Hot Wing Burgers

Tonight's meal was SO good! It was a welcomed change from plain, boring hamburgers, and a much healthier change too! We had Hot Wing Burgers made from ground turkey and coated in hot sauce, topped with cheddar and blue cheese.

Here's how to do it:

Take about 5 or 6 baby carrots (or a couple regular sized ones if you have them) and shred them in your processor. Shred a rib of celery and a half an onion too.

Toss this in a skillet with some EVOO and cook on medium until soft. Throw some garlic in there too, being careful not to burn.

Put all this in a bowl and let cool, then mix in 1 pound or so ground turkey, and a bunch of dill.

Mix up with your hands and form into four good sized burger patties.

Put back into the pan you cooked your veggies in along with a good glug of olive oil. Cook for about 6 minutes on each side until firm and when patties have good color. Remove to a plate and melt 2 Tbsp butter in the pan, then add a bunch of hot sauce. Like 1/4 c, or if you are like me, add the rest of the bottle that was hanging out in your fridge.

Once it gets well mixed, carefully add your burgers back to the mix and coat gently on both sides with sauce. Then top with thick slices of sharp cheddar cheese and a little mound of blue cheese.



I put the blue cheese on top of the cheddar, but I realize in hindsight that it may have been smarter to top the blue cheese with the cheddar to keep it all contained.



Turn the heat off of the pan and cover it with a lid or foil and let it sit until cheese melts.




Toast some earth grain whole wheat thin bun things (I love those things!) or whatever you want to serve it on. I sprayed mine with Pam and then broiled in the oven for about 2-3 minutes.. They came out so perfectly toasted.

Top each bottom bun with lettuce, avocado, pickles, and any condiments you desire, (blue cheese dressing would be yummy) then a patty and the other bun.

Enjoy.

This is the outfit I wore yesterday.. I was feeling the breezy hippie vibe...

Berry Berry Shortcake: Like My Mom Made

Okay so the shortcake part of this recipe is a very old family tradition... I kind of amped up the berries a bit with a fresh take for spring: grapefruit simple syrup.

You will want to fix the berries in the morning of the day you want to serve them so that they have plenty of time to sit and mix and make plenty of juice. My Nana used to just cut strawberries and sprinkle sugar on them and leave them all day, but I like to add in unexpected flavors, so this is my take:

One pound fresh strawberries, tops cut off and sliced in half
Handful of blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries (fresh preferred on all three)
One grapefruit
1/2 c + 2 Tbsp sugar

Mix all the berries together in a bowl and sprinkle with about 2 Tbsp sugar.

Zest the grapefruit on top of the berries with a microplane grater/zester.



Cut open the grapefruit and juice it, taking care to remove all of the seeds and pulp.

Pour the juice into a small sauce pan and add 1/2 c sugar. Bring to a simmer until thickened, then pour on top of berries and stir. Cover and refrigerate for several hours until ready to serve.




Shortcakes

3 c flour
4 tsp baking powder
2/3 c sugar
1/2 c solid shortening (crisco)

Using a pastry cutter work together until consistency of meal. I have come to recognize this statement as "mash together until no large pieces remain".



Add 2 beaten eggs. Do not try and pour the eggs on top and mix really fast... you will have bits of bright yellow in your batter and it won't look right. Trust me, beat first.
around 1/2 milk, or a little less.
Mix well. Flour hands and shape into 12 patties. Place in a greased 9x12 baking pan and bake for about 15 minutes (I baked mine for 13 minutes and they were perfect) or until lightly browned. DO NOT BURN!



Split them open and slather with butter. Spoon your berry mixture on top and top with homemade whipped cream.

A cute note on my Nana's recipe card is from a man that ate at the restaurant years ago. "A man eating this in our Tea Room said it was like a religious experience!" I love that. It makes me smile!

Homemade Whipped Cream

1/2 c heavy whipping cream
2-4 Tbsp sugar

Put into a magic bullet cup or small blender or mixer with a whipping blade/paddle and whip on high for as long as it takes to make cream... You will never buy store bought again because it is so easy to do, absolutely delicious, and cheap.

Enjoy!

Southern Comfort Food: Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Roasted Corn

I am just going to admit it: I don't post as many healthy recipes as I should.

I apologize...

I *really* will try to do better.

But seriously, I can't keep this recipe from you. It is just to easy and too ridiculously good, and if you are missing cooking like mom made, this is the way to get that home-cooking satisfaction.

What I did:

Chicken Fried Steak

2 good sized cubed steaks

cup or so of flour
black pepper
salt
paprika
season salt

1/3-1/2 c milk
1-2 tsp vinegar
1 egg

enough shortening/vegetable oil to make about 1/4-1/2 inch deep in a frying pan

Add the vinegar to the milk and let sit for about 5 minutes. If you have buttermilk, skip this step and just use buttermilk - no vinegar. If you are like me and don't have it, then do this to make your own buttermilk.

Meanwhile, mix your flour and seasoning in a pie pan or big plate or bowl. Beat the egg and mix with the buttermilk in a separate pie pan or shallow bowl.

Cover your cubed steaks with the flour mixture, being sure to pat it into all the crevices. Dip into the buttermilk and egg mixture, then back into the flour mixture. Make sure it is very well coated with flour, then lay on a piece of waxed paper to rest while moving on to the next.



While steaks are resting for about 5 minutes, heat your oil in your frying pan to medium hi - hi heat. Carefully add the cubed steaks and fry until each side is golden brown.

Remove to a plate and cover with foil or transfer on a baking sheet to warm oven to keep warm while making your gravy.

Add about 1/4 c or less of flour to the pan and whisk vigorously to make a smooth paste, heating over medium heat. Add about a cup of milk to the mixture, stirring as you add, until you reach your desired thickness. I used a bit of half and half, and the rest milk.



Add plenty of salt and pepper and pour on top of your chicken fried steak and homemade mashed potatoes.


Mashed Potatoes

I have found that my favorite technique for making mashed potatoes is steaming the potato chunks in the microwave until tender, then mashing with chicken broth, sour cream, and butter. You may ask why steaming them? This is because I always hate how watery the potato chunks get in a pot of boiling water, and with this microwave method the chunks don't retain water, so I can use more yummy liquid to thin it, like milk and chicken broth, instead of already having watered down mashed potatoes.

You can steam any veggie in the microwave with Ziploc steamer bags, or if you have a freshsaver vacuum system, they have steamer bags too. I wash, peel, and cut my potato chunks into halves or quarters, depending on the size of potato. Chuck them into the bag, then seal it in my freshsaver. Then I microwave for about 7 minutes, dump into a bowl and whip with a splash or two of milk, about 1/4 or so chicken broth, and 1/4 c butter. Season with salt and pepper and serve with chicken fried steak gravy.

Roasted Corn

This is now my all time favorite way to eat corn! And it should probably be called char-grilled corn, but I am going to say roasted because it evokes a more sophisticated image... whatever that means!

Have your hubby turn on the grill. Donovan said he grilled them on medium heat. Leave your corn in the husks, have hubby toss them on the grill and close the lid. Leave until the husks are all burnt and charred.



Using gloves or some sort of towel to protect your hands, strip the husks off and reveal your delicious corn. Slather in butter and parmesan cheese (if you desire... we ate it with butter and sea salt and fresh ground pepper).

Perfect Mother's Day Gift: Body Scrubs!

For those of you that don't know: I make and sell homemade organic body scrubs. They are wonderful and leave your skin feeling silky smooth. The best part is: they are completely natural!

In honor of Mother's Day I am selling 3 32oz jars of my scrub, normally $25 a piece, for $15!!!! I am only making this deal for the three jars I made today, and once they are gone - they are gone! So let me know quick if you want to get in on the deal!!

I have:

Grapefruit Sugar Scrub
Lemon Sugar Scrub
Peppermint Sea Salt Scrub




Okay so I could make one more, if someone really wants me too, but get in contact with me quickly!!! I want to leave plenty of time to complete orders in time for Mother's Day!

Grapefruit Meringue Nests with Mixed Berries

I was looking through some cooking pictures from last month and my mouth watered when I landed on this one.



Are you drooling now too? I figured.

This delicious dish is called a Grapefruit Meringue Nest with Mixed Berries... The name is kind of a handful, but that is what Good Housekeeping named it when they featured it in their magazine last month. I made them and was completely impressed. A few things went a little wrong with mine, however. Like: I had to turn the oven off early because I had to leave the house, so they didn't quite dry out all the way and stuck to everything. Okay that was the only thing. The berries that we put on top were ridiculous. I am not kidding. They were down right ridiculously tasty. We had some leftover so I turned them in to berry shortcakes with the recipe I will post later.

But seriously, if you want a super impressive brunch or dessert item for your next gathering, try this. If the nests don't quite work out, just spoon up some berries on your favorite shortcakes, or use the recipe I am going to be posting shortly.

Mexican Chicken Lasagna

Tonight I made Mexican Chicken Lasagna, and my sweet, supportive husband taped me while I went through the motions like a Paula Dean, or a Rachael Ray...

I have to admit, this is the craziest way to cook!!! But I kind of like it...

So I will be entering this recipe and video in the Paula Dean: Real Women of Philly competition, along with a few others.

Here is the recipe

3 cups cooked shredded chicken
1 onion chopped
1 can chopped green chiles
1/2 package cream cheese, softened for 1 minute at half power (after trial and error I suggest only using half the package, though my video says 1 package)
1/4 sour cream (this too is an adjustment)
2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese
1 can green enchilada sauce, or your favorite enchilada sauce
Cilantro
Flour tortillas

Preheat oven to 350
Grease a medium sized casserole dish. I used a 8x10, but a 9x9 would work fine.

Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, onions, chiles, chicken, and about 1/2 cup of the cheese together. Shred cilantro and mix in to chicken mixture.

Place a layer of tortilla(s) to cover the bottom of the dish. Spread the chicken mixture evenly on top of the tortilla. Top with cheese and a thin layer of sauce. Repeat with tortilla, chicken mixture, cheese and sauce until you run out of ingredients.

Top with remaining cheese.

Baking for about 30 minutes on 350, then set under the broiler for 2 minutes or until cheese is golden and bubbly. Let sit for about 5 minutes to rest so that it is easier to cut.

Serve with cilantro and sour cream to garnish.

Delicious with roasted corn and a light salad. I will post the roasted corn recipe soon.

Enjoy.

This can be changed easily to fit tastes: change type of tortilla, type of enchilada sauce, or type of meat to please even the pickiest eaters.

Recipe made the way it is written above can be cooked in the microwave, in a microwave safe covered cooker. Microwave about 7 minutes or until heated through.

MilSpouse Blog Hop!

So all I know about this blog hop is that I found it on Sailor Wifey's blog. I think it is a fantastic idea but don't know how best to explain what it is so check it out here.


About Me

My name is Virginia Decker and I am 23 years old. I am a very proud military wife of 2 years, and mother to a 17 month old little boy. I am a cancer survivor and I thank God every day for blessing me with such a wonderfully supportive family. Cooking is more than just a daily duty or responsibility to me. I see cooking as a way to create powerful memories for my family: the smell of fresh baked bread wafting out the front door as my husband comes home, crisp bacon and fresh brewed coffee waking up my husband and child, homemade graham crackers delighting my hungry son... Food is not just a basic survival need: it is much more than that to me.

I met my husband around Thanksgiving 2007. I never believed in the term "love at first sight" but I think we came pretty close. We started dating a few weeks later when we met again, and within 10 days we were engaged and madly in love,and married 2 months later. We got pregnant on our honeymoon, and 9 months later our Landon was born. Lucky for us we are still just as in love as when we first met, though we realize that our story is a rare one.

My husband and I have been through so much together. I am truly blessed to have him in my life.

I hope you enjoy checking out my blog. It is a wonderful tool for me to retain a little bit of my identity, and to feel like I am giving a bit of myself to the world.