Cheesy Topping for Hamburgers

First off I'd like to say I'm sorry Bryan I haven't updated in awhile.... :)  I'll be sure not to just leave it for days with no updates....

Unfortunately I have no pictures of this, because we ate them so fast that I forgot... but FORTUNATELY, it was amazing and Daniel loved it, so we will make it again, but in the meantime, for my one  fan, I will post the recipe and a picture of what it looks like, but not a picture I took, but mine did look like the picture, if that is any comfort!


For the record, this picture above is NOT my picture, it was taken from a blog, I don't know whose, I forget, but hopefully if they follow me they can leave their name and claim their picture, because obviously they have great recipes! :)

*Easy Cheesy Topped Burgers*

Serves 4 to 6

2 ½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese
8 slices cooked smoked streaky bacon, crumbled ( I didn't have time, I used Bacon Bits, I know ghetto)
1 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 TBS tomato catsup
3 tsp hot pepper sauce (Optional)
12 minced beef patties (3 pounds)
Bread or hamburger buns, if desired
I added a dash of ranch dressing, because Daniel is obsessed with Ranch.


Heat gas or charcoal grill, or oven grill.

In a small bowl mix all ingredients except for the beef patties.


When the grill is heated, place frozen patties on the grill. Cover grill, and cook over medium heat 4 to 8 minutes, turning once, until the patties are nicely browned and cooked through.

Carefully top each patty with about some of the cheese mixture.

Cook, covered, for 4 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted. Serve on toasted bread.

Grill Potatoes

Grill Potatoes

5 baking potatoes cut up in eatable sized chunks

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 clove chopped garlic

1/4 chopped onion

1 cup shredded cheese, your choice ( I used Cheddar)

salt & pepper

Cut up potatoes and lay them in foil, drizzle olive oil, butter over them, put salt and pepper on top, mix in onions and garlic.  Wrap up in foil and lay on grill until potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes.  When you up wrap the foil, cover in cheese.

Oven Fried Onion Rings

Only the best thing ever....crumbs made with potato chips and saltines! yum...

after being dipped in flour, dip in batter mixture...

Dip in potato chip/saltine mixture.....

Oven-Fried Onion Rings

Yield: About 24 rings, serving 4 to 6

Prep Time: 45 minutes | Bake Time: 23 minutes

½ cup all-purpose flour, divided
1 large egg, room temperature
½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon salt
¼ ground black pepper
30 saltine crackers
4 cups kettle-cooked potato chips
2 large yellow onions, cut into 24 rings (see note)
6 tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Adjust oven racks to lower-middle and upper-middle positions and heat oven to 450 degrees F. Place ¼ cup flour in shallow baking dish. Beat egg and buttermilk together in bowl. Whisk remaining ¼ cup flour, cayenne, salt and pepper into buttermilk mixture. Pulse saltines and potato chips together in food processor until finely ground; 8 to 10 pulses.


Oven-Fried Onion Rings: Dredging station

2. Working one at a time, dredge each onion ring in flour, shaking off excess. Dip rings in buttermilk mixture, allowing excess to drip back into bowl, then drop into crumb coating, turning rings to coat evenly.


Transfer coated rings to large plate or tray.


3. Pour 3 tablespoons oil onto each of two rimmed baking sheets. Place baking sheets in oven and heat until just smoking, about 8 minutes. Carefully tilt heated sheets to coat evenly with oil, then arrange onion rings on sheets. Baking, flipping onion rings and switching and rotating position of baking sheets halfway through baking, until golden brown on both sides, about 15 minutes. Briefly drain onion rings on paper towel-lined plate. Serve immediately.

* Note 1: Slice the onions into ½-inch-thick rounds, separate the rings, and discard any rings smaller than 2 inches in diameter. It will depend on the size of your onions, but both of mine ended up being sliced into 4 to get the ½-inch-thick rounds.


* Note 2: The onion rings can be breaded in advance and refrigerated for up to an hour. Let them sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking them; if baked while still chilled from the refrigerator, the onions will not cook enough to soften and will remain crunchy.

(Recipe adapted from Summer Entertaining from Cook’s Illustrated)

Onion Rings Dipping Sauce

Prep Time: 5 minutes

½ cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons ketchup
2 tablespoons horseradish
¼ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
Dash ground black pepper
Dash cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients and refrigerate.

Browned Butter Toffee Blondies

Thank you Martha Stewart...

Mix sugar ingredients..

Combine it all with flour ingredients and then pour in toffee and walnuts ( you can omit the walnuts if you don't like nuts)

Pour into Parchment lined baking dish...

Bake and yummm, cut into squares and serve warm with Vanilla ice cream with caramel drizzled on top... yes!

Browned Butter Toffee Blondies

from Martha Stewart Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts (about 4 ounces)
1 cup toffee bits

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper; butter and flour parchment paper.
In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter until it turns golden brown; remove from heat, and let cool. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine browned butter and both sugars; stir with a wooden spoon until combined. Attach bowl to mixer; add eggs. Using the paddle attachment, beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla, and beat to combine. Add flour mixture, walnuts, and toffee bits. Mix until thoroughly combined, and pour into prepared pan.
Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes (do not overbake). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before turning out of pan onto a cutting board. Peel off parchment paper; cut blondies into 3-inch squares. Blondies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

My Take:
I really liked these, if you don't like nuts you can omit the walnuts.  Don't over do them, or they taste burned not browned! :)  Mine turned out soft and perfect, serving them hot with Vanilla Ice cream and some caramel on top would be the healthy thing to do!

Caprese Grilled Sandwich

Please, is there nothing better than fresh tomatoes, basil, pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese on french bread? yes please! I found this recipe on Dishin and Dishes blog and so glad that I made it.  I also made this Pesto for the sandwich and it was perfect to compliment this sandwich.

Slice up french bread, melt butter and brush on, lay bread on buttered side down, top with mozzarella and fresh tomatoes, I salt & peppered mine!

Lay Basil on top

Spread pesto on the top slice of bread and butter the top of it and lay it on, flip and repeat till brown!

Yum!

Caprese Grilled Sandwich

1 ripe tomato
8 oz of fresh mozzarella (sliced)
4 fresh basil leaves
4 slices of french bread
2 tbsp butter (melted)
Pesto recipe
Makes 2 sandwiches

Butter bread, lay pieces butter side down, pile with cheese, tomato, basil, lay top bread piece on top-spread pesto on that top piece lay pesto side down and butter top, flip sandwich and serve!

Hiding veggies

I can't find ways to get Ella to eat very much, she is SLOW, I mean poky the Puppy slow.  Ava won't eat much green things, unless I am eating it and she isn't in her highchair, there is something about being naughty not in your highchair that makes food taste better? yes, no? So anyways, they both LOVE pizza, so here we go, I just added cooked peas and green beans and put them in the food processor and then added it to the sauce. They loved it! Now I know this isn't a new idea, so I am not thinking I created this... it is just a reminder to those... who have picky eaters, that this is an idea.

Watermelon Slushie

Freeze the watermelon for 20 minutes.

Put watermelon in blender, add lime juice and sugar mixture and 1/2 can of frozen limeade concentrate, add ice and blend.
 Did you like the picture of the little girl who is a thief?

Drink and Enjoy

Watermelon Slushie


2 cups of watermelon cut into chunks
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lime zest
1 cup lime juice (about 8 limes)
1/2 container of frozen limeade concentrate ( I used Minute Maid)
1 cup of ice, roughly

On stove over low heat mix sugar, water and lime zest and wait until sugar dissolves into water.  Cut up watermelon and freeze for 20 minutes.  Squeeze limes for the juice and add watermelon, limes juice, ice, sugar mixture, and 1/2 container of frozen limeade to blender. Blend and enjoy!

Mexican Pizza

Brown the meat and add 1 packet of Taco seasoning to it....

I made my own pizza dough, but you can buy some at the store, roll it out and spread the taco/bean mixture on, the meat on top, then chopped green onions and tomatoes.

Top with cheese and bake in 425 oven for 15-18 minutes...

Mexican Pizza


1 can refried beans
1/2 cup of taco sauce
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup of chopped green onions
1 tomato diced
2 cups of Mexican blend shredded cheese
Your choice of Pizza dough, rolled out and ready to bake

Brown your meat, drain and add taco seasoning.  Mix taco sauce and refried beans, spread that mixture on the pizza dough and put 1 cup of cheese on top of that.  Put beef on top and then layer with tomatoes and green onions.  Top with remaining cheese.  Bake in oven at 425 for 15-18 minutes.  Or according to the pizza dough directions.

My Take:

The pizza was sooo good. My friend Kourtney makes this pizza all the time, no seriously, at least once a week she makes this!  It is VERY good and I like it cold the next day as well.  The pizza was inspired by Papa Murphys take and bake Mexican Pizza, it tastes the same!

Texas Chicken Quesadillas

Caramelize the onions and add the honey...

cook up the chicken and add BBQ sauce and toss the chicken in it....

Put tortilla, onions, chicken and cheese in the pan, make quesadilla....

Texas Chicken Quesadillas
-Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 TBSP of oil
1-1/2 onions sliced into rings
1 TBSP honey
2 chicken breasts, diced
1/2 cup BBQ sauce
1 Cup shredded Mexican cheese
8 ten inch flour tortillas

Heat one tablespoon of the oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until they begin to caramelize. Mix in the honey and stir until it is golden brown. Remove and set aside. Place the remaining oil in the pan and add the chicken. Cook through over a medium high heat. Stir in the BBQ sauce to evenly coat the chicken. Place the chicken, onions and cheese onto a tortilla, top with the other tortilla and cook in your quesadilla maker about 5 minutes. Alternatively, you can cook them in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. ENJOY!

My Take:
My husband LOVED these.  My brother in law was over for several meals last week and this was one of them, he loved them as well.  They turned out great and it is one of my favorite quesadilla recipes I've tried.  You don't expect the BBQ flavor and it's good!

Molten Lava Cakes

This recipe was made by my friend Leslie, she made them up and then brought them to my house, I just baked them and asked if I could post pictures and share the recipe.  They were OH so good.  They reminded me of these things we ordered on the cruise called "Chocolate Melting Cakes."  Yumm... apparently I was supposta invert them onto a dessert plate, but I didn't, I ate it straight out of the bowl! SERVE with Ice cream, it's a must, it breaks up the richness of the chocolate!

  Molten Lava Cakes

Ingredients
6 (1-ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
2 (1-ounce) squares semisweet choc
olate
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 large eggs
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange liqueur (you can omit this or add any other liqueur)
Serve with Vanilla Ice cream (optional) but basically a must.... :)
1 package of toffee bits
Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Grease 6 (6-ounce) custard cups. Melt the chocolates and butter in the microwave, or in a double boiler. Add the flour and sugar to chocolate mixture. Stir in the eggs and yolks until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and orange liqueur. Divide the batter evenly among the custard cups. Place in the oven and bake for 14 minutes. The edges should be firm but the center will be runny. Run a knife around the edges to loosen and invert onto dessert plates.If you want, just add the Heath bar to the bottom of the ramekins.  That way, when you invert the cakes, you will have the Heath bar on top.  Enjoy!

Mix stuffing and Tomatoes together

Mix in garlic to mixture

Put chicken in pyrex baking pan and add basil and cheese.

Pour stuffing over chicken and put cheese on top and bake in oven!

Bruschetta Chicken Bake

Ingredients

1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 pkg.  (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1/2 cup water

2 cloves  garlic, minced

1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces

1 tsp.  dried basil leaves

1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Make It!

HEAT oven to 400ºF.Mix tomatoes, stuff, water and garlic in a bowl.  Place chicken in a baking dish and put basil on top and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the Mozzarella cheese.  Top chicken with stuffing mixture and 1/2 cup of cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes.

 

 

My Take :

I made this for my brother in law and for Daniel and they both liked it a lot.  I ate some the next day as left overs and it was just as good.  Barely any prep time and that is a bonus.  I got this recipe from my friend Courtney and she made it first and suggested I make it! Thanks Courtney!

Homemade Fruit Roll- Ups

after you blend the fruit with sugar in the food processor, then break it down in the pan, bring to boil.

Spread on the wax paper.. bake in oven at 200 for 5 hours.

 

 

Homemade Fruit Roll-Ups

- 8 Apricots cut up

-6 strawberries, cut up

-1 1/2 cup of blueberries

-1/4 cup of sugar

-1/4 cup of honey

Put fruit into food processor, add sugar and honey, blend.  Pour mixture into pot on stove and bring to boil while stiring.  Line a cookie pan with edges with wax paper, spread mixture over wax paper evenly.  Put in oven on 200 for3- 5 hours.  My oven went as low as 190 and that is what I did.  Take out, once cool cut in strips and lay on wax paper, roll up and store in plastic bag in fridge.

A lonely blogger

Am I being punished for taking so much time off blogging when I moved?  No comments in like 10 or 11 posts now... am I blogging for myself... anyone out there anymore?

Fruit Dip and Fruit Skewers

Fruit Dip

1 7oz jar of Marshmallow Fluff
1 block of cream cheese softened
1 tbsp of Vanilla

Blend ingredients together and serve with fruit.  I made fruit skewers to go along with it for a BBQ because I thought it'd be fun!