Sliders

Several months ago, America's Test Kitchen did an episode on how to make perfect old fashioned burgers, without having to get out the outdoor grill. Well, in typical ATK fashion, it had a bazillion ingredients and many steps that created lots of dirty dishes.
So, this past weekend, the kids and I were home alone and I decided to make them, but with just a couple ingredients....I also made them "kid sized" which they LOVED!
Each of my kids at two of these for dinner when made them. They were do delicious!

So, here goes, SLIDERS!

1 pound good quality 85-90% lean ground beef
Kosher Sale and fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp unsalted butter
6 Pepperidge Farms "Slider" sized buns (I used whole wheat)
3 slices deluxe American Cheese
thin sliced onion

On a large baking sheet, crumble the ground beef into small, loose pieces. Sprinkle with kosher salt and ground pepper. Using your fingers, gently divide the meat into 6 equal mounds. Then, using your fingers, shape into a loose patty about 1/2 thick and about 2.5-3 inches in diameter. (dont' pick it up and mash it into a compact burger shape).
The edges should be ragged looking.
Either put the sheet pan in the freezer (or in a Minnesota winter, put the sheet pan outside). My burgers were outside for about 15-20 minutes.

In a large cast iron skillet, melt 1/2 tbsp of butter over medium heat until it is foaming. Add the bun tops, cut side down and toast until lightly golden brown (about 2 minutes). Repeat with remaining butter and toast the bun bottoms. Set aside.

Heat skillet on high heat and add 1/2 tsp of vegetable oil (I brushed it around the pan with a silicone brush, to coat the pan) until it is smoking. Using a spatula, transfer 3 burgers to the skillet, let them cook for 3 minutes without moving them. Flip the burgers and cook for 1 more minute. Top each patty with a 1/2 of a slice of cheese and continue to cook until cheese is melted, about 1 minute. Repeat with the 3 remaining burgers.
Transfer burgers to the bun bottoms, top with either raw or fried onions. (to fry them, I just threw the onion into the pan right after the first round of burgers were done cooking and fried them until they were soft and just turning golden brown, about 3 minutes.)
Cover with bun tops and serve.

**will post photo shortly**

Have you seen these?

I found these little gems at Trader Joe's last fall.
What a great addition to the kitchen! I keep a few of the garlic handy, because we have been known to run out of fresh garlic. These taste great too!
Throw a couple cubes of basil into spaghetti sauce just before serving to brighten up the flavor and the cilantro is really good in the cilantro lime rice in the Shredded Chicken Tacos post.

Nancy's Porkchops

Nancy is one of my parents very best friends, Nancy Dolan. This is one of her recipes and it truly is a good one. It screams "comfort food" and makes a really nice Sunday dinner in the fall.
One of the ingredients is a canned good that really not be considered a "good." It is something that I would never in a million years serve to my family straight out of the can.
Are you ready for it? it's cream corn. Yuck, cream corn. Who eats cream corn? What ever possessed someone to create such a thing? Well, after making this concoction, you'll be glad someone did. It is delicious! Seriously, delicious!


Nancy's PorkchopsServes 6
1/2 pound bacon, uncooked and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cans cream style corn
6 bone-in pork chops,
1/2 package Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing
fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a heavy skillet over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Spoon out some of the bacon drippings and set aside (about 5 tbsp). Add chopped onion to the skillet and cook the bacon and onion until the onion is just a little bit browned. Add a generous grinding of fresh pepper. Stir in the cream style corn until well combined.
Lightly pepper both sides of the pork chops and arrange in a 9x13 baking pan. Pour the corn/onion/bacon mixture over the pork chops. Wipe the skillet with a paper towel.
Add the bacon drippings to the skillet and heat over medium. Add the 1/2 package of stuffing and toss to lightly mix the bacon drippings. Spoon the stuffing over the cream style corn, it should lighly cover the pork chops.
Bake at 300 for 2 hours. Serve each chop with a spoonful of the stuffing mixture. Yum!

Enjoy! the stuffing absorbs the liquid from the cream corn and the porkchops are so tender and delicious.

Tater Tot Hot Dish (aka: Casserole if you're not from Minnesota)

Simple and delicious are two things that are key to any recipe that we make. I'd also like to add another criteria for me: not more than 8 ingredients....
I have a ton of cookbooks and recently went through my collection. I pared it down to 2 cubbies in my IKEA shelving unit, which is not many! Anyhow, I discovered that I had cookbooks on the shelf that had 15 ingredients PER RECIPE on my shelf, how about NO!
So, when my mom passed this on to me a few years ago, I realized that it would be a favorite....Not only because it is one of Dan's favorites, but it's got 6 key ingredients to it! Yes, I said 6! and those 6 are things that we have in the cupboard at any given time....
The recipe card dates back to 1965, so it is an oldie but goodie!

Tater Tot Hot Dish

2 pounds lean ground beef
1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix
2 cans french cut green beans, drained and rinsed
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package Tater Tots

Press the ground beef into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Evenly distribute 1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix over the ground beef.
Spread the green beans on top of the soup mix. (note: often, I don't have canned french cut beans, you can use a bag of frozen ones too, I use this more often!) Evenly spread the canned soup over the top of the green beans and then arrange the tater tots on top of the soup.
Bake in a 300 degree oven for 2 hours.

Enjoy, this is a good one!

Luncheon Salad (circa 1970)

This recipe brings back memories for me....it is from the Church of St. Leo's parish cookbook that was printed in approximately 1970. The recipes are extremely vintage and make the year of publication obvious! The little green cookbook is one of my prized possessions from my Grandma; next to her china, sterling silver flatware and her old Oster electric cooker. It has some classic recipes: Red Lion Salad Dressing,Chicken ala King, Stay-A-Bed Stew and Olive Jello Salad (????).
I'm not a fan of the noodle tuna or chicken salad, too much mayonnaise. Don't get me wrong, I love mayo, but not in a goopy noodle salad, blechhhh.

Here we have, Luncheon Salad:

1 can chicken or tuna (preferrably Albacore...none of that cat food crap)
1 cup diced celery
1 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 package English peas, thawed
1/2 cup whipped cream
1/2 cup mayo
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients, gently fold in the whipped cream.
Just before serving add 1 cup shoestring potatoes (I use a little more)

I love this salad.

Sinfully Delicious Brownies

These are the BEST brownies I have ever made. Period.

All-American Potato Salad

This recipe was on Cook's Country and I got it from their website.  It is hands down, one of the best potato salad recipes I've ever made.  Not all goopy with mayo, even though I love mayo.....cooking the potatoes to the proper doneness is tricky, you do need to stand by and watch.  They go from perfect to overcooked in about 1 minute!
Serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes , peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
3 tablespoons dill pickle juice , plus 1/4 cup finely chopped dill pickles
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 onion, red (small) , chopped fine
1 rib celery , chopped fine
2 hard-cooked eggs , peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice (optional)

Instructions
1. Place potatoes in large saucepan with cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to boil over high heat, add 1 teaspoon salt, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until potatoes are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. A knife inserted into the potatoes and comes out easily, is done.  Dont' overcook!

2. Drain potatoes thoroughly, then spread out on rimmed baking sheet. Mix
2 tablespoons pickle juice and mustard together in small bowl, drizzle pickle juice mixture over potatoes, and toss until evenly coated. Refrigerate until cooled, about 30 minutes.


3. Mix remaining tablespoon pickle juice, chopped pickles, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper, celery seed, mayonnaise, sour cream, red onion, and celery in large bowl. Toss in cooled potatoes, cover, and refrigerate until well chilled, about 30 minutes. (Salad can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 2 days.) Gently stir in eggs, if using, just before serving.