the Better Burger

I'm sure that most of us have had a lot of burgers in our lifetime. And, you can do a lot of things with a burger, beef burger, veggie burger, chicken burger, soy burger (yuck-sorry if you like them) etc. And oh what you can load on a burger....lettuce, onions, pickles, tomatoes, banana peppers, BACON, ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc. You even have different ways you can cook them....broil, pan fry, grill, etc. My favorite burger is from Red Robin! (Man I love that place!) If you haven't been there you gotta get there! :) Burgers are a staple of this country! (although I'm not so sure that's a good thing.)

With Spring in the air and warm weather here, it was a great time to try a new burger. And believe me, Rachel Ray does burgers very well. I'm almost tempted to say it's one of her favorite foods.....but who can blame her?!?! :D

This burger definitely enticed me....you combine a delicious steak burger, with my favorite food....pizza!! And what you get, is a crazy good, knife and fork burger....the Steak Pizzaiola Burger.

Growing up, learning to cook from my mom (and granny), my mom would always tell me, the better your ingredients, the better your food and end result. That's so true! So, if you want a good burger, you want to start with good meat, ground sirloin. (aka-Steakburger ;) hehe)

For this burger, you combine 2lbs. ground sirloin, 1/2C finely chopped pepperoni, 1/4C fresh flat-leaf parsley, 1tsp. dried oregano and 1tsp crushed red pepper flakes. (Once you have it combined real well, using your hands, it should make 4 'good-sized' burgers) Put a couple Tbsp.

EVOO in a pan and fry the burgers. (You can also throw 'em on the grill, or the George Foreman if you don't have a grill, or broil them.)

For the onions to top your burger: Put about 2Tbsp of EVOO in a pan and saute' 2 large onions, seasoned with salt and pepper, over medium-high heat until soft. Add 3Tbsp of tomato paste and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until it smells sweet and has caramelized. For the final touch, add 3/4C dry red wine and cook until the wine has almost completely evaporated.

Now, to put this bad boy burger together. :)

You can use whatever type of bread you like, sesame semolina is what the recipe calls for, but an onion roll or kaiser roll or onion kaiser roll, are all also wonderful for this! Finely chop 3 or 4 cloves of garlic and heat it with about 4Tbsp of butter. Then butter your bread with the garlic butter and place it on a baking sheet and slide it under the broiler just until its toasty brown, and sprinkle with a little grated Parmigiano-eggiano. Place a burger atop the bread, divide the onion mixture evenly over the burger, and top it off with 2 slices of provolone cheese. And of course, serve with a knife and fork!! Aaaaand, some homemade steak fries would accompany it perfectly! :) (Or your favorite side salad.)

This, truly, was the best burger I've ever eaten! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

YUM-O!!

"Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

One of my favorite things about Spring, aside from the fact that Summer is coming, it's sand volleyball season and next to the gorgeous sunshine, is the joyous baseball season ahead! :) (I mean, as joyous as it can be, being a Reds fan, you know?! ;) lol)

If you're anything like me, I love sitting in the sunshine (if there's a breeze ;) lol) at the ballpark enjoying the game and good friends, a hot dog, peanuts and an occasional beer. You know though, we can't always make it to the ballpark for every game. And let's face it, Great American ballpark is not wallet friendly. So, why not bring the ballpark to your house? You can take all your favorite things you love at the ballpark and enjoy it right from your living room, patio or even your own backyard! But, you get more comfortable seats, a little better tasting food and your wallet still has money in it when the game is over! :)

So, today I made NY ballpark burritos: A savory version of the ballpark frank in burrito form with a little more flava'! :)

First, I want to say, sometimes I find myself wanting to deviate from the recipe and add or change things, things /I think will be good with the recipe or things I may like better, but, I'm sticking to the recipe's for now. (Which is sometimes hard for me to do. :) lol And some of you, may know exactly what I'm talking about!)

So, depending on how you enjoy your dog, there are a lot of things you can add to hot dog to enjoy it. But this is a tasty NY style Ballpark hot dog.....in a tortilla.

First thing you want to make sure of, is that you have big enough tortilla's to hold the hot dog and fixin's! Get a can of BBQ baked beans. (I use Busch's southern style bbq baked beans-but use whatever you like best) Add a little black pepper, Worcestershire sauce and some good hot sauce to spice it up a bit. Let that simmer.





Next get your sauerkraut ready; add 1C of beer (I prefer a somewhat darker beer in this-such as Amberbock-but you can use whatever you like) and about 1/3C of spicy brown mustard. Bring that to a boil and then let simmer.

Right about now, your house should be smelling like the ballpark! The aroma from the kraut and beans should be enticing your neighbors to pay admission to join the game! :)

Get a small white onion and chop it to add to the burritos. Take the tortilla's and heat them slightly in a skillet; flip and then add Swiss cheese and let melt, then top with some of the beans, kraut, chopped onion and then your hot dog. Fold in the ends and roll up like a burrito. Enjoy.

Do be careful with these, they are so delicious you'll want to keep eating them but I wouldn't dare anyone to try and eat more than one! :)

Throw in some peanuts on a table and a bucket or something somewhere for the shells, ice your favorite beer and you got the ballpark in your own home! :) Even if there's no game on.....still a great thing to enjoy! :)

YUM-O!