach that's  minimally messy and involves the least number of hot dogs rolling off. 
 
For the bread, you need to choose carefully.  You want a nice, wide loaf that is not too tall (unless you can unhinge your jaw), and it's good if it's crusty rather than like white bread.  You also don't want ciabatta, though.  Just check out your options and pick whatever seems like it will work best, no big deal.
 
Banjo Picker Sandwich
  
1 loaf french or italian bread (not a baguette), cut in half horizontally

1 Tbsp butter

6 hot dogs of your choice, cut in half lengthwise (they are less roly poly this way)

mayo

mustard of your choice (I use spicy)

5 slices of your favorite cheese (I like sharp cheddar)

sauerkraut to taste, drained (put a pile on a couple layer of paper towels, wrap it up tight, and squeeze it dry over the sink)

sliced peperoncinis to taste

 

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat and brown hot dogs.  

 

Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

 

Place the two halves of bread on the baking sheet.  Spread mustard over the bottom half and mayo over the top.  Arrange hot dogs on bottom half of bread so that they run perpendicular to the length of the bread.  Spread drained sauerkraut over the top half of bread and sprinkle with peperoncinis.  Lay 3 slices of cheese over the hot dogs and 2 over the peperoncinis.  

 

Bake the sandwich halves until the cheese is melted and the bread is toasty, about 15 minutes.  Flip the top half onto the bottom, let sit for a few minutes, then cut into serving pieces.

 
Yield: 4 large servings, or you can cut them smaller.  Leftovers reheat well wrapped in foil and baked until hot.

Baked Cheeseburger Sliders

These sliders are one of the easiest things you can make for dinner and involves less than 10 minutes of prep if you are working slowly.  They're also fun and yummy!  
 
For the rolls, this is the kind I mean.  You don't have to buy that specific brand, but the rectangle of stuck together rolls is what you're looking for.  I have a couple of Crow Canyon enamelware baking pans and they are the exact right dimensions for the giant beef patty to match up with the rolls, but a regular 9 by 13 pan will be fine as well.
 
Baked Cheeseburger Sliders
 
1.25 lb ground beef

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

sliced cheese

rectangular pack of 12 dinner rolls

desired toppings like ketchup, mustard mayo, and sliced pickles

 

Preheat oven to 425.

 

Squish beef evenly into 9 by 13 baking dish.  Mix together seasonings in small cup and sprinkle evenly over top.  Bake 30 minutes or until cooked through.

 

Slice rolls in half to make a giant bun.  Lift giant burger patty onto giant bottom bun.  Pour out any accumulated grease from the baking pan and put the giant bottom bun and patty back into the pan.  Top with sliced cheese, then top bun.  Place plan in oven, turn off heat, and leave until buns are toasty and cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.  Cut into individual sliders with a large knife.  Top individually with desired toppings and serve!

 

Yield: 4-6 main dish

Ham & Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches

This recipe's name pretty much explains what it is.  It isn't anything fancy, but very tasty and could be made for any meal.  The recipe is from Budget Bytes and I thought it was genius to bake the biscuits with the ham and cheese inside instead of adding it later.  This way the cheese gets bubbly and perfectly melted, and the ham gets a little browned.  Yum!  You could add a little mustard if you wanted, but they're very good as is.

 

The toothpicks keep the top biscuits from falling off and the ham from sliding off.  Go on and leave the toothpicks in until you're ready to eat the sandwiches because you'll probably end up with major "drift" if you take them out too soon.

  

  

Ham & Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches

 

2 1/2 C flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

about 1 1/3 C cream

6 slices cheddar cheese

1/2 lb of your favorite ham from the deli, I used Boar's Head Tavern Ham, sliced

  

Preheat oven to 400.

 

Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.  Pour 1 C cream over top and mix together with a spoon.  Add additional cream as needed (only a tablespoon or so at a time) until you have a dough that holds together nicely and isn't too dry.  Form into a ball.

 

Dust a clean surface with flour and place the ball on top.  Squish with your hands to make a rectangle, then dust with more flour and roll out into a half inch thin rectangle approximately 8 by 11 inches.  Cut into 12 biscuit squares, in 3 rows of 4.

 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and put half of the biscuit squares on the sheet.  Top each with a slice of cheese (broken to fit as needed), then evenly divide the ham among them.  Top with the 6 leftover biscuit squares, then secure with a toothpick so the tops won't slide off.

 

Bake until the top biscuit is golden, about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on your oven.

 

Serve immediately, but remember not to eat the toothpicks!

Cheesy Bacon Ranch Breakfast Biscuits

On at least one weekend day every week, I make my husband and I a nice breakfast.  More often than not that means pancakes, but I also like making beggagels, waffles, french toast, muffins, omelets, or occasionally a breakfast casserole or something like this.  I found this recipe on a website called Spoon University earlier this week and thought it sounded perfect for a weekend treat.  They're really good and turned out pretty much how I expected them to: Soft, warm, nice smoky crunch from the bacon, cheesy, and just all around yummy.  We had them with fresh plums, and it was a very yummy breakfast that I'll make again.  Conveniently, I only had to buy the biscuit dough because I pretty much always have the other ingredients in my refrigerator already.

 

It occurred to me while we were eating these that there's no reason why they couldn't be served as a side to go with chicken or something at dinner.  I think I just saw bacon and thought of breakfast.  They'll probably stay mostly a breakfast thing for us because they're a bit more caloric and involved than I prefer side dishes to be, but that's just me.  I'll probably make them to go with dinner at some point.  The leftovers will be going with my husband to work for lunch and I'm going to try freezing a couple of them.

 

Pardon the lack of photo.  My camera went to heaven and I don't have a cell phone, so no easy way to take pictures when I made this recipe!

 

Quick Note:  You really have to use the flaky layer biscuits for this, not the plain kind, because the layers make it so you can separate them into halves cleanly.  Make sure the tube of biscuits says "flaky layers" on it.  Also, I just added a sprinkle of dried chives instead of fresh green onions because my green onions were looking floppy and unappealing.

 

Cheesy Bacon Ranch Breakfast Biscuits

 

tube of 8 refrigerated jumbo sized flaky layer biscuits (they must be the flaky layer variety!)

ranch dressing

8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

about 1 C grated cheddar cheese

about 3 Tbsp sliced green onions or 1 1/2 Tbsp sliced fresh chives

 

Preheat oven to 350 (or temperature indicated on package of biscuits) and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place biscuits an inch or so apart on baking sheet.  Bake until the biscuits just begin to turn golden on top, about 8 minutes.

 

Remove baking sheet from oven and gently pull the top half off each one.  Spread a little ranch dressing on each bottom half, sprinkle with 1/8th of the bacon, a generous sprinkle of shredded cheese, and some green onions or chives.  Replace tops, and sprinkle with a little more cheese.  

 

Bake until nicely golden brown on top, about 5 minutes more.  Remove baking sheet from oven and let biscuits cool for a couple of minutes before serving.

 

Yield: 8 biscuits

Pizza Subs

This is a simple but delicious recipe.  Good for a small crowd if you want to make something easy, or good to make ahead to reheat later.  I most recently made these for my brother and his wife to keep in the freezer for a quick meal after the birth of my nephew.  The original recipe is from Southern Plate.

 

Pizza Subs

 

1 1/2 lbs ground beef

7 oz package pepperoni, cut in half and separated

14 oz jar pizza sauce

small can sliced olives, drained

1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 C grated mozzarella

8 sub rolls

 

Brown ground beef, drain.  Stir in all remaining ingredients except cheese and rolls and heat through.  Divide meat mixture evenly among sub rolls and top with grated cheese.  

 

To serve immediately, preheat oven to 350 and place as many subs as you want to cook on a cookie sheet, then bake until the bread is toasty and the cheese is melted, about 10-15 minutes. 

 

To serve later, wrap the subs tightly in aluminum foil and either refrigerate or freeze.  To heat, bake the foil wrapped sub in a 350 degree oven until heated through (about 20 minutes), making sure to thaw the sub overnight in the refrigerator if it was frozen.  If you don't have access to an oven (like if you take it to work for lunch), you can heat the unwrapped sub in the microwave until hot.  It will still be good, but not as nice as if it was heated in the oven.

 

Yield: 8 subs

Waffled Biscuit Sandwiches

This is just a fun, easy breakfast recipe that I found on the Buns in My Oven blog.  Karly uses eggs and cheese in hers, but I decided to add cooked bacon as well.  These freeze and reheat very nicely, so would make good breakfasts on the go!  I would like to actually try these with homemade biscuit dough, but canned dough works well, too.

Waffled Biscuit Sandwiches

1 can flaky layer biscuit dough with 5 large biscuits
3 cooked, scrambled eggs
2 1/2 slices cheese of your choice (I used half a slice per biscuit and folded the rectangle of cheese in half to make squares)
5 slices cooked bacon, each broken into 3 pieces

Preheat a waffle iron to medium-high and grease it.

You can make the sandwiches while the waffle iron preheats.  Use a serrated knife to cut each biscuit almost all the way in half horizontally, like a sandwich.  Place 3 small bacon pieces inside each biscuit sandwich, then top with the scrambled eggs and squares of cheese.  Try to squish the edges of the biscuits back together as best you can, but don't worry if you can't seal them completely.

When the waffle iron is hot, grease it and place one of the biscuit sandwiches inside.  You may be able to cook multiple sandwiches at a time (I have a square iron and can cook two at a time), but do one first so you can see how much space it will need.  Gently close the top of the waffle iron and let it cook for a minute, then place a potholder on top of the waffle iron and press it shut as much as you can so the sandwich will be flattened.  Continue to cook until the sandwich is golden, then remove it to a plate.  Repeat with the rest of the biscuit sandwiches.  You can keep the cooked sandwiches hot in an oven set to warm while you cook the rest.

Yield: 5 servings

Secret Recipe Club: Chicken Shawarma with Pita Bread & Toum

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the amazing blog of a nice lady named Sawsan who lives in Jordan.  Her blog is called Chef in Disguise and has so many incredible looking recipes!  I had a heck of a time choosing one because food from that region of the world is basically my favorite.  When I saw her recipe for chicken shawarma, I decided to go full out and make that along with her pita bread and toum (creamy garlic sauce) recipes.  This was my first time making any of these things and also the first time I'd had chicken shawarma or toum.

For the purposes of this post, I'm just focusing on the chicken shawarma recipe, but you can find her pita bread here and toum here.  I made the latter two exactly according to her recipes and they turned out great!  The bread was soft and tender, and formed pockets like it was supposed to (something I worried about a bit!), and the toum was extremely creamy, lemony, and garlicky.  They definitely get my recommendation.

The chicken shawarma was very good, too.  It's something I've always wanted to try and ended up being quite unique!  I've never tasted anything with this specific combination of ingredients, but cinnamon, allspice, and cardamom are among my favorite spices and this recipe has all three!  Sadly I did not have the mastic so had to do without, but I will definitely try to get some next time I'm in Seattle and will make this recipe again with it.  The flavors came together quite nicely even without the mastic, though, and my husband and I both are looking forward to the leftovers and making it again another time.  I'm so glad I was assigned Sawsan's blog because these three specific recipes are probably not ones I would have come across otherwise.

Below is my version of Sawsan's recipe.  There were a couple of things I was a little unclear about in the main recipe, so I did it how I thought she intended, but I followed her recipe pretty closely.

Chicken Shawarma

Marinade:
8 oz plain yogurt
juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp mastic (I did not have this)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp ground bay leaf (I put a whole bayleaf in with the marinade)
1/8 tsp nutmeg

Chicken:
3/4 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into strips (I used breasts)
2 Tbsp
1 onion, halved and sliced
2 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges

Extra:
pita bread
sliced pickles
toum or tahini
french fries

Mix together marinade ingredients.  Add chicken and stir to coat.  Refrigerate several hours or over night.

When you're ready to cook, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium high.  Add chicken to skillet with tongs and discard the remaining marinade (some will stick to the chicken).  Saute until chicken is almost cooked through, then push it to one side of the pan and add the onions.  Saute the onions until they soften, about 3-5 minutes, then push them to the side of the pan.  Saute the tomatoes until they begin to soften, about 3-5 minutes more.  Stir everything together and let it simmer for about 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally.

To serve, open up a pita and spread with some toum or tahini.  Make a line of the chicken shawarma mixture down the center of the pita and add sliced pickes and a few french fries if you'd like.  Roll up the pita and serve with fries on the side.

Yield:  About 4-5 servings

An InLinkz Link-up

Garlicky Bacon & Cheddar Stuffed Burgers with Avocado

Tonight's dinner was originally going to be Chicken Cacciatore (a recipe that I'll share later if it turns out well), but right when I was about to put the ingredients in the slow cooker, I came upon some photos of a cheese stuffed burger called a Juicy Lucy.  The Juicy Lucy (or Jucy Lucy, if you prefer) is a cheese stuffed burger from Minneapolis.  Burgers aren't usually my favorite thing, but for whatever reason, a cheese stuffed one sounded perfect today!  When looking for a recipe, I decided to combine two of them:  the idea of adding bacon came from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice, the burger recipe itself came from this one on AllRecipes, and I used cheddar, lots of garlic, and served the burgers with avocado on top because I felt like it!

I'm happy to say that the burgers turned out awesome.  Sadly, all of mine did end up leaking cheese a bit (really seal those edges!), but the burgers don't seem to have suffered for it at all and the leaked cheese kind of cooked onto the bottom of the burgers.  My husband and I both agreed that this burger is better than just a bacon cheeseburger.  No issues with the bacon falling off the burger this way, and the cheddar was super melty and stretchy instead of just half melted on top..  The avocado was also a perfect, creamy addition.  Tomato and lettuce would have been nice on top, but the burgers were so thick already that they would have been impossible to eat!  Instead, we had a salad on the side.

 

Sorry if the half gnawed burger looks unappealing, I wanted to show the inside but didn't want to cut my burger in half!

Garlicky Bacon & Cheddar Stuffed Burgers with Avocado

 

1 T vegetable oil

4 slices sharp cheddar

6 slices bacon

2 T dried minced onion

1 T Worcestershire sauce

1 t garlic powder

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

1 1/4 lb ground beef

1 avocado, peeled and sliced

hamburger buns and whatever condiments you like (we did ketchup, mustard, and mayo)

Fold each slice of cheese in half, then in half again so each slice ends up as a little stack of 4 small pieces.  Cook and crumble the bacon. 

Mix together meat, onion, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, just until well combined.  Divide meat mixture into quarters, then form each quarter into 2 equal sized balls.  Working with one burger's worth of meat at a time, flatten the two balls into uniform patties, each about 5 inches in diameter.  Place a quarter of the crumbled bacon into the center, then top with one of the folded stacks of cheese.  Top with the other patty and firmly pinch together the edges of the two patties.  Repeat process with the rest of the meat.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high, and when the pan is hot, add the burgers.  Cook until browned on one side, then flip them over and poke the center in a few places with a toothpick.  This will help release steam inside the burger and help prevent the cheese from gushing out while the burgers cook.  Cook the burger on the second side until the internal temperature of one of the burgers is 160 degrees, then remove them to a paper towel lined plate.

Let the burgers sit for a few minutes before serving because the cheese inside is very hot.  Serve on toasted buns topped with avocado slices and whatever else you'd like.

Yield: 4 burgers

Buffalo Turkey Burgers

We really enjoy Buffalo Chicken, so when I came upon the recipe for Buffalo Chicken Burgers on the blog "Will Cook for Smiles", it didn't take me long to make them.  I made a few small changes, but nothing too drastic, unless you consider swapping the chicken for ground turkey to be drastic!  The result was quite good.  Spicy from the hot sauce, and very flavorful from the mix of seasonings in the turkey.  We ate our burgers without the buns and had raw veggies on the side with ranch to dip the veggies and burgers in, but I'm sure they'd be even better with the buns!  My husband said this was the best thing I've made with ground turkey.  I make a lot of things with ground turkey and turkey burgers are known for not being as good as ones made from beef, so that's quite the compliment!

Quick note:  I used Frank's Red Hot Sauce.  This is by far my favorite hot sauce and to me it's not Buffalo Chicken (or Turkey in this case) if it's made with a different one.

Buffalo Turkey Burgers

1.25 lb extra lean ground turkey
1/4 C dry bread crumbs (optional, I did not use them)
1 egg
2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tblsp minced dried onion
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 C water
Frank's Red Hot Sauce to taste (I used about 1/2 C)
4 slices cheese or crumbled blue cheese (I used cheddar)
4 toasted buns

Toppings:
ranch or blue cheese dressing
veggies like sliced tomatoes, sliced cucumber, and lettuce

Mix together ground turkey, bread crumbs, egg, garlic, onion, and seasonings.  Form into 4 burgers and poke a hole in the middle of each one to help keep them from turning into a turkey meatball when they're cooked.  Heat oil in a large, nonstick skillet over medium and brown burgers on both sides.  If they haven't cooked through completely by the time they're as browned as you want, you can add 1/2 C water to the pan.

When the burgers are done, remove them to a paper towel lined plate, and dump out the skillet if you added water (dry off the tops of the burgers as well if you added water).  Place the skillet back on the burner and add the Frank's.  Add burgers back to skillet, cook about a minute, then flip, move them around so they get coated in hot sauce, and place cheese on each burger.  Cover with the lid and cook about another minute, then remove the skillet from the burner and leave covered until the cheese has melted.  Serve burgers with whatever toppings you want (the dressing is a great addition).

Yield: 4 burgers

Simple Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burger

Prepare for more less than mediocre photos, my friends!  I recently found out about yet another cooking group that I really want to join.  It's called, you can read about it at that link.  They only let you join if your blog has 100 recipes with photos.  I have more than 100 recipes, but not all of them have photos.  Added 'em up and about 75 have photos.  That means everything I post for the next while will be accompanied by a photograph unless I absolutely cannot stand to post one.  I'll also go back and add photos to some posts that don't have one.  You may want to shield your eyes, don't let my pictures deter you from trying the recipes :)  Oh and of COURSE I will not just be posting random recipes to get a photo up.  My standards are always that I only post recipes that I love, turn out great, and are ready for you to successfully whip up in your own kitchen!

On to the recipe!  I actually have a backlog of recipes (AND photos) to post, but for some reason I prefer waiting a couple days between posts.  Don't want to bury my recipes too quickly, you know?  I will probably pick up the pace though as I have like 10 recipes waiting in the wings and the pile will only keep growing. 

I am still loving my new grill and today's recipe is for grilled portobello mushroom burgers.  You may look at the ingredients and not be very impressed, since the actual burger is just a big ol' mushroom, olive oil, salt, and pepper, then it's topped with a bit of garlic aioli.  But sometimes simpler is better, and this burger is for people who really love mushrooms.  I have tried other portobello burgers where the mushroom flavor was completely covered up with a marinade or glaze or something.  They were good, but we LIKE the flavor of mushrooms and do not feel it needs to be covered up.  Cooked this way, they still taste like mushrooms, and the garlic aioli accentuates the flavor instead of obliterates it.  Plus, if you're paying $6.99 a pound for these overgrown button mushrooms (really) like we are, where's the sense in making it taste like something else?  In any case, we really, really liked these burgers and will definitely make them again!  Next time I am thinking of adding a slice of swiss cheese and making the mother of all mushroom swiss burgers.

Simple Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burger

portobello mushrooms, 1 for each person
olive oil
salt
pepper
buns (make sure they are vegan if you're serving someone who is vegan)
garlic aioli (leave off if you want the burgers vegan!)
any other toppings you want, like lettuce, tomato, or grilled red onion slices (yum!)

Let your grill preheat.  While that happens, wash and thoroughly dry your mushrooms, then cut off the stems of all the mushrooms so the stems are flush with the rest of the cap.   Brush olive oil all over the mushrooms (I used oil on a paper towel), then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  When grill is ready, stick the mushrooms on the grill, gill side up, and grill for 5 minutes over medium-high heat with the cover down.  You may want to check to make sure they aren't burning (though a little bit of black is tasty).  Before flipping them, one at a time pick the mushrooms up with tongs and pour out any accumulated oil and juices in the gills.  They will cause flare ups if you don't.  Cook the burgers on the other side for the same amount of time.  Flip again and cook a couple minutes on the first side, then flip once more.  By this time, the mushroom should feel soft when you poke it with your tongs.  Lower the heat and toss your buns, cut side down, on the grill and grill until toasted.  Drain the mushrooms briefly on paper towels, then serve on the buns with the garlic aioli and any vegetabley toppings you want.

Best Hamburgers Ever (aka Umami Hamburgers)

On Monday night we bought an inexpensive propane grill!  I've been wanting one for a while because I'm terrible at cooking anything other than veggies, steak, or hot dogs on our hand-me-down round charcoal grill.  My one attempt at grilling chicken resulted in what appeared to be charcoal briquettes.  Last night we had grilled barbecue chicken using Christie Jordan's barbecue sauce from her Southern Plate cook book.  They chicken turned out amazing and I would love to share the recipe for the sauce, but I feel kind of weird doing that since she specifically chose not to post it on her own blog.  The sauce was great but I want to make a few changes next time and will share my version then.  Tonight we decided to go with our favorite hamburger recipe and in the next week we're planning to do portobello mushroom burgers and grilled pizza, too.  Yum!  If anyone has a favorite grill recipe that they think I should try, I would love to hear about it!

Now, on to the recipe.  If you can believe it, I had never cooked a hamburger until about a year ago.  Once or twice I'd made turkey burgers, black bean burgers, and portobello mushroom burgers, but never hamburgers.  They just aren't my thing.  The only ones I ever really cared for are the ones my uncle makes, which are full of garlic.  But then I came across this recipe over at White on Rice Couple and was intrigued by the addition of fish sauce to the meat.  Diane and Todd promised it made the meat extra savory and I just had to try it!  The burgers ended up being out of this world delicious and I've made them several times now over the past months.  I still don't like hamburgers from other places, but we both think these ones are incredible.  This is my tweaked version of the original recipe (with lots of garlic, like my uncle's hamburgers!) and how we love them best.  If you've never tried fish sauce before (or have a bottle languishing in your fridge already), this is a great recipe to use it in!

Sorry there's no picture, I meant to take one but we were hungry!  They just look like your standard hamburger though.  The flavor is what makes them special.

Best Hamburgers Ever

1 lb ground beef (I've used lean and fattier beef with great success)
1 T fish sauce
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t pepper
1/4 t salt

Gently mix together ingredients, being careful not to handle it too much or the burgers will be tough.  Form into 4 patties.  Make them thinner and wider than you want the finished burgers to be because they will shrink when cooked.  Poke a hole in the center with your fingertip so the burger will cook evenly.  To cook the burgers on a stove, heat about 2 T oil in a large nonstick skillet (believe me on the nonstick!) over medium-high heat and cook on one side until browned, then flip and cook on the other side until the burgers reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit.  You can add a bit of water to the skillet if the bottoms of the burgers start cooking too much.

If you want to cook the burgers on a grill, just grease the grate and cook the burgers on one side until browned, then flip and cook on the other side, being sure to cook them to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you want cheeseburgers, when the burgers are done you can top each one with cheese and close the lid on the grill for about a minute or until the cheese melts.  Serve the burgers on toasted buns with whatever toppings you'd like.  A bit of mayonnaise and sliced avocado is especially good!

Yield: 4 hamburgers

Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

This is my 100th post on this blog! Just thought I should mention that. In honor of the big milestone, I'm sharing the recipe for Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches, which comes from AllRecipes. Okay, I was going to share the recipe today anyway since it's what I made for dinner and it just happened to be the 100th post. The recipe really IS very good though and totally deserves some sort of accolade. It's super easy to make (3 ingredients plus bread and condiments of your choice!) and is really, really good if you're like us and love buffalo chicken anything. It's great served with fruit like melon or mango and a salad to cool things down a bit. I suppose you could also serve it with celery sticks if you're into that sort of thing (which we most definitely are not). The chicken is fantastic on pizza (post probably coming soon!), and it freezes well so you can toss some leftovers in the freezer for an emergency dinner later on :)


Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

3/4 C buffalo wing sauce (I use Frank's Red Hot Wings Sauce, yum yum)
1 packet (1 oz) dry ranch dressing mix
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
buns of your choice
toppings like ranch or blue cheese dressing or cheese

In the crock of a 2 or 4 quart slow cooker, stir together sauce and ranch mix. Add chicken and stir to coat. Cover and cook on low until chicken is cooked through, about 6 hours (depends on your slow cooker). Shred meat and serve on toasted buns with desired toppings.

Yield: about 8 sandwiches

Garbanzo Sandwich Spread

Yesterday I came across this recipe and had to give it a try. It looked interesting, I already had the ingredients, and I need to bring lunch to school three times this week so it seemed like a good choice! Of course I changed it a bit to better suit my tastes, but it turned out quite well. Basically I made it the same way I make tuna salad and egg salad. The texture is surprisingly similar to that of tuna salad and I think it tastes quite good, too. You should definitely give it a try if you're a vegetarian. Even though I'm not a vegetarian, I still plan to make this for myself. It would be great on toasted wheat bread (or a bagel, mm!) with assorted veggies (I'm thinking tomato, cucumber, and alfalfa sprouts), or wheat crackers.

Quick note: I dislike the crunch of raw onion and celery in things, but feel free to add them instead of the onion and garlic powders if you want!

15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained
4 T mayonnaise (you can use light, fat free or vegan)
1/2 T lemon juice
1/2 t dried dill
1/4 t garlic powder
1/4 t onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Place the beans in a flat bottomed bowl and mash with a potato masher. It shouldn't be completely smooth, but you don't want whole beans. Stir in mayonnaise and other ingredients, then add salt and pepper to taste.

Yield: Enough for 3 or 4 sandwiches

Peperoncini Beef Sandwiches

I made these sandwiches for dinner last night and we just loved them! With only 3 ingredients in the meat, it's also one of the easiest things you could possibly make. If you know you like peperoncini peppers and beef, you will probably really like this one. If you don't know, I suggest you buy a jar and taste a pepper before making the recipe because it does have a strong peperoncini/vinegar flavor. Lucky for us, we both love peperoncinis, so the sandwiches are right up our alley. They are a little spicy- probably too much so for kids or those with delicate taste buds- but not too much for me and I'm fairly wimpy when it comes to heat. We shared a big bowl of cold green grapes while we ate and they helped keep things manageable.

Quick note: The original recipe called for a beef chuck roast but I came home from the store with a beef eye of round roast, which is very lean. The meat was fairly tough after cooking, but after I shredded it and let it cook in the juices, it turned out just perfect.

Peperoncini Beef Sandwiches

3 lb beef chuck roast or eye of round roast
5 cloves garlic, minced (I used the stuff in the jar because I had it!)
16 oz jar of sliced peperoncinis
sub rolls
sliced provolone or mozzarella

Place roast in a 4 quart slow cooker and top with garlic. Pour peperoncinis, juice and all, over top. Cover and cook on low until meat is tender, 6 to 8 hours. Remove meat, shred, and stir into liquid in slow cooker. Turn heat to high and cook, uncovered, about 1 hour so the meat has a chance to soak up the liquid and some of the excess juice can cook off. Top sub rolls with meat and cheese, then broil to melt the cheese.

Yield: 8 to 12 sandwiches

Slow Cooker Shredded BBQ Chicken

I ran across the recipe for Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken Barbecue on Allrecipes about a month ago and had to try it. It looked so easy to make and had great reviews (all 2,281 of them!). I was not disappointed. A lot of the flavor of course came from the barbecue sauce. We chose Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet 'n Spicy sauce which proved to be a fine choice and resulted in saucy, sweet, zippy, ever so slightly spicy chicken. It made so much that we ate it for 3 nights and then I froze the rest for later. Perfect to pull out of the freezer on a day like today when I was gone at school for 9 hours.

We've only had it on buns so far but I think it would be tasty on pizza. My first ever job was at Papa Murphy's and they used to have a BBQ chicken pizza that was made by stirring together diced chicken with barbecue sauce, spreading it on the crust, and topping with cheese, green onions, olives and a couple other things. Sounds good! In any case, I will definitely make this again in the future since it's beyond simple to make, really yummy, and makes a ton.


Slow Cooker Shredded BBQ Chicken
2 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cleaned
18 oz bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce
3/4 C Italian dressing
1/3 C packed brown sugar
3 T Worcestershire sauce

In a 4 quart crock, stir together everything but the chicken. Add the chicken and turn to coat with sauce. Cook on low until chicken breasts are no longer pink in the middle. This will depend on how hot your slow cooker cooks. Mine was done in just 3 1/2 hours! When the chicken is cooked, shred it with 2 forks right in the crock. It isn't going to look pretty- the chicken is going to be stained orange and the sauce will be really thin and you may be doubting things, but keep going! Turn the temperature to high and let it all cook uncovered for about an hour to let some of the excess liquid cook off, being sure to stir every 10-15 minutes so nothing burns. Serve on toasted hamburger buns.

Yield: Enough for about 12 sandwiches. Freeze some for later!