My take on Food and a Burger recipe...

It’s no secret that I am a self-proclaimed foodie. Well, actually, Brian and I both are. We just LOVE food. Add this to the fact that I am a Food-Network-a-holic, and we entered DANGEROUS TERRITORY when we got married. After the big move, I pretty much baked everything delicious that I’d been dying to try in order to assure my new Husband that I could keep his belly full… and well… a few months later we were freaking out that we had to go home for Christmas and have people see the weight we’d gained. It was not pretty. Thus the dieting began, and now I feel like we’ve got a pretty good handle on balancing the comfort food and Paula Deen deserts, with flavorful chicken dinners that won’t cause the scales to tip. Most of the recipes I make are from the fabulous Rachael Ray… I’m pretty sure we are supposed to be related somehow (LOVE that girl). I also looove to indulge in sweets and those recipes come from Miss Paula, Giada DeLaurentiis, and most recently the Pioneer Woman, Ree. You MUST check her out! I’m pretty sure I’ll need an entire post just to describe the awesomeness that she is.

So after starting this blog, I’m wondering where in the world to start? As I look over the looong list of recipes I’ve made, I get hungry… So I think I’ll go whip up some Chicken Tacos and Guacamole and get back to ya’ll.

Just Kidding… that was so rude of me. I’ll leave ya with a RR open-faced burger recipe that was DELISH…. Bri had two... and those puppies were BIG. You’ll find if visit this page again, that I NEVER follow a recipe exactly, so if you need that kind of by-the-book cooking, sorry Charlie.




Long Boy Tex-Mex Burger by Rachael Ray

Patty Ingredients:
2 6-inch long oval-shaped rolls (I used panini rolls from Trader Joe’s)
2 pounds ground sirloin
Salt and pepper
A palmful of cumin
Half a medium onion, grated with a micro plane/ cheese grater
EVOO (A staple in all my cooking… splurge on the good stuff- it’s worth it)
4 Slices of Sharp Cheddar Cheese

For the Pico de Gallo:
4 small Roma/Plum tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped (We left this out... not big on raw onion)
A big handful cilantro (Looove this stuff)
Juice of 1 lime (Give it a good roll on the counter before you juice it)
Plenty of Salt

My Guacamole Recipe
4 small ripe avocados (The brown super soft ones)
2 vine ripened tomatoes (Seeded and finely chopped)
2 jalapenos (Seeded and finely chopped)
Small bunch of Cilantro (Finely chopped)
Juice of a lime
Dash of Garlic powder
Dash of Cumin
Dash of oregano
Salt

You can use a food processor for the avacado, or if you like it chunky (like me) just grab a fork and give it a good mash. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Grab a chip and give it a taste to adjust salt/seasonings.

Split the rolls and put them under the broiler for a few minutes to get them nice and toasty.

Put the meat in a large bowl with salt, pepper, cumin, and grated onion. Take off your rings and mix it all up! Form 4 thick oval-shaped burgers, each about an inch thick and about 6 inches long. Put some EVOO in a large skillet and cook for about 7 minutes on each side. (You can also grill these burgers… but our lovely apt complex doesn’t allow them… ridiculous) Melt cheese over the burgers during the last few minutes of cook time.

Mix up the ingredients for the Pico de Gallo.

Place each burger on a bun half and serve open-faced, topped with guac and pico.

Now take a big messy bite and say Mmmmmm!

P.S. I'm gonna make a link under "In the kitchen" to each new recipe I blog about so you can find them easily.