Bacon and Cheese Burgers

I'm going to spare everyone my raving and just say...go make these as soon as you can!  If you love a good burger this one will be at the top of your list.  Stuffed burgers are all over the place in blog land but they just were too complicated for me the day I planned to make them.  Instead, I did these and boy were we happy with them! Really though, what could be bad about a burger that has bites of cheese and bacon mixed in?  Is there anything wrong, ever, with adding bacon?  Not in my book!!

What I love best is they are E. A. S. Y. to change up to suit your flavor preference.  Next time I will add finely chopped jalapenos for the hubby who likes his burgers with a little spice to them.  Go make them...please...and don't forget to pair them with these homemade buns because every great burger deserves a good bun to hold it all together!  Enjoy!

I'm linking up to a few linky parties this week, go check out the great recipes everyone is posting!

Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Burgers
Recipe Source: A Cook's Quest

2 lbs burger
1 tsp garlic powder
2 TB dry minced onion
2 TB. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
about 1 1/2 cups cubed cheese of choice
about 8 slices of bacon, fried and crumbled

Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl.  Try not to mix too much, just enough to combine the ingredients. 

Pat the burger into a uniform rectangle.  Divide into equal portions.  I did eight portions to equal 1/4 pound patties.

Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to firm up and allow the flavors to meld together.  As the burgers are resting heat your grill.  Grill burgers until desired doneness is reached and place on a delicious homemade burger bun with your favorite toppings.  We added more cheese, pickles, tomato, grilled onions, lettuce, and fry sauce.  Mmmm delicious!

For those who aren't from an area familiar with Fry Sauce...it also called Pink Sauce and is basically mayonnaise and ketchup mixed together. Every restaurant and home cook has their own little twist.  Here is what mine "generally" looks like.

Jenn's Fry Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
enough ketchup to added sweetness and to make the sauce pink, probably 1/4 cup or so
a squirt of mustard
BBQ sauce (more than the mustard, less than the ketchup amount)
2-3 shakes of seasoning salt
a squeeze of lemon juice or 1 tsp vinegar

Mix it all up in a bowl and top burgers with it or even better fry up some home made french fries and dip them in.  Delicious!

A good burger starts with a GREAT BUN!

I am a bit hesitant to say what I am about to say out loud for fear that it might jinx everything but, here goes anyway....I think the warm weather is almost (not finally) here! Yep, after the longest Spring with more rain and wind than I care to talk about, I feel safe saying Summer is close...very, very, close to arriving. 

Of course with warm weather comes the season of grilling.  The traditional menu around these parts are hamburgers and hotdogs with all the fixings and side dishes galore.  But, a good burger deserves a great bun.  The bun is what holds all those lovely flavors of meat, cheese, condiments and veggies together.  It is vital, I tell you, to the burger experience.

Now, I know you can buy a bun at any grocery store and many gas stations but I wanted something more than the standard sesame bun.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and with almost five stars how could I not try it? I am so glad I did!  The buns were light and full of flavor, I would go so far as to say they are the best buns I have had in a long time! Enjoy!

Burger/Hot Dog Buns
Recipe Source: Adapted slightly from All Recipes.com

**Cook's Note-When I first made these I was afraid of making them too thin.  Wrong thing to worry about!  They get nice and fluffy so if you make them too thick you will end up with bread bowls and not buns.  Still tasty but, a bit bulky for burgers!**

Ingredients

1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
1 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 egg

Directions
In a small saucepan, heat milk, water and butter until very warm, 120 degrees F (50 degrees C).

In a large bowl, mix together 1 3/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Mix milk mixture into flour mixture, and then mix in egg. Stir in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Let rest for about 45 minutes to an hour (longer if you have used regular yeast instead of instant).  Punch down.

Divide dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape into smooth balls, and place on a greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Cover, and let rise for 15 to 30 minutes. Remember you don't want tall dinner rolls so this is just a rest!

Just before the rolls going into the oven you can brush them with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds if you like. Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown.

**For Hot Dog Buns: Shape each piece into a 6x4 inch rectangle. Starting with the longer side, roll up tightly, and pinch edges and ends to seal. Let rise about 20 to 25 minutes. Bake as above. These buns are pretty big. I usually make 16 instead of 12.

Pizza Dough-Update

Some of you may remember recipe #15, the best pizza dough EVER, it is delicious no matter how ya top it and honestly I didn't think it could get any better.  But then I decided I decided to jump on the grilled pizza bandwagon and try my hand at grilling pizza, once I did I discovered that the world of pizza had just opened up some more! 

I was worried that the dough would stick, that it would burn on the outside and be raw in the middle, that it just wouldn't taste as good as my regular method, but when I took that first bite I knew that I had a new summer favorite.  The grill created a nice smokiness, and the heat from the grill created a wonderfully crispy and chewy crust.  Next time you make pizza, try grilling it instead of baking it, not only will your kitchen stay cooler in the heat of summer but your pizza will taste better than ever!

Grilled Pizza

One recipe of pizza dough
Oil
Pizza toppings

Preheat your grill.  I set mine on high and let it heat for about 15 minutes.  Once the grill is hot, reduce the heat to somewhere between medium high and high and stretch your dough to the desired size.  Lightly brush one side with oil and place on your grill. (The temperature of your grill will depend on your grill, experiment with a small piece of dough before you commit to a whole pizza to see what will work best for you.)

Close the lid, and let the dough bake for about 4-5 minutes.  Using tongs, lift the dough and check to make sure it isn't browning too quickly on the bottom.

When the dough is almost cooked through, remove from the heat and top with your favorite toppings.  I used, crushed tomatoes, fresh basil and huge pieces of mozzarella.  Return to the heat and continue baking until the cheese is melted.

Rock Salt Rub for Chicken

My mom recently returned from a trip to Europe and one of the gifts she gave to me was this lovely assortment of goodies:

 Are you wondering why she gave me a grater, rocks, a wooden scoop and a bowl?  I sure was!  Then she explained that the rocks were salt from Salzburg.  You, grate the rocks using the little grater, into the bowl and then use the little wooden scoop to get what you need.  My friends have all heard of this rock salt but I must have been living under a rock because I thought it was just the neatest thing ever!  To top it off, the salt makes my food, especially meats, taste amazing.  I've been adding it to everything I can and loving the results.

Then while digging through my cupboards I found this little contraption,

also a gift, and also from my mom.  I believe it was given at Christmas and I had forgotten about it.  So I instantly knew what I was going to do...I was going to make a rub, using my new favorite salt, put it on one of the cheap whole chickens I bought and figure out this chicken roaster thingy.

I've had other versions of this chicken that were flavorful and moist, but this one tops them all.  The rub is sweet and a little hot, but not too hot.  The whole family ate this chicken like I hadn't fed them in a week, then wanted more later on.  This is a new summer grill favorite!

Now, if you don't drink, or don't have any beer in the house you can simply replace the beer for juice, broth, I've even heard of people doing it with Sprite.  This recipe/method for chicken is very easy, and very very tasty! Pair it up with some fresh corn, calico beans, or potato salad for a tasty meal idea!

Beer Can Chicken with Rock Salt Rub
Recipe Source: Jenn at A Cook's Quest

1 Whole Chicken-Cleaned and rinsed
Spice Rub (recipe below)
1 beer,  or 8 oz apple juice/broth/soda

Spice Rub
2 tablespoons rock salt grates or a coarser table salt will work too
1 tablespoon regular table salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon white sugar
3 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons paprika
3 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1-3 tablespoons fresh ground black pepper

Combine inngedients for the rub in a bowl and set aside.  Wash and pat dry your chicken.  Rub the spice rub, on and inside the chicken, working the seasoning under the skin of the breast as well.  Let sit for 1 hour to overnight.  When ready to grill, cut the top off of the can you are using.  If you are using a beer, drink or pour out about 1/3 of the liquid, (I didn't have any beer in a can, so I rinsed out a soda can and poured the beer into that,) and if you want you can put seasonings, lemon wedge in the can for extra flavor.

Place the chicken on top of the can and grill over medium low heat until the chicken is cooked through. 

Remove the chicken from the can, and if you can do this without spilling all the delicious juices, pour what hasn't evaporated from the can over the chicken.  Allow to rest for 15 minutes, carve and then get out of the way or you might just get trampled on!

Total Cost-$3.51

Chicken $2.01

Rub $1.50 (estimating)

Beer-Free (I got it from my Mother in Law because we were out, normally it would be about $1-1.50 depending on brand)

I am completely estimating here because I have no idea what the costs of my seasonings were.  My hubby did some shopping when I was too busy with school and most of the spices were purchased by him.  He did buy on sale so I know they weren't too much.

Spiced Chicken Tenderloins with Honey Glaze

In a family with three young children, a busy husband and a very picky cook (yes, I am very picky) it is sometimes hard to find a recipe that all five of us love that is also easy to prepare.  These spiced chicken tenderloins are easy to make and even easier to eat.  The whole family loved, not just liked, but LOVED the sweet and spicy combo so much that there was nary a morsel left.  On a love scale, 1 being we loved them enough to make again sometime in the future and 10 being let's eat them for our very next meal, I would rate this a 9. 

I got this idea from Our Best Bites, and modified it to my family's liking.  They can be as spicy as you want them to be and as sweet as you want them to be.  The original recipe calls for thigh meat, but I had tenderloins and they worked beautifully.  I used my own spice rub that I made a while back by throwing spices into a bowl until I thought they tasted good, spicy but not too hot was the result, and then topping them with the honey glaze while they grilled on my indoor grill.  Hopefully soon, we will have propane for the outdoor grill which I imagine will produce even tastier results!  If you don't have a favorite rub, or don't know what to use to make your own, just follow the original recipe and make changes to suit your own tastes.  You won't be sorry with this one!

Spiced Chicken Tenderloins with Honey Glaze
Recipe Source: Our Best Bites, modified by A Cook's Quest

Chicken of choice.  I used tenderloins because it was what I had and they are easy for the kids to eat and quick to cook.  But use your favorite.

Rub of your choice or you can follow the recipe here:
Mine (sorry I don't have the measurements) consisted of:

Chili powder
Cumin
Coriander
Red Pepper flakes
Paprika
Salt
Sugar
Dry Mustard

Glaze:
1/2 C Honey
1T Cider Vinegar

Combine the rub spices in bowl and mix well.  Add spices to chicken and allow to sit for 20-30 minutes. Grill chicken for 3-5 minutes on each side, until cooked through.


While chicken is cooking, warm honey in the microwave so it's not so thick. Add the vinegar and combine well. Reserve 2T honey glaze for later. Take the rest and brush on chicken (both sides) in the final moments of grilling.  Drizzle remaining glaze over the top or serve on the side for dipping.

We served this with Crash Potatoes, and broccoli

Total Cost of Meal $4.72 ($3.32 for the chicken)
Chicken $2.50
Spice Rub $.50
Honey $.30
Vinegar $.02
Potatoes $.50
Broccoli $.60
Butter $.30