Hello, all! Hope your Thanksgiving was as fun-, food-, and family-filled as ours. Well, maybe not quite as much “fun” — I certainly hope nobody else was stuck at the airport for 9 hours on Turkey Day. But that’s a story for another day. Today I want to talk to you guys about Crock Pot Chili and slow cookers**.
Today’s post is inspired by The Pioneer Woman, whose blog consistently makes me drool all over my computer, and whose new Food Network show makes me wish someone would hurry up and invent Smell-o’-Vision for TVs. I saw her making pot roast last weekend — a perfectly tender, juicy, melt-y pot roast with carrots and onions — and have had beef on the brain ever since. So, when Milli over at myChef asked me to guest post for her blog, I knew exactly what I was going to make. My full post with pictures + recipe can be found at Milli’s blog. Check it out! For other great recipe ideas, click here.
Yesterday, I made a batch of brioche buns with hamburgers in mind. But, they turned out to be small and biscuit-like, so I decided to eat them for breakfast instead, maybe slathered with a little jam or cherry butter. Problem is, there are a lot of buns, and I don’t actually eat breakfast much. Dan doesn’t either, unless it’s a muffin or bagel. Hmm. My main concern with using the brioche buns for burgers was that they wouldn’t be sturdy enough to stand up to a thick, juicy patty. Dan thought they would work though, so…hello, Dan in the Kitchen #4! I’m always happy to stand aside and let someone else cook dinner. These ranch burgers were inspired by one of the Ranch dressing commercials...
Looks like Hurricane Irene is the new Snowpocalypse — everything is closed, traffic has ground to a halt, and everyone is holed up in their homes. The only difference, I guess, is that we’re actually prepared to battle the forces of nature this time around. Maybe a little too prepared. BJ’s was a mad house yesterday! I was just there to get some snacks, but it seemed like everyone else was stocking up on enough bottled water and dry foods to survive the Apocalypse. I almost caved in to the peer pressure and got some water myself, but I was on foot and couldn’t possibly carry all that back home. Besides, the storm is only supposed to last a day or two, and I’ve...
Two of my college friends got married in Hawaii recently. (I know. So jealous.) Sadly, I wasn’t invited to the wedding — ahem, Sonia – but I’ve been facebook stalking the photo albums of the people who went, so it kind of feels like I was there too. Note to self: must go to Hawaii soon. From what I can tell, when the wedding guests weren’t watching the two love birds join in holy matrimony, they were stuffing their faces with yummy Hawaiian food. Everything looked delicious, but it was the pictures of loco moco that really had me drooling. Rice, gravy, hamburger, and a fried egg? I’m so there! The ingredients for loco mocos are simple, the recipe is straightforward, and I was chowing...
So, my friend Spike and I have been having intense gchat conversations about what we can do with all the ground beef we’ve got on our hands. We each saw family-sized packs of ground beef on sale at the grocery store a couple weeks ago and couldn’t resist getting in on the deal. Seemed like a pretty idea at the time, but now we’ve each got 5 lbs of meat in the freezer. That is a lot of meat, guys. I used up a little over a pound of the meat for stuffed burgers a few weeks ago, and Spike made both burgers and meatballs. Not sure what he’s going to do with the rest of his meat, but I have grand plans for kimchi...
Dan was jonesing hard for Five Guy’s and Ray’s Hell Burger this weekend. Who can blame him? They’ve got amazing burgers! But, getting to Five Guy’s meant spending 30 minutes in intense local traffic, and Ray’s Hell Burger is always packed to the gills on weekends, so neither option seemed particularly appealing. We didn’t want to give up burgers altogether though, so we decided to buy ground beef and make/grill our own. What a great idea that was! The smell of grilled burgers is such a nice, summery smell, isn’t it? And, the homemade burgers were unbelievably yummy — juicy and bursting with flavor. So good, in fact, that we ended up making them for dinner two nights in a row. This picture doesn’t do a good...
I woke up this morning with a mean craving for steak. I’m probably low on iron or something. Unfortunately for me though, the cafeteria at work doesn’t serve juicy ribeyes. Instead, I had to settle for a slightly soggy egg salad sandwich with bland tomatoes. Very sad, I know. I really wanted steak though. Thought about it all day, in fact. So, I dragged Dan kicking and screaming to the grocery store after work to buy some. I know he hates running errands with me, but he had to pick me up from the metro anyway and since we were already in the car, why not keep on driving to Safeway? Plus, we spent a grand total of 15 minutes in the store and...
So, miracle of miracles, this recipe was actually sent to me by Dan. Yeah. The man who thinks eating is a hassle and only sometimes gets excited for dinner if it involves dumplings and/or blueberry pie sent me a link to a sandwich. Must be one hell of a sandwich! Naturally, I had to check it out. OK, so what the hell is a “shooter’s sandwich?” According to the article Dan sent me, it’s apparently an English invention. It was originally created as a snack that a gentleman’s cook would make the night before a hunt, to be eaten when the gentleman in question got hungry after a day of bloodthirsty entertainment. So, it’s literally a sandwich for someone who shoots. Cool. More specifically, the shooter’s...
I haven’t eaten (or thought about) chicken fried steak since I moved out of Texas, where everything is bigger, beefier, and more fried. I’m not a health nut or anything, but I generally try not to eat too many fried foods if I can help it. And chicken fried steak is…a slab of steak that is breaded, fried, and then smothered in gravy. Red meat AND fried? That’s a heart attack on a plate if I’ve ever seen one. Still, the Pioneer Woman had a post on chicken fried steak last week and it just looked so yummy that I had to try it. Chicken fried steak is so different from the way I usually eat steak. I like my steak to be thick and...
