Healthy, Luscious Burgers

Last night as I was cooking dinner, I was positive it was going to be crap. Absolute crap. So, I made extra veggies to compensate. I'd planned on confetti turkey burgers, homemade cumin-lime tortilla chips and corn on the cob. I'd picked up some good-looking corn at the farmer's market. I'd also made a last-minute impulse purchase of some lovely green beans when the Amish fella who'd slipped us a few extra fingerlings gave us a sample of the slender beans. So when the burgers alarmed me, pre-cooking, I decided to steam the beans, as well. Luckily, everything but the chips turned out delicious! J was ultra-skeptical about the burgers, as well. Good thing I went ahead. Too bad the chips sucked. I have decided that I am not too keen on baked tortilla chips in the first place and am hideous at making them, secondly. Therefore, I have vowed to make pita chips the next time I am tempted to make my own chips...or just buy the damned things! Here, though, is the burger recipe:

Confetti Turkey Burgers

1 lb. ground turkey breast

1/2 yellow squash, shredded

Generous 1/2 c. cooked brown rice

1/2 tomato, diced

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

A good grinding of pepper

A sprinkle of salt

A drizzle of olive oil

Mix everything but the olive oil. Form into 4 patties. Drizzle a skillet with oil and heat. Add the patties & cook until browned on the outside and cooked through, flipping halfway through. We negated the healthiness by having them on buns with mayo & Vermont extra-sharp cheddar. I highly recommend this. I wish I'd had some nice lettuces and some fat red onion slices to put on the burgers, too.

Bacon Basil Pasta

Well, J liked it, so I suppose I'll share the recipe in case someone else does. Last night, I made bacon basil pasta with Caesar salad & fricos. I found it to be quite bland and blah, but if you like your pasta plain, you may very well like this. I was winging it with the fricos & they turned out kind of weird, but not too bad. J loved them. I just mounded tablespoonfuls of good grated parmesan on a sprayed baking sheet and baked them for about 10 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven. I think a coarser shred would make them turn out beautifully.

Bacon Basil Pasta

4 strips of bacon

1/2 lb. bucati, cooked al dente

1/4 c. heavy cream

1/4 c. chicken stock

1 tsp. basil (I would tear up some fresh basil if I made it again)

Pepper

Parmesan (I ended up dumping a whole bunch in to try to alleviate the blandness)

Cook the bacon & drain on paper towels. In 1 tsp. of the bacon grease (maybe more would be better?), heat the spaghetti through. Add cream, stock & basil. Simmer 6-8 minutes. Season with pepper. Sprinkle with parmesan. Maybe some lemon would help?

Pie & Cake, Cake & Pie!

I've just pulled an Italian sausage & spinach pie from the oven to cool while I wake my sleeping beauty from her nap. I'll serve it with either salad or some beautiful green beans we picked up at the farmer's market this morning and I baked a chocolate cake yesterday that we'll have for dessert with Breyer's vanilla ice cream.

Italian Sausage & Spinach Pie

1 lb. Italian sausage

2 large scallions, thinly sliced

1 large mushroom, finely chopped

10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

12 oz. grated Swiss cheese

4 oz. grated sharp cheddar

A good grating of nutmeg

1/2 tsp. each salt & pepper

1 tsp. sage

1 tbsp. milk

9" pie shell

Brown & drain sausage. Set aside. Saute scallions and mushroom for a few minutes in the sausage fat. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix spinach, cheeses, sausage, scallions, mushroom, milk. Prebake pie shell 5 minutes. Add filling. Put on baking sheet and bake 20-25 minutes. Serves 8, but could also be done in tiny pastry shells for an appetizer.

The cake recipe can be found at:

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2006/04/05/last-minute-chocolate-cake/

August Dinner Plans

Here are the dinners I plan to make in August. J and I have the month split right down the middle, 15 nights each to cook, with one dinner out. Perhaps I'll actually get to cook this month!

-Bacon basil pasta, salad, good bread, amaretto peaches
-Confetti turkey burgers, cumin chips, corn on the cob
-Taco bake, chips & salsa, corn
-Fried chicken salad w/buttermilk dressing, cheddar cornbread, fruit
-Limeade chicken, rice, green beans, peach sorbet
-Fried eggs, sausages w/milk gravy, biscuits, fruit
- Bistec Palomilla, moros y cristos, maduros, salad w/avocado
-Russian sandwiches, corn on the cob, fruit
-Lamb kebabs, fattoush, caramelized pineapple w/chocolate sauce
-Cheeseburger & fries casserole, parmesan corn on the cob, salad
-Veggie melts, pita chips & spinach-garbanzo dip, fruit
-Baked eggs w/artichokes & parmesan, bacon, fruit, toast, Mary Pickfords
-Asparagus-prosciutto bundles, fingerling salad w/sugar snaps, cheese muffins, gingersnap pear salad
-Rosemary omelets, potato fritters, artichokes w/sour cream filling, cherry pie
-Chino-Cubano wings, black bean mini-"pizzas", salad w/avocado cream cheese dressing

Also, at some point, strawberry ice cream!

The Big Night Out

My dad sent me money earmarked for a special birthday dinner. Since we didn't have time on my actual birthday for anything fancy, we went out last night instead. I considered restaurants like Henry's at the Barn, Nemo Grille and Lola, but ended up choosing The Melting Pot because we haven't yet been disappointed there. I'd love to try the others and I'm all about choosing local independents over national chains. But, if I'm going to blow $100 bucks on dinner, I'd like to have tried the place for lunch or apps first. So, on the agenda for when I am actually making some money is going out for small plates at all kinds of cool local places.

As we always do when we go to The Melting Pot, we chose to have the Big Night Out. I chose to do the traditional Swiss fondue, which was very good but not enough for all of our bread & apples. Salad was a caprese salad drizzled with balsamic---nice, but not as good as mine & it needed more basil. Then, we had mojo cooking liquid with a variety of meats, adding a lobster tail for my seafood-loving baby. I think my favorite was the chicken dipped in the mild curry sauce followed closely by the filet dipped in the blue cheese sauce. Our dessert fondue was dark chocolate with Chambord. I am a huge fan of the combo of dark chocolate with raspberry.

The food was great, we had the same fantastic waiter (Dan) as we did last year in the other Cleveland location (this was our first visit to the Westside location) but the best thing of all was the company. We had a delightful time visiting with one another and I am so in love with J. Oh, the drinks were terrific, too. I had a Hang 10 (10 Cane rum with muddled fresh basil, mango Monin syrup and pineapple juice) and J had a (really fabulous) Love Martini (Malibu, cranberry juice, peach schnapps and strawberry slices that looked like lush little hearts).

Thanks, Dad, for a great dinner out!

Keepin' It Simple

When I arrived home from the Wisconsin mission trip, J informed me that she'd gotten a great deal on a whole chicken and it was up to me to roast it. I am ever so glad she picked it up because it was delicious, filled the house with a wonderful aroma and will make some damn fine chicken salad for lunches! All I did was preheat the oven to 350 degrees, drizzle olive oil all over the chicken, dust it with house seasoning (which is included with Paula Deen's fried chicken recipe at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/southern-fried-chicken-recipe3/index.html), add a couple substantial pinches of herbes de Provence and rub it all in. Then, I baked it about an hour and 45 minutes, throwing in a couple potatoes to bake as well. We ate it with salads and leftover tomatillo/cuke salsa from Sunday night. Mmm, mmm!

Back to the Stove

After about a month of being out of town and letting J cook, I finally got to cook Sunday night! I did a nice summer-y steak dish with Yukon Gold mashed potatoes on the side.

Peppered Filet on Garlic Toast with Tomatillo/Cherry Tomato/Cucumber Salsa

6 cloves of garlic, not peeled

3 c. water

10 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved

2 tomatillos, cut in small wedges

1 cucumber, peeled & diced

1/2 red onion, fine-chopped

1 jalapeno, minced

3 tbsp. cider vinegar

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1 lb. filet mignon

2 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. coarse black pepper

4 slices Italian bread, toasted

Bring garlic & water to a boil. Simmer 15-20 minutes. Drain & cool. Peel & mash. Spread on toast. Spray broiler pan with cooking spray. Preheat broiler. Mix next 8 ingredients. Rub steak with oregano and pepper. Broil until cooked to medium-rare. Let stand 10-15 minutes. Slice thinly across the grain on an angle. Put on toast and top with salsa. Serves 4.