Bringing inspiration and ideas to better manage your home kitchen
Sometimes fried rice just fits the bill. It gives you that takeout flavor with all the carbs of the rice – so satisfying! This is a great fried rice recipe. Unfortunately, I don’t have a wok yet, but was able to cook this in a …
It’s Memorial Day Weekend! Which, in my book, is the kick-off to summer. So we are kicking off summer with a 5-week series on all things burgers. We’ll cover meat, toppings, buns, and sides.
A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to visit a friend living in London. We spent some time playing tourist in London. And then she, her then French boyfriend, and I traveled to Paris for a few days. I’ll forever remember one of his questions for me – do American’s only eat hamburgers? Ha! It caught me completely off guard and was a stereotype of Americans I’d have never come up with on my own. I defensively responded with an emphatic “no!” I think it was the singularity of “only” that brought about my defensiveness. As if we had no other skills in the kitchen other than grilling burgers.
Over the coming years, I found myself occasionally reflecting on his question. There was the fact that every time, nearly without exception, I went out on a tough hike or multi-day backpacking excursion, I’d order a burger and a beer once we returned to town and stopped for food. There is also the fact that in our house we probably eat burgers weekly. It seems to be a “go-to” if we’re home on a Friday night. And then there’s the truth that at many family get togethers, especially in the summer, burgers are part of the menu. I guess it’s true – Americans eat a lot of burgers. But lets acknowledge that a burger’s a pretty perfect food. Hot, juicy, grilled meat atop a bun (or lettuce wrap) with endless topping combinations, and often fries on the side. Make fun of us all you want, burgers are darn delicious.
We’re kicking this first week off with a turkey burger. You’re probably thinking, a turkey burger? I know. We’ll get in to beef patties, which is what I typically look for in a burger. But on occasion, a well made turkey burger is a good mix up to the beef routine. And if you’re thinking, how do you make a well made turkey burger, I’ll help. They’re not as easy as beef burgers, but it’s possible. I’ve made a few turkey burgers in the last year in a bit of a quest to find something that I liked. Honestly all of them were good, but this one is a keeper and a repeat recipe to turn to.
Let me know in the comments, your favorite burger combination … I’d love to hear what you’ve found and “go-to” when a grilled burger answers the hunger call.
First make the chimichurri sauce by adding the onion, garlic, chile in a food processor and pulsing until roughly chopped. Add cilantro, parsley, oregano and pulse again until uniformly chopped. Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in lime juice, vinegar, salt and pepper, adding olive oil at the end. Combine 2 TBSP of this with 4 TBSP of mayo.
Next, place all of the burger ingredients in a bowl and mix until thoroughly combined. Form 3-4 burger patties. Be sure to grease the grates on your grill before placing the patties on a hot grill. Grill 4-5 minutes on each side to develop color and then move to a cooler spot on the grill until the patties are cooked through. Melt cheese on top, if desired.
Top burgers with strips of roasted poblano pepper, chimichurri mayo, and chimichurri sauce. Enjoy!
Inspired by: Feasting At Home
Groceries are expensive. Inflation over the last four years has been atrocious. I haven’t looked for a couple of years, but around that time I took a peek at the deli counter at our local grocery store. Turkey breast was $15-16/lb. That’s more expensive than …
The start of a new month is a good time to be thinking about budgeting. We’re not quite there, but it’s approaching. In previous budgeting posts, I hinted toward some of the things we’ve learned along this journey and tips we’ve found that helped us …
Dumplings are a fun thing to make when you feel like you want something takeout like or want to make something a little fun for a crowd. This recipe has a sauce that is SO GOOD! We usually double the sauce recipe because it’s that tasty (the recipe here shows doubled quantities already). This is definitely a “go-to” in our recipe book. We enjoy it pretty regularly. I hope you enjoy!
Make the sauce by combining all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Place the cabbage in a large bowl with the salt, toss well and let sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, squeeze as much water out of the cabbage as possible and return to bowl.
To the cabbage, add the pork, chives, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil and use your hands to mix it all together well.
Take half of the dumpling wrappers and separate individually on a clean, dry counter. Fill a small dish with warm water. Place a teaspoon worth of filling in the middle of each wrapper and wet the outer rim of the wrapper with the warm water. Fold the wrapper over itself making a half circle and then pinch the wrapper together, crimping/pleating every 1/4 of an inch or so. If you have a partner helping you, once you fold ~15 dumplings they can start the cooking process. If you're on your own, continue with the process of folding the dumplings covering with a dry clean towel in between batches.
Once you're ready to cook, place a large non-stick skillet over medium to medium high heat and add some oil. When the oil is hot and shimmering, add 12-15 dumplings to the pan and cooke about 3 minutes without moving the pan, until the dumplings are golden brown on the bottom. Next add 2 TBSP water to the bottom of the pan and cover immediately. If you don't have a lid, you can use foil or a sheet pan. Wait unitl the water has evaporated and then add another 2 TSBP of water and cover. Repeat this process one last time with 2 TSBP of water and allow the dumplings to steam until the water evaporates. Transfer to a plate and repeat the process until all are cooked.
Serve the dumplings with the black pepper - scallion sauce.
Inspired by: Joanne Chang & Karen Akunowicz
Street tacos are like this elusive mirage of something that you know has the possibility of being incredible, but isn’t always easy to reach that level of deliciousness. We’ve tried many versions of street tacos and never get it quite right. We’ve used ground beef, …
Birthdays, and every other milestone or accomplishment, are meant to be celebrated! Other than the occasional batch of cookies or throwing together an apple or blackberry crisp for dessert, we don’t make a ton of desserts throughout the year. Sugar is probably one of the …
Salads can make a great meal. Especially when it starts to get warm out, or if you’ve had a lot of heavy meals or just been eating without a lot of fresh ingredients in your diet. They often hit the spot. I try to target one salad per week in my meal planning. This helps balance things out a bit and brings some variety. But it’s not easy to find great salad recipes that can stand in as a meal. I can assure you this is a great salad recipe. We agree that its our favorite. Something about the combination of grilled vegetables, grilled chicken, and a tangy French vinaigrette. This is one of those recipes where the combination is much greater than the sum of the parts. So do yourself a favor and give it a try – it’s packed full of healthy ingredients.
First, season or marinate the chicken thighs and allow to sit as long as desired. I've done a basic salt & pepper seasoning and grilled right away, but you can use whatever preferred seasoning or marinade you like.
Grill the chicken thighs and vegetables (mushrooms, onion, and bell peppers) until cooked through and nicely charred. For this recipe, I prefer grilled chicken to get the charred flavor. The veggies do well on the grill too, but if you're competing for grill space, you can just as easily broil the veggies in the oven until their nicely blackened around the edges.
Prepare the hard boiled eggs and cook the bacon until crispy.
To make the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together except the olive oil and then whisk the olive oil into the remaining ingredients until it's nicely emulsified.
To assemble the salad, place spinach in a large mixing bowl and toss with some of the dressing to coat the greens nicely before topping. Transfer the dressed spinach to a plate and top with chopped (or sliced hard boiled egg), chopped or crumbled bacon bits, sliced veggies, and sliced chicken. You can drizzle additional dressing on top and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Inspired by: Feasting At Home
Curry is something that I never really got into until later in life. It always seemed so vague and broad of a topic. Regional curries, colors of curries, powdered curries, curry pastes … where do you even start? Aside from that, I hadn’t really eaten …
