Stuffed Burgers... Heaven in a Bun!

Okay, so I had to give a title that would catch the eye. :)

What can I say, I honestly love how this simple recipe came out.

So I made a batch of my favorite Avocado Salsa, though I had to improvise as I didn't have the green onions or fresh cilantro. I had 6, slightly smaller avocados, and used them all. I had a large red and yellow bell pepper which I used. To substitute the cilantro I used dried and I just used chives instead of onions. A milder flavor is always my favorite. So this batch came out creamier more like guacamole in texture. This prompted my idea to use it stuffed in a burger.

So here is the recipe for the ultimate stuffed burger.

I took fresh ground beef, 88% lean. I added 2 TBSP of Ketchup, (I use a brand free of high fructose corn syrup.)

I mixed the meat with the ketchup to give it a bit more moisture.

I pressed out a thin burger and topped with some sheep milk feta (Found this at Costco in the Cheese and Lunch Meat section) and a heaping spoon of the Avocado Salsa.

I topped with a second patty (both about 1/4 lb) and pressed the edges together to seal in the cheese and avocado mixture.

Sprinkle the outside with a pinch of sea salt and tuscan herbs.

I cooked this on medium heat in a fry pan, no oil. The avocado will exude it's own oil and I have a ceramic coated fry pan. Cover to hold the heat in and keep the burger moist. I turn the burger at least 3 times to get well browned and cooked through.

The feta will melt inside and add to the gooey goodness.

Remove from the heat. I prepped the bread or bun by toasting lightly. I put a couple slices of manchego cheese on along with some fresh mixed greens and topped with the burger. This is such a juicy burger you will definitely need a napkin handy. Enjoy!

(Here are the promised pictures.)

Christmas Celebrations, Ruminations and New Years Hopes & Dreams!

I spent Christmas on Christmas Eve at my brother’s house! It was so nice to have family time and visiting with my Brother, his wife, and their son Roger and his wife and kids. Their children are so much fun and very artistically talented. Amber loves to draw and has a very good eye for perspective already. Anthony is more the 3 dimensional artist and likes to build things. I hope to teach him how to make the clay dragons like I do. Though I bet his will be even better than mine in no time.

My sister-in-law and I love to cook, so it’s always fun to talk cooking, cookbooks and such with her. I wish we had more time to just get together and cook and have fun.

Later in the day the rest of the friends that they invited arrived for the dinner. Since many of these people have joined us for the holidays for many years it feels like extended family when they arrive. The conversation was full of the joy that makes the Holiday all that much more fun. It was a wonderful day!

The only damper for me was that lost feeling I can’t shake. I feel like that square peg trying to cram into a round hole. It’s trying to be happy without Mom there. She was so much a part of my life that I feel out of place without her. I have done all I could this year to get that feeling of cheer, but I feel like I fall just short of the goal. I know it’s more than just losing Mom, it’s everything else that has happened. I am still very knocked off kilter. As you can see in this picture, just 2 years ago it was a big family gathering at Christmas, my other brother came to visit with his family, Mom was still doing pretty well and well, I hadn't known the deep betrayal that would hit me from my husband. This year, there is no Mom, so Joe and family didn't come up to visit. And it's just Uno and I here with Husband in Jail and a divorce in the future. I hope 2013 is better. I will hopefully be divorced and I am looking for a way to solve my money problems. I hope to get time to write more. I would like to finally put my cookbook together and maybe e-publish it. I want to build up my cooking blog and try and post at least every other day. And one way or another I will get back to Florida for a visit at the very least.  That would really help to fill the hole for me.

So I wish all of my friends and family here, in Florida and spread out across the country and world a very Merry Christmas! I hope your day is filled with family, cheer and blessings! And may we all have a Bright and Happy New Year full of possibilities!

Merry Christmas everyone!

German Stӧllen Bread

This is Mom’s recipe for German Stӧllen Bread!

There were many revisions over the years. She also divides the recipe for making half a batch or 6 loaves instead of 12. I am going to type out the most recent revision then copy the 4 pages of her hand written recipe to post along with it. She has a note to read the whole recipe and revisions each year before she would start making the loaves for that year.

I remember Mom and I having a production line of making loaves of bread each year. We would make somewhere between 18 and 24 loaves. She would take some as gifts for her Minister at Church, friends from Church Circle; Dad would take to boss, or special clients. And of course we would have some for ourselves. She would freeze at least 3 so we would have this delightful fruit bread for at least several weeks for breakfast or a special after school treat.

1994 Revised Stӧllen Bread Recipe

For 6 Loaves       For 12 Loaves                     Mix Together:

¾ cup                    1 ½ cup                                 Lukewarm Milk

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Sugar

¾ tsp                     1 ½ tsp                                  Salt

2 pkg                     3 packages                          Dissolve fresh dry yeast in:

¼ cup                    ½ cup                                    Water, lukewarm, & stir well. Add to:

2                              4`                                            Eggs

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Shortening (mom used Crisco)

2 cup                     4 cup                                     Flour

                                                                                Put all this in mixer bowl with dough hook attached. Add:

2 cup                     4 cup                                     flour and mix very well at slow speed. Add:

1 cup                     2 cup                                     more flour when mixed until dough leaves side of bowl.

Put out on the Table (Mom had a formica topped kitchen table, she would sprinkle the top with flour and do this step) and knead for about 5 minutes with a little more flour until it “Feels right”. (It’s springy and has a tight consistency.)

Put in large, greased bowl covered with greased aluminum pie pan & place in slightly warm oven. Be sure to put a cookie sheet underneath in case it runs over and drips down when it rises. (She would prewarm the oven and turn it off, so it was warmer than room temp. This creates a warm, dry atmosphere and reduces the chance of humidity changing how well it rises.)

Punch down in 2 ½ to 3 hours and let rise- turn over to bring greased side to the top.

Second rising is 1 to 1 ½ hours.

Meanwhile – prepare the fruit & nuts by putting each of the following into 2 equal piles.

This much in each pile

For 6 Loaves       For 12 Loaves                     Ingredients

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Old English Fruit & Peel Mix

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Raisins

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Currants

¼ cup                    ½ cup                                    Citron

¼ cup                    ½ cup                                    candied Cherries

¼ cup                    ½ cup                                    mixed orange & lemon peel (candied)

½ cup                    1 cup                                     Broken Pecans

1 Tblsp                  2 Tblsp                                  grated fresh lemon rind

Put ½ the dough and the abovelisted fruit in the mixer with dough hook – on slow speed & let the mixer do the work of mixing in the fruit. When well distributed, turn out on floured board – let rest for 15 minutes to make it easier to handle and shape into 5 loaves (approx. 13 oz each) Let rise one hour while preparing second half of the dough.

Bake only one cookie sheet in each oven at 350° degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Frost with XXXX icing and decorate with candied Cherries & Green Pineapple creating flowers. Be sure to use evaporated milk for icing – skim milk makes a grainy consistency.

* In 2000 not too successful because dough didn’t rise properly & bread was too dense and heavy.

      In the future start the first steps very early so dough can have plenty of time for 3 risings & still be finished the same day.  ( If Cannot finish in one day, do NOT put dough in refrigerator overnight. (It seemed to have killed the yeast.) Just leave it out & punch it down the next morning.

These are the 4 pages of the original recipe from Mom's Cookbook! She had this filed in the book under "Yeast Breads"!

 

Holiday Update!

So today I put up Christmas Decorations. Or have started to at the least. This is more than has been done at my home in 8 years. I always decorated for Mom, her tree, the manger scene, lights and the works. She loved decorating for Christmas just in the last years she could not do as much herself. And well, I learned to love it through her. So this is what I have done so far…

Even Shadow liked the pretty lights.  Seriously need to sweep leaves, Again! Seriously, I have swept like every other day. You would never know from this picture.

I also had some great help from my neighbor John, who moved some furniture for me. He got rid of that durn desk from soon to be exes office and the chair too. The oversized Armoir is now in the office and he is going to help me turn it into a crafting station for me. So another step of my rearranging plan has been taken care of. And I got rid of two small DVD cabinets and tomorrow a table in my office. Every thing going out makes room for all I have to do to make this room into a rental for a roommate.

But the best part of my day came with an early dinner out with Katherine and her Mom. We went to the Cracker Barrel just up the road. I love eating there. But even more, I love exploring all their cute decorations and clothes in their country store up front. It was another tradition Mom and I had over the years. So it was fun to have the time out with Katherine and her Mom. Now that my Mom is gone, it is nice to feel like I still have someone to carry on a tradition or two with.

Tomorrow, I am going up to the cemetery to take the Christmas Boquet that I made for Mom and Dad and a Santa topper for the Solar Light that I put on Dad’s side of the marker. Jim, my brother, took up two solar Christmas Trees. So they have decorations too. I think that would please Mom if she knew. (I’m still on the fence as to how much those who have passed on know, see or care about.)

So hope everyone else is having a wonderful weekend. Did you get to have some fun decorating? Or do you celebrate the holidays? Did you put up a Menorah if that is what your belief is? For those who decorate, do you just put up a tree inside? Or do you go all out? Could your home be accused of being seen from the International Space Station? Or are you a minimalist with just a wreath and that’s supposed to be enough? Do you have any fun traditions that make the season right for you?

Rose

Leek & Cauliflower Soup

Sorry I haven't posted a recipe lately. I have had a lot going on around me and I feel like the world is spinning wrong or something. But occasionally, my Creative Cooking Muse gets through the fog and inspires me.

This time it was seeing some of the prettiest Leeks in the store and thinking "I haven't had Leek and Potato Soup in a while." Since Richard was diagnosed with High Triglecerides I have tried to watch how much I use regular potatoes in my recipes. Lately I had been making mashed Cauliflower to substitute Mashed Potatoes. So I thought, why not Leek & Cauliflower instead of Potatoes.

Leek & Cauliflower Soups

2 Heads of Cauliflower
8 Green Onions, White part
4 Large Cloves of Garlic, diced
2 Cups of Chicken Stock
3 Large Leeks (White up to the Light Green Part)
2 Cups Goat Yogurt
1 small package of Chevre Cheese (the one I used has a light honey flavor)

Tonight I cut up 2 really pretty heads of Cauliflower and put in my big Dutch Oven with 2 cups of Chicken Stock. I diced up 4 large cloves of Garlic and 8 Green Onions (whites only, saved the tops for another dish.)

While that simmered I started cleaning the Leeks. Leeks have a lot of sand/grit and need to be washed thoroughly before you cook them. So Cut the bottom off, and then peel off the outer leaf. Then cut in 1/4 inch rings and put into a strainer. I use my thumb to pushed the rings out so every layer can get washed off. I rinse well under running water and lift and turn the rings to make sure all the grit is washed away. Add the washed leeks to the pot and cover and let simmer for 15 minutes.

At the 15 minute point I gave it all a good stir, covered and let simmer another 15 minutes. I repeated until the Cauliflower was soft and gets a bit translucent. I then used a good old fashioned Potato Masher. Yep, I have one of those. Mash the whole mix well and let simmer at least 10 more minutes.

That is when I get out the big guns, or in this case, the stick blender. To really reduce the mash to a more creamy texture. I added the Goat Yogurt and Chevre during this process and blended until completely smooth.

The final Soup is ultra thick and creamy. I served up a bowl and topped with just a sprinkle of Smoked Paprika. Heaven!


On a side note, when I had trouble cutting the Leeks with a Knife I pulled out my handy dandy Kitchen Scissors. Seriously, these are the best, I use them to cut chicken, julienne Spinach and cut through things that are harder to cut. I just love these because they come apart and wash easily as well as making it easy to sharpen them when they dull a bit. I found them at AgriSupply. I highly recommend having at least 1 or 2 pairs of these scissors in your kitchen.

Veggie Stew

So I had a plethora of veggies and wanted to use them before they had a chance to go bad. After a bit of thinking I decided on a Veggie Stew! I know it's hot out and I'm eating more cold veggies, but my back was hurting and I wanted comfort food. I have these wonderful scissors that I use when doing prep work. They seperate so I can wash them thoroughly. I used them when I want to make a chiffonade of Spinach or Herbs, I can cut Chicken with them and sometimes for dicing/slicing some thinner veggies. Tonight I used them for cutting my Green Onions and Celery as well as the baby Bok Choy and even dicing up the small bell peppers.

Veggie Stew:

1 Tblsp - Olive Oil
12 Green Onions - diced
5 stalks of Celery - sliced thin
1 cup of julienned carrots
12 baby Bok Choy (About 4 leaves and the stems in each bundle) sliced thin
4 - small Red & Yellow Bell Peppers - seeded, sliced thin and diced up
1/4 head of Cabbage Sliced thin
1 large Zucchini - Cleaned, Peeled and cut up
1 Large Summer Squash - Cleaned, Peeled and Cut Up
1/4 cup chopped Cilantro (Fresh)
1 - Can of Diced Tomatoes
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tblsp Italian Seasoning
1 tsp Paprika
dash of black pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 Tblsp Corn Starch (or Arrowroot)

I sliced the Zucchini into 1/2 rounds and then 1/4 each round.

In my 5 Quart Casserole I put the oil and onion first on medium heat. I slowly added the Carrots, Celery, Bok Choy, Peppers, Cabbage and finally the Squashes, Cilantro, Canned Tomatoes & Seasonings. I covered and let cook slowly for 30 minutes. When everything was cooked tender I added the Starch (Arrowroot) to a small amount of water and stirred to disolve. Then I added it slowly to the Veggies and stirred gently but thoroughly to mix the Starch into the hot liquid and allowed to thicken.

I served this over Noodles beside some very nice Rib Eye Steaks.

This was so good and will make a good side for Chicken tomorrow too.

Recipe Thoughts

So I am totally nuts for Pinterest.com and love checking out recipes others have liked. I found one that sounds so good, but seemed like it would be pretty high in sodium. It's Zucchini Fries. Don't let the name fool you, they are not Fried but Baked. The thing I didn't like, they use Shake n' Bake to bread the Zucchini. Sorry, trying to go healthy and prepackaged breading that is fairly high in sodium won't cut it with me. So I read the box of Shake n' Bake. Instantly I saw Corn Meal, Flour, Minced Onion. This is where I went for my inspiration to create my own Shake n' Bake with no added Sodium. (Yes, at 280 mg, Shake n' Bake isn't as bad as some, but still, that's more than I want in my diet.) And a big concern for when cooking for my husband is whole grain, not refined flours. So I wanted to find Panko Crumbs that were Whole Wheat. I scored at Kroger in the Asian Section.

So this is what I put together tonight. I have not tested it on the Zucchini yet, but this is similar to what I do for Fried Chicken. So I know the flavor will be great.

Rose's Shake n' Bake:

1 cup - Whole Wheat or Brown Rice Flour

1 cup - Whole Wheat Panko (I found these in the Asian Section at Kroger)

1 cup - Corn Meal

2 Tblsp - Minced Onion

1 Tblsp - Parsley

1 Tblsp - Cumin

1 Tblsp - Smoked Paprika

1 Tblsp - Garlic Powder

1 tsp - Corriander

I put everything into a 1 gallon Ziplock bag and shook. This is great to make ahead and have for when you are wanting to cook on the fly. If you like things spicier, you can add Black Pepper, Chili or Red Pepper and for a more Italian flavor add Basil, Oregano and or Thyme.

I will post the Zucchini Fries recipe after I have made it. Probably will do this tomorrow night.