Big Fat Bacon Sliders Sunday afternoon, I made sliders. I wrapped bacon around each diminutive patty of hamburger, then cooked them in the oven and squeezed them between small, warm rolls. And I wasn’t the least bit sorry. Monday, I still was not sorry. Yesterday, I featured hamburger recipes from across the web. Today I’m featuring my sliders. Tomorrow, I’ll share something other than burgers. I promise. I think. Throw some ground beef into a bowl. Add ground black pepper. I threw in lemon pepper. Worcestershire works. See that veiny hand? Mix the meat thoroughly, then grab a little wad. Roll it into a neat ball approximately the size of…well, nothing I can think of. It’s just a ball. Set them aside on a plate. Grab a package of thin/regular bacon. Wrap a half a piece of bacon around each orb of hamburger. Yes, I said orb. Pull just slightly as you wrap the bacon around, so that it fits snugly (but doesn’t squeeze) around the bacon. Flatten each patty as much as you can without squeezing the burger out of the corners.
Recipe for Grilled Pork Chops with Asian Black Bean-Garlic Marinade I'm pretty sure this is my first new grilling recipe for 2011! Even though my grill is on a covered deck where I could use it all year, the weather in Salt Lake has been so cold and rainy this spring that I've been thinking more about soup than grilling. Then a couple of very cute boys stayed at my house a few weeks ago and my nephew Ethan washed off the grill so we could cook hot dogs. Not a very gourmet start to the grilling season, but I made up for it this week with these grilled pork chops with a very interesting Asian-flavored marinade. The Black Bean Garlic Sauce that's used in the marinade is something you may have had in Chinese food from a restaurant, and I loved the way it was used in this marinade that I adapted from a recipe found in The Bon Appetit Cookbook: Fast Easy Fresh. I used thick bone-in pork chops, and if you're making this for the South Beach Diet, remember the guideline about 10% fat or less and trim away the visible fat. Trim visible fat from pork chops.
Cayenne Cinnamon Baby Back Ribs with Maple Glaze Recipe Friday, May 6, 2011 Cayenne Cinnamon Ribs with Maple Glaze Sticky, sweet, salty, spicy ribs that are so crazy simple to make (the only cooking equipment you need is tin foil and an oven!) We normally enjoy our baby backs fall off the bone – they are so tender that when you lift up the bone, the meat really does fall off. And yeah, okay, I can see the satisfaction of having to pulling the meat off the rib bones with a slight tug….something about that must be deep deep deeeeeep inside our veins that brings us back to Man. Instead of the usual 4 hour low-and-slow roasting of the baby back ribs, these ribs bake at a higher temperature (375F) and for only 1 hour. Yes, they were BETTER than fall-off-the-bone – it must be the cave-girl inside me. Cayanne-Cinnamon Baby Back Ribs with Maple Glaze The ingredients for the rub is simple: Brown sugar, garlic powder, cayenne, paprika and cinnamon. Removing the membrane makes for more tender ribs. Turn the ribs over. Pull membrane off. Pull! About Paprika
Southern Skillet Corn Oh my gosh, now here is a gorgeous, delicious vegetable side dish that I absolutely adore. This is one of my mom’s recipes, and I think could eat an entire plate of this buttery corn for dinner. She whipped it up for us this weekend and I knew I had to share it with you guys. What makes this corn so special is that it’s got the best of both worlds. It has that wonderful creamy quality of creamed corn, but the corn itself is still crisp and fresh like it’s straight off the cob. Perfection. Start with six ears of corn. Shuck the corn by peeling off the outer layers. And snap off the husk. Pull any remaining silks off the corn and rinse under cool running water. In a large bowl, cut the corn from the cob with a sharp knife. Start in the middle and work your way down. Then flip over to get the other side. Check out these knife skills, getting every last kernel of corn! It was nice to be able to just stand back and photograph this recipe! Once you’ve cut off all the corn… Two teaspoons of sugar…
Baked Buffalo Chicken Pasta Can you keep a secret? Last night I went to a karate slash pilates slash bootcamp-ish slash heart attack class. I know. Your face? Your expression you are wearing right now? Anyway. All I could think of during this class was cheese. After flinging myself through the front door following my uncoordinated attempt at unarmed combat and eating four handfuls of peanut butter stuffed pretzels (I hear they are excellent for muscle recovery. write that down.), it dawned on me that peanut butter pretzels do not a dinner make. Then I remembered the buffalo chicken mac sitting in the fridge and decided it qualified as a post-workout recovery meal. Uh… wait a minute. This is sort of like mac and cheese. But guess what? I don’t care what you call it. Baked Buffalo Chicken Pasta serves 4-6 1 pound pasta (I used whole wheat orecchiette) 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and cut into chunks 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon flour 1 1/2 cups milk 1/3 cup buffalo wing sauce 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs
Cinco de Mayo: Chipotle-Lime Chicken Tacos | 1 cup awesome Happy Cinco de Mayo! We decided to celebrate one day early and throw a little Cinco de Cuatro party last night. Wow! This meal was super simple to make. We didn’t even plan on making it, but after watching Taco Night on Five Ingredient Fix with Claire Robinson, we were sold. Chipotle-Lime Chicken Tacos Prep Time: 20 minutes Serves: 4 Ingredients Chicken 1 package boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 3 medium) 1 lime, zested salt and pepper extra virgin olive oil Chipotle-Lime Yogurt 1 cup plain greek yogurt 1 teaspoon dried chipotle 1 lime zested salt and pepper Corn and Red Cabbage Slaw 2 cups frozen corn 1/2 red cabbage, sliced 1/2 cup crumbled light feta Handful fresh cilantro leaves, chopped 1 lime, juiced salt and pepper 8 (6-inch) corn tortillas DirectionsFor the chicken: Place the chicken between two pieces of plastic wrap and, using a meat mallet or the bottom of a heavy saute pan, pound the chicken light to an even 1/2-inch thickness. Remove chicken from the grill.
Restaurant Style Carne Asada Soft Tacos with Guacamole and Corn It’s almost Cinco de Mayo! Any excuse to make Mexican food, is a great celebration to me! I developed a simple and completely flavorful marinade for carne asada beef or flank steak, that marinates for an hour, is grilled for a few minutes and presto, restaurant style carne asada tacos are ready! I hope you guys can find this tortilla bread that I have pictured below. It makes the best soft tacos ever, no joke. Be sure to take a peek at my Creamy Salsa and Black Bean Nachos that I developed for Kraft as well Break out your sombreros, maracas, chips and salsa, it’s Mexican night!! Left: Tia Rosa Tortilla Bread, onion, garlic, avocado, carne asada beef (flank steak), red bell pepper, ground cumin, corn, olive oil and lime juice Here’s the beef, it will come in one rectangular piece that you will later slice Let’s start the marinade. Add some lime juice to olive oil. Now add your cumin, salt and pepper. Grab a big ziplock bag and add your onions/garlic, beef, and marinade. 2 cloves minced garlic
shrimp tacos with grilled poblano and avocado salsa Adam and I have fallen into a pattern most Sundays these days. We get up, go to Church, grab lunch and then hit the trails for an afternoon hike. Then we grill out. It’s fabulous and reminds me of why I live where I do. Last Sunday the weather was absolutely perfect and we explored Shiloh Regional Park for the first time, doing a short (but strenuous!) 2.9 mile hike. View Larger Map Most of the hike was uphill but the views from the top were breathtaking. When we got back to the house, we had my CSA bag to eat through, which was filled with summer squash, kale, rainbow chard and favas! The favas were fun (and very tasty when drizzled with olive oil and sea salt first), but the real star of the show was the fresh shrimp tacos we ate alongside the giant grilled beans! Adam has turned into grill master 2011 and to make the salsa, we grilled a poblano pepper, green onion and corn—- Random side-note: what’s with guys and their grills anyway? …and then piled everything in warm tortillas. salsa:
Crispy Margarita Chicken Tacos with Strawberry Avocado Salsa I’ve never been one to turn down a margarita. The coarsely salted rim… the icy tartness… the bright lime paired with tangy tequila. I’m strictly an “on the rocks” kind of girl, but if my only option was a frosty, frozen drink, I wouldn’t hesitate to put it in my face. My fascination with margaritas began at a young age, but before you feel the need to enlist a help team for my transport to AA, you should know that the relationship was strictly platonic until my later years. If I could go back in time and tell my 12-year old self about how slim the chances are that I’ll marry my current crush of 4 years and live in a mansion in the Bahamas, I’d be a heck of a lot richer. It was around that time that I found margaritas to be glamorous – sandy beaches, bikinis, summer love and beverages with umbrellas are things that any young girl dreams of. So, I’m giving you a heads up. Crispy Margarita Chicken Tacos with Strawberry Avocado Salsa serves 3-4 4 chicken breasts 3 cups panko bread crumbs
Prosciutto Wrapped Caprese Chicken Fingers Made it through Monday! MITM is the new TGIF. I’m sure of it. ;) Mother Nature finally threw Central Iowa a bone this week, and it could not have been a more beautiful spring day. Every four months or so I snag a run where my legs seem to move without my mind telling them to. I made sure to hydrate all day today, so I wouldn’t have another mind meltdown on the trail, but I still took a spray bottle of water with me just in case. Travel-sized bottles are perfect for bringing with on a run. I went through YogaDownload.com’s 20 Minute Core Yoga when I got home, then got right to work on dinner. Summertime flavors like tomato, basil and mozzarella all wrapped up in a yummy little package. :) I started the cigars by making an assembly line of my ingredients. Starting with La Quercia Proscuitto. La Quercia prosciutto is made locally and is ah-mazing. I was so tickled a couple weeks ago to see La Quercia’s prosciutto on the menus of Emeril’s restaurants in Las Vegas. sundried tomatoes,