Humdinger Hamburger

Hamburgers are probably the most popular item to hit the grill on any given weekend across the Canada and USA.

So, let's get a good flavor going on that burger.....

Ingredients

Humdinger Spice Mix

3 tbs lemon pepper
1 Tbs ground thyme
1 Tbs paprika
1 tsp granular garlic
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Hamburger Patties

2 pounds ground beef
12 soda crackers
3 eggs
Humdinger Spice

Stuff you will need

Mixing bowl
Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper
BBQ Grill or better yet, Cast Iron Skillet 
Spatula

Directions

As early in the day as you can, decide that your going to have these Humdinger Hamburgers and go to the freezer and thaw out some hamburger, or go to the store and get 2 pounds of fresh hamburger.

Come home and mix up the spices.  Then mix up everything together and make your patties.  You want to make sliders, make your burgers smaller.  You want to have HUGE hamburgers, well, make them bigger.

Once you have your patties all done, let them sit for a few hours in the fridge.

I fried up an onion with some garlic and pepper in butter so that I would have that as an extra topping for our burgers.  Although it was one large onion, it was all used up with a few burgers.  So if you are making a lot of burgers, consider frying up 2 onions.

Consider toasting your hamburger buns.  That adds another flavour note to the burgers.  Yummy!

Click on the "YouTube" link within the video to see me making and cooking up these burgers on the full screen mode.

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Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Salisbury Steak with Ground Beef

Salisbury Steak Recipe

Another one of my "Comfort Food" recipes.  Did you know you can search by key words?  If you type in "Comfort Food" in the search banner, all the recipes labeled that way will appear in the search.

I used my Kitchenaid Food Processor.  Doesn't this make life great.  Also used my 5 quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven.

Ingredients

1 pound of Ground Round Beef

1/2 teaspoon of Black Pepper

1 teaspoon of Salt

1/2 teaspoon of Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon of Worcestershire Sauce

1 whole Egg

1/4 cup of dry Bread Crumbs

2 Tablespoons of Butter

1 large Onion, sliced

2 Tablespoons of Flour

2 cups of Water

2 teaspoons of Beef Bouillon Granules

Stuff you will need

Heavy Pot with Lid

Mixing bowl

Instructions

In a mixing bowl, combine the Beef, Black Pepper, Salt, Garlic Powder, Worcestershire Sauce, Bread Crumbs and one whole Egg. Stir mixture together well.

Shape into 4 equal sized patties.

Heat a skillet over medium heat for about a minute, and then add Butter.

Place meat patties in skillet and brown on both sides for about 4-5 minutes each. Remove from skillet and set aside.

Add the sliced Onion into the skillet, right on top of the browned bits.

Reduce the heat and cook the onions on medium-low heat until the onions turn translucent and brown. Don't rush this step. Cook the onions low and slow for about 20-25 minutes.

Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of flour over the onions. Stir. Let cook and brown for about 2 minutes.

Add 2 cups of cold Water. Stir well. Raise the heat back up to about medium.

Add 2 teaspoons of Beef Bouillon Granules. Stir Well.

Place the meat patties back in the pan. Cover. Reduce heat just a little and let simmer for about 15 more minutes. Remove from heat and serve warm.

Here is the video I made.  If you click on the "YouTube" link in the video, it will redirect you to the YouTube site where you can make the video full screen.

Did you enjoy the video?  Please click "Subscribe" and give it a "Thumbs Up".  Remember to share with your friends.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Mum's Macaroni - some people call it "Goulash"

Mum's Macaroni - some people call it "Goulash"

This is another recipe that comes from home.  We all have our favorite cooks.  I call mine "Mum".  This is a variation of her recipe as she makes it just a little differently than what I did here.

Ingredients

1 pound elbow macaroni
1 pound ground beef
1 onion diced
1 large can of stewed tomatoes 
Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil

Stuff you will need

1 large pot to cook the macaroni
1 collander (strainer)
1 large skillet
1 oven safe casserole dish (Optional)

Directions

Add water, salt and oil to the one pot to boil the macaroni.  I only use medium heat.  Saves electricity and if you think it boils the water any faster, well, I am sure your right, but not that much faster.  Once the water is boiling, add the macaroni and turn the heat off.  Cover and let sit for 20 minutes.  The macaroni will cook in the pot while the heat is off.  The nice part about this, NO boil over.

Fry the onions and pepper in butter till they are translucent.  I have never timed it, but about 5 minutes, perhaps a little more.  Do you like pepper?  Then add a lot.  Don't like a lot of pepper, then don't add a lot.

Once the onions are done, add the hamburger.  In the video, I am sure it's more than 1 pound of ground beef that I have added.  Fry up the beef till browned.

Drain the ground beef and add it back to the skillet.  Add the stewed tomatoes.

Drain the cooked macaroni and add that to the skillet.  Mix it all up and you got "Goulash".

To get "Mum's Macaroni", put the Goulash into an oven safe casserole dish and into the oven for 30 to 40 minutes at 350 F.  This will brown the top of the casserole.

I like adding extra salt to this before I eat it.  Not too much though, the Doctor said I have high blood pressure and should avoid salt.

Comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

High Mountain Beef Jerky Gun

High Mountain Beef Jerky Gun

This beef jerky is SO easy to make

Get up early and put the coffee on

Yesterday you took a pound of hamburger out to thaw.

Added the High Mountain Beef Jerky spices according to the directions

Load up your Beef Jerky Gun

Just like spreading calking, squeeze out your strips

Round and round you go

Just keep loading the trays

I don't know how many times I had to reload

Plug in the dehydrator for about 12 hours

Nice little snack.  Kept mine in the fridge.  Didn't last more than 3 weeks before it was all ate.

My parents bought me this beef jerky gun, Christmas of 2011.  I have been able to locate the spices at Princess Auto.  There are two store locations that I know of:
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Moncton, New Brunswick

There are variations on the gun.  I seen one that has a tip that will squeeze out two strips at the same time.  I bet that's a time saver.  I seen some that are all metal.  But I like this one as you can see when the tube is getting empty.

Once you are done dehydrating the beef jerky, I rolled them out on a paper towel to remove any excess fat and grease that was on the outside of the beef jerky.

One time, I got a hold of 2 moose steaks.  I trimmed off all the fat, and run it through the meat grinder attachment that I have for my Kitchenaid.  Then I added the spices.  It tasted like beef jerky to me.  If there was a "moose" taste, I couldn't taste it.

I made a batch for my brother-in-law.  He ate the entire batch in one sitting.  He just LOVED it.

As always, comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Lasagna

Lasagna

This is what your lasagna will look like when it is done backing

One exception, I put extra noodles around the side.

I have NO idea what was in my head when I did this

Get out your cheese and your grater

I cut up the cheese into 1/4's and then grated one type of cheese, then the next, so on and so on till it was all grated.

Do your self a HUGE favour and find these OVEN READY noodles

You put them in "dry" into the lasagna, but they will bake to perfection

Use PAM to coat your pan.  Otherwise, you will be scrubbing and scrubbing to get your pan cleaned

I start with a layer of meat sauce

Noodles

Then cheese

Is that right?  I don't know.  It my lasagna, but I know the top layer MUST end in cheese

Ingredients

Ultimate Meaty Spaghetti Sauce: http://cookwithmitch.blogspot.ca/2016/07/ultimate-meaty-spaghetti-sauce.html
1 x box Oven Ready lasagna noodles
2 x blocks of cheese - I used Marble and Mozzarella
1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon of Italian Spice

Stuff that you need

Lasagna pan
Box grater
Pam cooking spray

Directions

Spray your lasagna pan with Pam.  This is going to make for easy clean up.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F

I started with a meat layer, then noodles, cheese.  Is this right?  I didn't really think about it.  Just as long as I ended up with a meat layer topped with cheese.  Then I topped it with the Parmesan cheese.  I sprinkled the top with Italian spices.

Into the oven for 45 minutes.

After you take it out of the oven.  Let it set for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Have a look at this video.

To get a bigger video, click on the YouTube icon.  Please subscribe and like so that it will share with your friends.  There is also some social media icons in this blog.  This will also allow you to share with your friends.

As always, your comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Turtle Burgers

Turtle Burgers

This is the finished product

Bringing out the Kitchenaid mixer today

I started with my spices and crackers, let the machine mix them up for me

Added the hamburger

Let the machine incorporate everything

As you can see, I made 10 burgers, about a 1/3 pound each

Thawed hot dogs

Cut up the hot dogs into the head, tail and 4 legs for each turtle

Your left with a bunch of hot dog pieces in the end

This is tedious, but makes for a great end product

Feed those hot dog pieces to your dog.  Or have them yourself if you like.

Bust out your cheese

Two pieces of cheese on top of each burger

Gotta have bacon

Make a bacon weave on top of each burger.  This makes the shell.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.  My oven rolls it back 25 F as it's a convection oven.

Cook the burgers for 45 minutes.

Have a drink while you wait.

Ingredients

Your favorite recipe to make your home made hamburger patties
Hot Dogs
Bacon
Cheese

Stuff that you need

Patience - cutting up the hot dogs is tedious
Cookie sheet
Parchment paper

Directions

Make up your hamburger patties and press your thumb into the middle.  Seen this on the Rachel Ray show.  When your hamburger shrinks during the cooking, it will stop the middle from plumping up and being raw in the middle.

Cut up the hot dogs.  1 x head, 1 x tail, 4 x legs/feet for each burger that you made.  Jam them into the burger.  I take a knife and "cut" into the burger, then tipping the knife handle up, I push the hot dog piece in the burger, under the knife blade.  I remove the knife and "seat" the hot dog into the burger.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F.

Cut your cheese into strips and put two pieces of cheese on each burger.

Make bacon weaves and place them on top of the burger.  I've made them with a 6 piece of bacon weave, but this time, it was a 4 piece bacon weave.

Into the oven for 45 minutes.

These burgers are going to be greasy.  After they are cooked, you may want to transfer them to cookie cooling rack with paper towel to catch that grease.

Transfer to a hamburger bun, top with your favorite toppings and enjoy.

Have a look at this video.

To get a bigger video, click on the YouTube icon.  Please subscribe and like so that it will share with your friends.  There is also some social media icons in this blog.  This will also allow you to share with your friends.

As always, your comments and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome.

Donair Recipe

Donair Recipe

Donair Recipe

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground oregano

1 teaspoon all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon Italian seasoning

½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 pound of ground beef

Sauce

1 12oz can of evaporated milk

¾ cup white sugar

2 teaspoon garlic powder

4 teaspoon white vinegar

For Serving

- Pita Bread

- Chopped tomato

- Chopped white onion

- Shredded Lettuce (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine the meat and spices in a metal bowl. Mix it very well. Once mixed pick up the meat and throw down with force 20 times kneading it after each throw. (This will make the final product dense and easy to cut).

Form it into a loaf and place on a broiler pan. If you don’t have one a baking sheet will do. Bake for 75 minutes in the preheated oven. Turn the loaf over halfway through. This will ensure even cooking. It cuts better if you chill the cooked meat overnight before slicing.

To make the sauce combine the milk, sugar and garlic powder in a medium sized bowl. Gradually whisk in the vinegar on teaspoon at a time (this is the thickening agent) until thickened to your desired consistency.

Thinly slice the meat and warm in a pan, serve on warmed pitas with chopped tomato, chopped white onion, add sauce to taste, and if desired optional shredded lettuce.

 No video just yet.

 As always, comment and suggestions are ALWAYS welcome